<p>Are they graded similarly? And are the questions also ones about "life"?</p>
<p>the optional act essay is 30 minutes which is 5 more minutes than the SAT. both out of 12. my sat essay asked whether or not people should work in groups or individually and my act essay asked if there should be school events to celebrate those who do well in school. got an 8 on both and i felt like i wrote both using a similar structure if that makes sense</p>
<p>The SAT Essay is usually more broad, allowing you to take your own spin on the topic. The topics are about life experiences, ethics/morals. Ex. Do you need to suffer through hardships before reaching success?, Is it better to always be honest, or are there exceptions?</p>
<p>The ACT on the other hand has more specific prompts. The topics are usually based on common experiences that affect high school students. Ex.How Social media affects high school students, Merit based awards in school, School uniforms</p>
<p>I’ve taken both recently (SAT in Jan and ACT in Feb), I practiced for SAT essay and didn’t bother practicing for the ACT essay. Got a 10 on SAT, 9 on ACT so I would say they both are similar in grading. I used basic 5 paragraph format (intro, 3 supporting examples, conclusion) for both essays.</p>