I am a freshman, class of 2018. That means I cannot take the old SAT and must take either the new SAT or the ACT. ANy advice, comments on which one I should take, which one is easier, the differences/similarities? Thanks!
For students that will be taking the test in 2016 I recommend the ACT since there are no actual SATs to look at. But you will probably not be taking the test until 2017. So I would suggest that you wait for a few new SATs to be given before you make your decision.
The new SAT will probably be more like the ACT than the current SAT, but there will be some differences. The new SAT will focus more on analyzing data, and understanding how to set up algebraic equations (without necessarily solving them). There will be very few Geometry/Trigonometry questions on the new SAT.
Difficulty level is somewhat irrelevant when it comes to standardized tests since scores are “normalized” after everyone takes the test. The best way to know which is better for you is to take an official practice test for each exam, and then use a score comparison chart to see which one you score higher on. Of course there are no official tests available for the new SAT yet, so you will have to wait a little while to do this.
There is a practice PSAT available, you could try it
There are a few problems with the practice PSAT, but the biggest one is that it was never actually administered. This means that there are no scoring guidelines. So unless you get a perfect score, there is no real indication as to what your score would mean.
So it’s certainly not a bad idea to take the practice PSAT to see how comfortable you are with the question types being asked. But unfortunately it can’t give you any real information.
As a simple example, on the Level 2 math subject test, you can usually get 7 or 8 wrong and still get an 800 on the test, whereas on some current SATs 1 wrong could drop you to a 760. These two curves are quite different.
Since we have no idea how 1.5 million students are going to do on the new SAT, we have no idea how the test will be curved. This renders all raw scores meaningless. (The raw score is the number of questions answered correctly.)
I read that the scoring guidelines would be published around June
Thank you @DrSteve and @Argentina2017 . Do you have any tips in general for the ACT/SAT?
Here ya go. Take the PSAT practice test. I’ve heard its easier than people predicted https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/psat_nmsqt_practice_test_1.pdf
^Well its hard to know how hard it is without scoring guidelines
There are tests available as described in post #8, but there are no scoring guidelines - making it difficult to gauge one’s ability relative to the test.
The current post # 8 is an ad. Wave buh-bye.
The spammer TestPrepGenius is gone.