How Hard is ACT 36

Test Preparation
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<p>Cjgone, that quote is from the ACT website…
You might want to try more unbiased sources.</p>

<p>As I’ve said in many other threads, the SAT does carry a little more weight at extremely competetive universities. Again, this is because the SAT is seen as a challenging test for intellectual aptitude, while the ACT is seen as the test for hardworking studiers. </p>

<p>And a composite 36 definitely does not equal a 2400 for colleges, despite what the ACT website tells you. Not only is the ACT easier, but a 36 composite can be a 36,36,36,34. Obviously, the same is not true for the SAT.</p>

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<p>my GC recommended me to take the SAT. she’s in frequent contact with adcoms at all top schools(save for MIT and Stanford, who apparently hate her), so take that for what you will.</p>

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<p>Not exactly true. On the SAT, you could get 2 wrong on the CR, 1 wrong on the Math, and a 9 on the essay and still get a 2400. Likewise, you could get 1 wrong on English, 1 wrong on Math and still get a 36 on the ACT. When colleges tell you they consider the SAT and ACT equivalently, they are not lying to you. A 36 really is viewed the same way a 2400 would be. If it wasn’t, colleges would tell you.</p>

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<p>^Uhh which test let you get 2 wrong on CR, 1 wrong on Math, and a 9 on the essay for a 2400?! That sort of lenient curve usually only seen for 1 section per test date, and even that is rare.</p>

<p>On the other hand, you can get a 34 on ANY section of the ACT on ANY testing date. There’s no need to exaggerate the testing data to strengthen your argument.</p>

<p>Also, it is not always wise to take colleges’ comments at face value. After all, the colleges have close relationships with both the Collegeboard and the ACT. Without a doubt, various deals have been created in terms of testing policies. </p>

<p>The common app says that marking your race “will not be used against you in a discriminatory manner”, but obviously CCers know that the guideline is not completely true.</p>

<p>You should be wary when reading about colleges’ testing policies. A lot of kids forget that each elite school is a private, money-making institution. And when it comes down to admissions, the SAT is simply valued more than the ACT.</p>

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<p>cooljazz,</p>

<p>Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you’re correct, and that the elite colleges and universities actually prefer the SAT to the ACT. If that’s true, please explain to us what a given institution would have to gain by NOT stating that fact openly on its admission website and, in fact, stating the opposite by noting that either test is acceptable. Why would institutions like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Duke, etc. put their reputations on the line by posting in writing something that isn’t true? I don’t mean to be disrespectful of your post, but you really are making a statement that has no basis in fact.</p>

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<p>I guess S was seen as both intellectual and hardworking.</p>

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<p>^ Your S is also a loser that my S could beat the **** out of.</p>

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<p>Oh, and I still haven’t gotten my answer… that’s okay… just keeping discussing</p>

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<p>^ Barrons books are always harder. but stop trying to predict your score. spend more time practicing. you’ll figure out your score when you take it in september</p>

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<p>Well, lets see…The May 2009 test is one that comes to mind. I’m pretty sure one or two of the tests in BB2 also let you do that…</p>

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<p>Well I am not familiar with the May test, but the Eric the Red Curve listing shows that only 3 out of 11 tests from 2006-2008 allowed 1 math question wrong for an 800. Again, you can get a 34 on ANY section on the ACT on ANY testing date for a 36.</p>

<p>Now let me explain the testing policies of the elite universities. They are not stupid. They know that the SAT and the ACT are completely different tests. Why would they treat them as perfectly equal?! Here are some weaknesses that all elite universities realize about the ACT:</p>

<ol>
<li>The questions do not require critical reasoning, and are very straightforward.</li>
<li>The essay component does not factor into the number score.</li>
<li>Most sections only have four choices per question, not five.</li>
<li>There is NO guessing penalty. </li>
<li>The ACT is shorter than the SAT, and takes less endurance. </li>
<li>The ACT is favored by states in the Midwest that are generally less competetive than states on the coasts. Some states have even made the ACT mandatory. This skews the percentiles, and makes a 99% on the ACT less significant than a 99% on the SAT.
7, The Science section is primarily data analysis, and is not an accurate test of any concrete material.</li>
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<p>Again, all elite colleges know these simple facts. They take these factors into account when comparing applicants’ score reports. Naturally, they value the SAT more than the ACT. The ACT is simply an easier test. </p>

<p>An admissions officer told me all of these facts. Colleges do not say anything against the ACT because they are private institutions looking for profit and prestige. They want to maximize the number of applicants, and thereby maxmize the money they make from application fees. Also, they want the most applicants in order to lower their acceptance rates and increase their own prestige. Colleges also undoubtedly have lucrative deals with the ACT company themselves.</p>

