<p>Hey Parents, here's a kid looking for advice. I have not found the answer to this anywhere. </p>
<p>Im just wondering if anyone knows what prototype performs better on the ACT as opposed to the SAT, a math-oriented test taker or an english-oriented test taker? (by oriented I mean that the student perfroms better in this area.)</p>
<p>My guess is that because the ACT includes a science section, the math-oriented kids outperform their counterparts here, helping them catch up for their deficiencies in reading and writing, an opportunity they dont have with the SAT.</p>
<p>Therefore my assumption is that when scores are translated, math-oriented kids do generally better on the ACT while english-oriented kids perform better on the SAT.</p>
<p>I want to find out if this is true, preferrably not guesses, but people who have sons or daughters that are clearly stronger in a particular area and have actually done better on either test. I am sure your contribution will help out a lot of people, so please take the time to write down a few lines. </p>
<p>I think my son did slightly better on SAT (1570) than on ACT (34). He was strong on both math and verbal. (SAT II's were similar to his SAT I's -- 800, 800, 740.)</p>
<p>Remember that there is a standard conversion of SAT to an "equivalent" ACT score and this conversion probably already adjusts for any potential bias such as you are predicting.</p>
<p>I'm not a parent, but I don't think it's a matter of whether the kid is a math kid or an english kid but rather different kinds of testtakers.</p>
<p>The SAT tests reasoning abilities, so the student who has better logic and visual/spacial skills will perform better. Time is not really a big concern on the SAT. Also, there are a lot of tricky questions on the SAT. Vocabulary is big so students who know a lot of words will do better.</p>
<p>The ACT is a very straightforward test, but on the otherhand, time is very limited. The student who is a fast worker, who remembers a lot from the stuff he/she learned in high school classes will perform better. The material the student learns in school really can affect how the student performs. If the student is strong in grammar, he/she will have an advantage in the english portion. The math problems aren't difficult, but they cover a lot of different topics. Usually fast readers perform better on the reading section. Also, taking AP sciences at school really helps on the science section, because many times, the student will already have done the lab or a similar one or at least know the concepts behind it.</p>
<p>jdelavalle, D has only taken the PSAT and PLAN but the issues should be the same. As a math oriented kid she did equally well on both "Tests", while her lack of vocabulary and tricky reading passages combined on the PSAT to lower her scores (67 CR , 76 math ,67 writing) several points below the percentiles she received on the non-math sections of the PLAN. I believe the same will hold true for the SAT and ACT, but she will take both.</p>
<p>Jdelaville, the ACT science section is not quite what you are thinking about, unlike the rest of the ACT which is very content oriented (grammar, algebra to trig), it is about reading graphs/tables and charts, synthesizing information. There are some content questions, but they are mostly fairly basic - the kids who have trouble, don't realize that you don't really need to know any of the theory behind the experiment, the question is about drawing conclusions from the graph or table.</p>
<p>My daughter who made 800V, really struggled with the English subsection on the ACT, because her school teaches basic grammar in middle school, and because the hard questions in that subsection are very hard/ very subjective - she asked my opinion of some questions on the practice tests, and I found them challenging in the sense that you could eliminate 2 or 3 responses, but were left with 2 responses that you could make a good case for. Because the ACT is content based, for her the math scores varied widely - the first time she took it the math was more familiar, the second time they threw in more questions about topics that either she hadn't covered or had covered too long before the test.</p>
<p>My daughter is a strong Math/Science student and liked the SAT better, and scored better on it in both Math/English. She did not send her ACT scores to colleges, only her SAT scores</p>
<p>She felt that if she had more time on the ACT she would have gotten a higher score.</p>
<p>So I guess it depends on the type of student that you are. If you work quickly, the ACT would be good for you.</p>
<p>I could add that my daughter, who is an "art" person, did virtually equivalently on SAT I (1350) as on ACT (29), if anything slightly higher on SAT I. Of course this may in part be due to the fact that (in both her case and her older brother's case) they took the SAT a few times over the years (talent search, PSAT, and SAT) but only took the ACT once.</p>
<p>Since the ACT is not given by Collegeboard, is it possible to take the ACT, self report the scores, and only if scores outweigh translation to SAT score, then release to colleges? Anyone know??????</p>
<p>Smiles, I posted this info on another thread, but it is fairly well buried. The key to effective use of the ACT is register for it without sending scores to either your high school or to colleges. Many high schools will include your score reports as part of your transcript, even if you don't submit official scores. After you have obtained a satisfactory score, request a score report to your high school and to your selected colleges.
As to differences between the two, my second child scored far better on the ACT than the SAT. I think part of this was due to the way our school system prepares the kids for college testing (very few take the SAT), but she also felt less pressure taking the ACT armed with the knowledge that colleges would only view her best effort. It's well worth the extra few dollars for a score report after the scores are released to the student.</p>
<p>My S did better on the ACT than the SAT. He tends to overanalyze on standardized tests and reads into things, making some questions into "trick questions." His ACT converted score was 110 points higher than his SAT. I don't think math/science vs. English/humanities bent had anything to do with it. He sent only the ACT score to his ED school and got a significant merit award.</p>
<p>2VU0609 what you're telling me is great. I guess I can just give the ACT a shot and if it works out better great, and if not it doesn't matter. I guess even that thought will help me perform better on that test since I wont have that pressure of having to do well.</p>
<p>So far my conclusion seems to be:
There seems to be little correlation between math/english oriented kids preforming better on either exam. I guess I'll just have to take both of them, lol. I'd like to keep the thread going so please post other opinions. Thanks to everyone who has replied.</p>
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[quote]
The key to effective use of the ACT is register for it without sending scores to either your high school or to colleges. Many high schools will include your score reports as part of your transcript, even if you don't submit official scores. After you have obtained a satisfactory score, request a score report to your high school and to your selected colleges.
[/quote]
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<p>I would very much second this advice. We had this same issue with our son's h.s. in that they wanted to submit ALL scores that they acquired as part of his transcript. Ironically, there was no room on the actual transcript for the college entrance exam test scores, so all scores were run off in a very unofficial-looking fashion on another piece of paper, but in their mind's eye, the scores were still considered part of the transcript. My son was insistent that for a couple of the schools, he preferred to send ONLY the ACT score. He fought the good fight to no avail. At that point, I intervened, and lo and behold, with the mere whisper of a call to my attorney, the superintendent "rethought the issue" and agreed to send only those scores the student wanted sent (DUH!). Of course in retrospect, my son would have avoided all of this in the first place by NOT sending the scores to the h.s. until after my he saw them.</p>
<p>Back to the original question...my son took both tests. He is fairly evenly split in his math/verbal abilities and has always before now scored more highly on math/science tests. Nevertheless, he scored better on the English/verbal parts of both, getting a perfect 36 on the ACT English section and a 35 on the Reading. He thought that all in all, the ACT was a bit easier. He found the English/Reading stuff to be more straightforward on that test and more usage oriented than vocab. oriented. He thought that in the areas of both verbal and math, the SAT was more "convoluted" or "tricky". The only thing that surprised him about the math on the ACT was that on his particular test, there was a good deal of probability stuff, something he did not expect. But, I understand that this can differ substantially between individual tests (if you take it more than once).</p>
<p>I'm a english oriented student and on the SAT got a 800 v, 710 m (with some minor studying) and a 36 writing, 36 verbal, 35 math, 34 science, 35 combined ACT (with no studying)...that ACT converts to a 1580 SAT, so I guess I'd say the ACT was easier</p>