<p>I live in an area where the ACT is considering the major "college test". We have workshops, Q&A's, books galore, etc. I currently took the practice ACT and to my dismay even though I didn't study a 25 it doesn't correlate with my UW GPA of a 4.0 at all. </p>
<p>So how do you know which test is BEST FOR YOU? The test that will show colleges your true potential. And yes, I know take both. But, time is of the essence and it just seems more realistic to focus on one instead of spreading yourself thin on two. </p>
<p>Any advice on how to pick the right test. Past experiences with the tests, advice, anything really. I am comitted to studying this summer but I'm struggling with what exactly to study. And just to add, the colleges I'm looking at are all really difficult to get into (JHU, UCLA, U of Chicago, Columbia, etc.) </p>
<p>Get the College Board’s Official SAT Guide (the Blue Book) and take a full timed SAT and see how you do. It’s a 4 hour commitment but you can see what score you get. Odds are it’ll correspond to the 25 ACT though - studying for the test will definitely improve your score. Read through the pinned topics in the SAT/ACT forums to figure out how to prepare, because you’ll need way higher scores to have a shot at those schools. For the SAT, xiggi’s guide and silverturtle’s guide are both excellent and can be found as pinned topics in the SAT prep forum. </p>
<p>Thanks! @An0maly </p>
<p>Well there usually isn’t much of a score difference between an ACT and an SAT when a student takes both. IN some cases one kid will do much better on one test than the other, but that isn’t as likely as someone performing at around the sam level for both tests. Whats holding you back with the ACT, are you struggling with the science section or sections that are comparable to that of the SAT? I do agree with the above poster who said to take the Collegeboard official practice test. Your ACT will need to be around a 32+ to be competitive for the schools you mentioned.</p>
<p>Personally, I have taken practice tests for both the SAT and ACT and found the ACT to be much easier, especially in the English and Reading sections. However, ACT math is definitely more challenging than on the SAT. </p>
<p><a href=“SAT vs ACT: Which Test is Right for You? | The Princeton Review”>http://www.princetonreview.com/sat-act.aspx</a> </p>
<p>Didn’t you take the PSAT? If so you could use that to get a general feel of how you’d do on the SAT(which is about twice as long). I’d go for the ACT, it’s much easier to pinpoint your weakness and improve. For practice books I’d recommend Cracking the ACT(PRs) followed by Everything you need to get a 36 by Barrons.</p>