<p>It may alarm you that colleges are not being perfectly honest, but remember their statements about race and admissions. Also, they are not being dishonest per se, because they do accept the ACT. It is just not valued quite as highly. </p>

<p>These are the facts. Sorry to all the advocates of the ACT who maybe did not do so well on the SAT. To anyone who still can’t accept this, just answer these questions. </p>

<p>After reading the reasons above, do you think the ACT is an easier test than the SAT? </p>

<p>Why would the colleges, knowing all that they know, treat two completely different tests perfectly equally?</p>

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<p>This debate about SAT versus ACT seems to be missing a few key points.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>As practical matter schools have to compare applicants submitting both tests. They can do this easily by converting scores on one to the other, using either the published national concordance tables on the SAT and ACT websites or a specific concordance table developed for that school. I have heard several admissions officers say this is precisely what they do. Once the scores have been converted to a common scale, the likelihood of one getting more weight than the other drops considerably.</p></li>
<li><p>I have never seen any evidence suggesting that elite schools put so much emphasis on test scores that the nuances between ACT 36 versus SAT 2400 would matter. Both scores demonstrate the applicant is at the extremely high end of the national applicant pool. To the contrary, the evidence seems to indicate that elite schools have so many applicants with high test scores that other factors matter more. Any review of either CC threads on acceptances or data on similar web site (eg “mychances”) will show lots of applicants with high test scores being rejected in favor of kids with strong test scores but other factors in their favor. The applicant with the ACT 35 and glowing recommendations is going to beat the applicant with the SAT 2400 and weak recommendations every time.</p></li>
<li><p>Most elite schools also require SAT IIs. Any nuances between ACT 36 and SAT 2400 are likely to be trumped by the effect of the SAT IIs on the admissions decision. Many leading commentators (the UC system, Fitzsimmons at Harvard) have argued the SAT IIs are a more useful tool. (As an aside, the SAT IIs are more like the ACT than the SAT.)</p></li>
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<p>Think of them as the 1500m run and the 5000m run. Many people excel at either one of them. Few people at both. They are all still considered superb athletes.</p>

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<p>the science section is what gets most people on the act. even though they say you don’t really need knowledge of science, all the lab questions and such are easier if you have taken ap bio, ap chem, ap physics. When I took the act, background knowledge really made a difference in making it easier to finish the section in time.</p>

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<p>Oh, an admissions officer told you? Well then, it must be true. I guess he/she speaks for all of the approximately 3,000 colleges and universities in the U.S., including all of the elite institutions, huh? Did he/she also explain to you why his/her particular institution then LIES about its standardized test preference by stating on its website that either test is equally acceptable? Are you telling us that institutions like Harvard, Yale, etc. that have multi billion dollar endowments that are larger than the GDP of some countries are concerned about maximizing the amount of money that they make from application fees – are you insane? Newsflash: Harvard and its brethren do not need to increase the number of applications they receive and thereby lower their acceptance rates by lying about their preferences for standardized tests. What is the nature of the “lucrative deals” that these elite institutions have with the testing companies? I’m sure you must have more to back this up than innuendo. Post a link to the information, cooljazz. </p>

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<p>Again, other than your inside track with the nameless admissions officer, where is your proof of this statement? Why not just post the name of the admissions officer and his/her institution? I, for one, would like to know. </p>

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<p>Um, no they are not. They are innuedo which you cannot, and have not, supported with any facts. </p>

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<p>No, and the national reports for the SAT and the ACT bear this out. Why don’t you go read them?</p>

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<p>Because either test, combined with an analysis of the applicant’s high school record, is a reasonably good way of comparing applicants and predicting which will succeed at college level work.</p>

<p>cooljazz, please stop wasting our time with your low content, opinion based posts on this topic. You don’t know the facts and you haven’t supported any of your assertions with real evidence. You’re doing a great disservice to everybody on this thread who is contemplating taking the ACT and/or submitting his/her ACT score in lieu of, or in addition to, SAT scores.</p>

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<p>@ cit: The science section for me was one of the easiest. I don’t think you needed to know anything about science. It was literally reading graphs. That’s it. And maybe a question about the scientific method. You don’t really need advanced science knowledge unless you have trouble with reading graphs.</p>

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<p>gbesq, if you are suggesting that Harvard doesn’t care about getting as many applications as possible, you are wrong. it is an important goal of the admissions office.</p>

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<p>^Please read my posts more carefully. I did not suggest that. What I did say is that Harvard – or any other college or university for that matter – does not misrepresent that it views the ACT as an equal to the SAT for the purpose of increasing its applicant pool, as cooljazz suggests. To think otherwise is nonsensical.</p>

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<p>ACT and SAT are viewed equally. How hard is this to understand?</p>

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<p>^ The same colleges will tell you that white and black applicants are viewed equally, so who really knows?</p>