<p>My only experience with college testing has been with the SAT and the release of scores being predictable. DD took the ACT on Feb. 20 (snow delayed) and still has no scores. Records lady said there is nothing wrong, it just takes awhile! Soonest we'll see them is Wed., at the latest April 2. Am I missing something? This seems like a haphazard operation to me. Do colleges see it that way too and prefer the SAT?</p>
<p>No. Most college accept either one and don’t give preference to one over the other. We waited six weeks for D1’s SAT scores. Could have checked earlier online but we weren’t overanxious.</p>
<p>No colleges/unis take one or the other. The scores from ACT are also available on-line earlier if your D can’t wait a couple more weeks for the paper scores. There are tables on line that will show you the ACT to SAT or vice versa equivalencies.</p>
<p>Thanks! DD has a good SAT already and isn’t worried–just curious. We have been checking online and just says registered. That’s why I called, to make sure they hadn’t lost her, lol!</p>
<p>Every single college and university in the US that requires a standardized test for admissions accepts both the ACT and the SAT. There is no “preference”.</p>
<p>However, it is worth your time to read the fine print. Some require a certain number of SAT II exams (if the kid has taken the ACT he/she will still have to take that number of SAT IIs). Some accept the ACT in lieu of SAT II exams (the kid only has to take one exam). And, some specify that whichever exam (ACT or SAT) the student takes, it must include a writing section.</p>
<p>I agree with previous people that generally one is as good as the other. There was a small flap about the ACT “dumbing down” around 1983 but that has long since past.
Now, both tests are regarded as extremely efficient as a way to tell what student took the test the best that day.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, the ACT is more common in the midwest, while the SAT is more common on the coasts, but most schools nationwide will accept either score. We live in the midwest and most students in our city just take the ACT, unless they plan to apply to schools out of the area. My daughter applied to schools in the midwest and the east and never took the SAT, she just took the ACT with writing. She is now attending college in the east. Both tests are well-respected and industry standards.</p>
<p>No preference by colleges, but keep in mind that some students score better on one than the other, and the only way to tell is to take both.</p>
<p>Before WW2 condemned prisoners in Utah could pick to be shoot or hung.
SAT is used for the National Merit test. The ACT is better predictor of how student will do in college.</p>
<p>^^PSAT is the National Merit Qualifying Test. Semi-finalists have to also take the SAT, but it does not qualify them.</p>
<p>Statistically, the SAT is preferred at top schools.</p>
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<p>Nope sorry not true, that’s a myth that sometimes circulates in the forums…</p>
<p>In general, the SAT is more oriented to the student strong in reading/writing, the ACT to the student strong in math/science. The SAT is presented as a “reasoning” test, while the ACT is presented as testing actual knowledge. My son took both, but preferred the ACT because it’s format was less irritating - you went from Reading to Math to Science to English (or some such order), where the SAT goes back and forth between the sections.</p>
<p>There are correlation charts on line. Our son scored equivalently on the 2 tests, but I know some who do substantially better on one than the other. So, all other things being equal (which they seldom are), I would suggest taking both.</p>
<p>I agree with m3b. Plenty of students who take only ACT are accepted into the “top schools.”</p>
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<p>Not sure I agree with this either. According to my son who took both, the ACT is more straightforward in terms of asking questions that are closer related to what students should have learned. The kids did say the science portion was more deductive than “remembering” specific science facts. The time allowed for each section is shorter and the student is not “punished” for guessing. The math covers a pretty straightforward progression with only one or two questions covering trig, the rest is Algebra and Geometry. The writing section is “new.” If “having learned” certain things in high school predicts college readiness then it probably does as good a job as any test. The SAT has been modified over time and some of the “reasoning” portions that ‘we took’ decades ago have been eliminated so the lines have blurred to some extent. Some kids are more successful with one test or the other however my S1 did about the same on both but found the SAT extremely tiring and long. S2 opted to not take the SAT.</p>
<p>Science reasoning section is more like a reading comprehension section than a science section.
The ACT is a very predictable exam. The number of questions in each category, i.e. trig is always the same. It is actually 3 trig questions, if I recall correctly.
ACT is growing in popularity.
I only took the ACT, and most people I knew, only took the ACT.</p>
<p>Since top colleges want students from all 50 states to be fairly represented, there’s no way that they can have a preference…otherwise half the states would be at a disadvantage because half of the states are “SAT states” and the other half are “ACT states.”</p>
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<p>Oh, so that’s why my math/science nerd kid got a perfect 800 twice in a row on the CR while trying to bring her math score up above the 750 that meant an auto scholarship at one school?
As with all things - your kid and your milage may vary! So try to do what I couldn’t - get your kid to try both.</p>
<p>The standard advice we give all students at our school is to take both tests once during the winter of junior year. Then, depending on which test was better, take that test a 2nd and/or 3rd time, as needed, with either at-home test practice or paid test prep. The trend we see is more students taking the ACT and more students, who hae taken both, doing better on the ACT. To most kids, the questions seem more straight forward and less convoluted on the ACT. The SAT seems more like a “gotcha” test where they are trying to trick you.</p>