<p>
[quote]
I have to admit to be unable to understand the origin and the correctness of such statement
[/quote]
To be honest Xiggi, I think the origin lies with the ACT folks themselves. They have in the past used the "curriculum driven" concept to differentiate themselves from the College Board folks. I tend to agree with you that the the distinction between the two tests is minimal. Still, many people seem to handle one better than the other.</p>
<p>I think this whole "which do colleges prefer, SAT vs. ACT" question is really mostly of historical interest. There are very very few colleges nowadays that accept the SAT only (Cal Tech comes to mind) and none accept ACT only. We saw the two different Yale adcoms questioned in detail about this...and they both insisted that what is posted on the website is true. They accept EITHER the new SAT with 2 SAT IIs OR the ACT with no SAT IIs. Kids who don't want to take SAT IIs should consider the ACT. Of course, Harvard still insists on 3 SAT IIs with either test even though both the SAT and the ACT have a writing section.</p>
<p>Regarding the comparison between ACT and SAT, one reason people assume the ACT is more curriculum driven is that it has all those subscores; and students can therefore fairly readily categorize the types of questions in which they do better or worse.</p>
<p>Another reason may be that the ACT tends to be a somewhat stronger predictor of college performance than the SAT I. That's what the background statistical analysis by the University of California showed a few years back, as I recall.</p>
<p>There's no question that the SAT and ACT approach their questioning differently. I'm not sure if "curriculum driven" is the right word, but the ACT does seem to be more direct in their questioning. If you understand the underlying concept, you'll probably answer the question correctly. With the SAT the underlying concept may be simpler but you need to be careful in the application, considering all the possibilities. As an example, here are two questions I pulled from the respective ACT/SAT web-sites. I don't think anyone who's taken both tests will have any difficulty recognizing which question matches which organization.</p>
<p>If two sides of the triangle above have lengths 5 and 6, the perimeter of the triangle could be which of the following? </p>
<p>11
15
24 </p>
<p>(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III </p>
<ol>
<li> In the standard (x,y) coordinate plane, the graph of
(x - 2)2 + (y + 4)2 = 9 is a circle.
What is the area enclosed by this circle, expressed in square coordinate units?
A. 3 pi</li>
</ol>
<p>B. 4 pi</p>
<p>C. 6 pi</p>
<p>D. 9 pi</p>
<p>E. 16 pi</p>
<p>I believe that another origin is the reason we have a new SAT. The state of CA almost switching to the ACT because it is more curriculum based. With the newer test there is little difference between them . . . perhaps there never was much difference but the perception was created.</p>
<p>At my kids' HS, they recommend all juniors take the SAT, SAT IIs & ACT. The can take any additional tests they need in their senior year. As a junior son took the SAT I (old) twice & then took the new SAT with writing only once & will have taken 5 SATIIs (the last one was Oct of senior year so he could take Math II). He took the ACT in the spring of his junior year & got a 34 composite, which correlates pretty closely with his 2230 SAT anyway.</p>
<p>My school required us to take both SAT I and ACT plus 3 SAT 2s.</p>
<p>Bluebayou...you can add another "right brainer" who did so much better on the ACT....</p>