<p>I once heard that one test is better for naturally smart people, and one is better for really hard workers. Now there's no shame on being the latter, they tend to do well anyways. Is this true? Which one's supposed to be which?</p>
<p>Well I worked really hard to improve my score from a 31 to a 34 on the ACT. I took the ACT before I took the SAT, and I liked it more.
If I was to put the tests in your categories i would say that the ACT is for hard workers while the SAT is for smarter people. The SAT is made to trick you, while the ACT’s main focus is to test you on the subject matter (writing, math, reading, science).</p>
<p>But maybe I’m biased because I scored a hell of a lot higher on the ACT than the SAT.</p>
<p>SAT tests worthless skills.</p>
<p>ACT tests useful skills.</p>
<p>/Thread, when memorizing vocabulary helps for college success, you can post again.</p>
<p>^ LOL, I love this response. This is the very reason why I opted for the ACT, other than the fact that I did tremendously better on it compared to the SAT. All in all, I feel like the ACT tests you on skills/subjects that you’ve actually LEARNED throughout high school. I just really got tired of the whole “brain teasing” and unfairness of the SAT overall.</p>
<p>Well, of course it depends on what college you want to attend, and whether they are comfortable with it.(The ACT) The SAT is harder for people who aren’t good test-takers, but some colleges just don’t value the ACT.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think taking the ACT is somewhat redundant. If schools really want to measure what you’ve learned and retained, they can look towards your transcript. I think the SAT is more valuable simply because it measures skills that do probably translate closer to purer intellectual capacity (not saying that they are sure-fire indicators of course) than work ethic and determination, values that are arguably more important than the first but nevertheless generally only need the transcript in order to be measured. With that said, I suppose colleges weigh them equally, for whatever that’s worth. However, anyone who strictly adheres to conversion charts without taking into context the make of each exam is a fool. Let’s also remember how each exam was born. The SAT was essentially first used as an IQ test; the ACT was used to serve as strictly an alternative college entrance exam.</p>
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<p>Moral of the story: Memorizing and regurgitating vocabulary words apparently has a correlation to intelligience. I guess we all do learn something new everyday!</p>
<p>the sat is simply a harder test than the act</p>
<p>Supposedly, the SAT is “innate” knowledge, while ACT is “learned” knowledge.</p>
<p>^ Fail… I worked my ass off to get better at the S.A.T, which was A LOT harder then the A.C.T. </p>
<p>The A.C.T is just a more straight forward test, with all intensive purposes, not really similar to the S.A.T, but The A.C.T is NO way harder then the S.A.T.</p>
<p>Consider this </p>
<p>How many students score a 2300+ ?
How many students score a 34+ ?
(Personal case: A close friend scored an 1800 on her S.A.T and a 35 on her A.C.T … Inflation much?) </p>
<p>According to the A.C.T - S.A.T conversion charts, that is what your score conversion would be (35(2360)(1800, Lol) </p>
<p>I feel that the A.C.T is just for those that are not good at taking the S.A.T; I have nothing against that, but to go and say that the A.C.T is harder, you must have lost your ****ing mind.</p>
<p>well the thing is, nobody takes the SAT because they are doing bad on the ACT, but everybody takes the ACT because they don’t do as well on the SAT</p>
<p>I’ve scored well on both [i think] or comparatively (2120/33)</p>
<p>Yeah, this thread is pretty much all rumor, much of it false. The SAT and ACT are very different tests. Some people find the SAT harder, some find it easier. My D, for example, consistently scores higher on the SAT than the ACT (though she scores well on both). She has close friends for whom it’s the opposite. As for the idea that some colleges prefer one or the other: show me some evidence. All colleges now accept both; and they all say they accept both equally. Why would they lie about it when thousands of kids are depending on them to give straight advice about such an important decision point in their lives?</p>
<p>Lmao, College admission is very, and I mean VERY strange process.</p>
<p>First of, it depends on luck.</p>
<p>And then come other factors such as grades ect.</p>
<p>IF you/son/daughter/first cousin three times removed decide to apply consider reading this… it might just be the most helpful piece of advice that you can possibly read online for free - for college lol. </p>
<p>[Dirty</a> Secrets of College Admissions - The Daily Beast](<a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-01-09/dirty-secrets-of-college-admissions/full/]Dirty”>The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News)</p>
<p>the thing is though, the “some” people who score higher on the act constitute about 90%.</p>
<p>The bell curves for the ACT and the SAT are effectively identical, as are the number of students taking the tests. There is no evidence for the proposition that test takers, on the whole, do better on one test than the other, and immense evidence to the contrary. All American universities and colleges weight the tests equally. </p>
<p>My son has been equally successful on both tests. Unfortunately for him, that will do little more than not disqualify him at top schools, because these tests are just one piece of the admissions puzzle.</p>
<p>i got a 33 on the act and a 2220 on the sat
my percentiles for each section on each test were not more than 2 percentage points off</p>
<p>^sounds pretty similar to me</p>
<p>Same here. I have gotten literally EQUAL scores on the SAT/ACT. My first ACT score (without studying) corresponds exactly to my first SAT score (without studying). After studying, both my scores improved and are again, equal based on the charts provided online.</p>
<p>I think both of them require hard work… I studied a lot over the summer after my junior yr because i got 1970 on SAT and 26 on ACT… but then I took the Sept. ACT and got a 31 and took the SAT in Oct. and got 2180…</p>
<p>
Vocabulary is just one component of many on the SAT. Indeed, having an extensive vocabulary is an advantage, but one could not know as much vocab and still receive the same CR score by reasoning through the sentence completion portion of CR. Let’s not forget what really makes the SAT the SAT: reading comprehension. And I think this is the most difficult section and at the same time most indicative of intelligence (and believe me, I’m not saying this because I do exceptionally well in reading comp; it is easily my weakest point, albeit I have found ways to reconcile that). Once again, I’m not a huge fan of the SAT, but I do think it’s more valuable than the ACT. Not more valuable in terms of getting into colleges, but more valuable in terms of offering more information about an applicant than an ACT could.</p>
<p>SAT > ACT imo</p>