<p>ETS, which produces and markets the SAT for the College Board, equates a 1600 SAT combined with a 36 ACT composite, and 1550-1590 with a 35 composite. Presumably, the college following this advisory will look at a 35 ACT and convert it to a 1550+ when it computes an academic index (AI) for the applicant.</p>
<p>Q: Suppose you are a top student looking to get into a top school, and deciding which test to take. Do you choose the ACT or the SAT.</p>
<p>Answer: You take the SAT. Why? Because from what I have seen, a 35 on the ACT is significantly harder to get than a 1550, and a 36 is almost infinitely harder to reach than a 1600 (check out the raw score needed for a 36; you can miss no more than 2 or three q's on the whole test; whereas, missing 3 and even four questions won't even sink you for an 800 on the verbal). </p>
<p>Does anyone take issue with this analysis?</p>
<p>Those of you who have taken both tests? How would you rate the results?</p>
<p>I agree (though I haven't taken either) I know if you're applying to schools in the midwest you're more likely to need the ACT, which could be a reason some people choose to take both (as I will)</p>
<p>i sucked it up big time on the act 28 albeit I was sick and as I left I almost cancelled my scores, I got a 1400 on the sat which by those charts is a lot better, so I definitely prefer the sat.</p>
<p>SAT is more reasoning based, ACT is more knowledge based. </p>
<p>a 36 ACT is a lot harder to get than a 1600 SAT. but i'm sure colleges take that into account. less than 250 get 36s on the ACT, whereas over 1000 get 1600s on the SAT (in one sitting). the SAT #s don't account for those who get their 1600s after combining sittings. </p>
<p>best to choose both though. if you don't like one of the scores, don't send it :) </p>
<p>IMO, if you can do well on the ACT, you'll do fine on the SAT. the only thing the SAT has over the ACT is vocabulary.</p>
<p>one benefit to the ACT is that many colleges (yale, duke, brown, stanford-i'm sure there are others) won't require SAT II's if you have an ACT score. Also, I think the ACT is easier to prep for. I got an ACT score of 32 at the end of my sophomore year and an SAT score of 1430 in the middle of my junior year- scores roughly equivalent to each other. after studying for not even a month, i was able to raise my ACT to a 35 at the start of my senior year.</p>
<p>as for the 36's and the 1600's, don't we have to look at them in percentages? (hehe, i actually learned from AP Stats!)<br>
Cuz, there are more people taking the SAT's than the ACTs, i'm sure.</p>
<p>yea. i got a 30 on the ACTs (97th percentile) and a 1370 on the SAT. (about 93rd percentile) Less people do well on the ACTs, but i think that if you score like a 32 on your ACTs and u score a 1400 on ur SAT, a 32 is a better score, only because less people score that, and you are in the 99th percentile.....</p>
<p>I agree with the comment that "SAT is more reasoning based, ACT is more knowledge based." But some students will do better on ACT and others will do better on SAT. My daughter got a 35 ACT and somewhere in the 1400's on SAT. Take what your colleges prefer but I recommend you take both.</p>
<p>.07% get a 1600 on SAT
.02%ish get a 36 on the ACT</p>
<p>ACT is more content based, SAT is more problem solving skills. I personally felt that guessing through the SAT was easier than guessing through the ACT. 1-2 missed questions on the ACT means you cannot get a perfect, while missing a few on the SAT will still give you a 1600 score.</p>
<p>Hmm... I got only 1490 on the SATs, which I took sophomore year. I got a 35 on the ACTs this year (I'm a senior). I didn't prep on either, and didn't retake. Take from that what you will.</p>
<p>"I personally felt that guessing through the SAT was easier than guessing through the ACT. "</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the ACT does not have a guessing penalty. It is advantageous to fill in random bubbles if time is running out, or if you don't know the answer. Whereas, on the SAT, if you can't eliminate any answer choices, guessing can hurt you.</p>
<p>So, I would assume that people guess more freely on the ACT than the SAT. I don't know if guessing is "easier", but it's done more often.</p>