What is the prestige difference between the SAT and ACT?

Test Preparation
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<p>I have taken the SAT and ACT practice tests from Princeton Review at their locations and scored better on the ACT than SAT (34 vs 1920). Do colleges have a preference of test? If these were my scores, should I submit both? Is it better to take just one and do well than two and not do as well? What is the best prep book(s) for ACT? I'm really good at math and science but my reading is not so good. My SAT score was like 790 m 740 w and reading really low. My ACT scores were much better (I chose my lowest as my final score) with 36 m 36 s 35 w 34 r.</p>

<p>So my main question is, is it okay to just take the ACT for really prestigious schools?</p>

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<p>Colleges don’t have a preference. It is ok to submit only the ACT (depending on the school’s policy). Some schools require you to send all your scores, some do not. </p>

<p>By the way, you got a 35 on that practice test – you average the 4 scores. 35 is much better. You could just equate it to the SAT through sources online – 35 equates to about a 2320.</p>

<p>Take the test you are more comfortable with (obviously it is the ACT for you). The best prep book is The Real ACT Book (red book). If you want to prepare for the SAT, get the Collegeboard Blue Book</p>

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<p>I’ll second what jibler said. Colleges don’t care whether you take the ACT or SAT, just as long as you take the ACT with writing if that’s the one you choose. If you’re not sure which of your scores is better, Wikipedia is your answer.
<a href=“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT[/url]”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>It is unfair. ACT is lot easier than SAT.</p>

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<p>A significant percentage of applicants to top schools submit good scores from both tests. Although it’s true there is no preference for one test over the other, submitting strong scores on both tests does boost an application.</p>

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<p>^can you cite the source for this assertion? If your claim is true, it would greatly advantage those who can afford two tests, two review courses. I find that outcome hard to believe. Source?</p>

<p>Ysr2009 - the tests are scaled. Therefore, there is no difference. A person scoring at the precise mean on both tests is the same.</p>

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<p>There are some colleges for which sending both an ACT and SAT can be to your advantage but not for the reason noted above about creating a boost to your application:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>There are some colleges, Gtech and Rose Hulman included, that superscore the combined tests, using for admission your higher math from either test and the higher of your critical reading on the SAT or English on the ACT (those colleges ignore the reading and science scores on the ACT and the composite score on both)…</p></li>
<li><p>There are colleges which require SAT subject tests that take ACT in lieu of both SAT and the subject tests that consider the two groups of tests separately. Yale is one. If you send ACT, it is considered alone and if you also provide subject tests with the ACT, the subject tests are not considered at all. The subject tests are considered only if you submit SAT and thus if you want them considered you must submit an SAT. If you submit all three it determines which it believes is better for you, the ACT or, separately, the SAT plus the two subject tests.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Also, if you in fact have both a high SAT and high ACT, you probably should send both because the college will use that one it believes is the higher score and you cannot rely on the conversion tables you find on-line to determine which is the higher. Those tables are based on data from over 6 years ago and colleges may rely on more recent data and their own conversion tables which may differ from what you see on-line. Moreover, many colleges consider the math and English scores in the ACT to be the more important and thus if those are your lower ACT section scores you may want to send a comparable SAT with better math and CR scores.</p>

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<p>@niceday
Where did you find that information?</p>

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<p>It is much easier getting 36 in ACT than 2400 in SAT.</p>

<p>36M, 36S, 35R, 35W will result in a composite score of 36!</p>

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<p>The 36 ACT is achieved by less than half of one tenth of one percent. I believe it’s .04 of 1%.</p>

<p>What percentage get a 2400 on the SAT?</p>

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<p>@momfromme
781 students out of 1,666,017 who took the ACT in 2012 got a perfect 36, yielding a total ratio of 0.0004.
Source: <a href=“http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2012/pdf/profile/National2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2012/pdf/profile/National2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>360 students out of 1,664,479 who took the SAT in 2012 got a perfect 2400, yielding a ratio of 0.0002.
Source:<a href=“http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-Composite-CR-M-W-2012.pdf[/url]”>http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/research/SAT-Percentile-Ranks-Composite-CR-M-W-2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Wow. Thanks for posting that, EdifiedLiterate.</p>

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<p>For those who asked about my earlier post, the trend toward taking, and submitting scores from, both tests to top schools has been covered frequently in recent blogs and articles. Here is an example from the NYT: <a href=“More Students Are Taking Both the ACT and SAT - The New York Times”>More Students Are Taking Both the ACT and SAT - The New York Times;
One excerpt:

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<p>@ysr2009 Just not true. It’s just your personal opinion. And 0.0002% and 0.0004% doesn’t change much of your application. They are both hard to get. There are many people who got in to Ivys just with ACTs, and college admission officers also say they really, really have no preference, and it’s just a myth people like to create. (search youtube videos on your own. Not gonna spend time on Youtube just to link it here.)</p>

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<p>What if my actual SAT score is lower than my ACT score when you convert them? Would that look bad?</p>