ACT vs. SAT FAQ. The ACT

Transcription

1 Better scores. Better choices. ACT vs. SAT FAQ The SAT and ACT are fundamentally different tests with meaningful overlaps. Most students will, with equal preparation, perform nearly identically on both tests. However, given that there are differences between the tests in history, content, speededness and stress reactions, there are certain students for whom one test is much better. To help students make this determination, this FAQ aims to help students understand: How the ACT is structured; How the ACT differs from the SAT; The types of students who tend to prefer the ACT over the SAT; The significance of terms like Score Choice and Superscoring. The ACT The ACT is a product of American College Testing, a competitor to Educational Testing Service (ETS) and College Board, the creators of the SAT. Begun in 1959 by educational pioneer E.F. Lindquist, the ACT assessed only content knowledge and fundamental skills at a time when the SAT was presented as an IQ test, trafficking in arcane vocabulary and tricky questions noted for their "inside baseball" knowledge. Though the SAT has changed numerous times since the early 1950s and certainly is no longer an aspiring IQ test, it remains a reasoning test, while the ACT is an assessment test. The ACT is comprised of four sections: English: 45 minutes to answer 75 questions that test punctuation and rhetoric. One needs to know commas, apostrophes and dashes, as well as how to effectively join together sentences. Redundancy, diction and basic grammar are also tested. Most people can finish this section in time. Math: 60 minutes to answer 60 questions that test mostly algebra and geometry. Many questions are just wordy word problems, however, students will encounter higher-level math not found on the SAT. Many people run short on time in this section and also encounter some questions with properties and equations they simply do not know. Reading: 35 minutes to answer 40 questions. Four 10-question passages in prose fiction, social science, humanities and natural science. All of the questions are answerable from the text. It s not uncommon, however, for students to struggle to finish all four passages and forty questions in time.

2 Science 35 minutes to answer 40 questions. Seven 5-to-7-question passages in chemistry, biology, physics, geology, meteorology, etc. Outside knowledge is not required, as this is really the Reading Charts and Graphs Section. Familiarity with specific content knowledge, however, will certainly improve speed. Some basic science terms are tested within the context of the questions. Most people run short on time or at least have to rush to finish. How is the ACT scored? Like all standardized exams, the ACT is graded on a curve; in this case, scores range from 1-36, with 36 being a perfect score. The Composite score is the average of the English, Math, Reading and Science scores. Is there a penalty for wrong answers? Unlike the SAT, there is no penalty for incorrect answers on the ACT; they are treated the same as omitted questions. Students, therefore, should fill in all of the bubbles on an answer sheet if they are running short on time. What s the most common student reaction to the ACT? Most students feel the ACT is a more straightforward test, but one in which they are more pressed for time. It is a 2:55 minute exam (plus another 30 minutes for the essay). The SAT is a 3:20 minute exam (plus another 25 minutes for the essay). It will benefit students to explore how these factors affect their performance when assessing which test is the better match for them. Do colleges look at the ACT differently from the SAT? The US News and World Report College Ranking Guide treats the ACT and SAT as equivalent tests. Colleges do too. Even among highly selective colleges and universities, the ACT has equal standing with the SAT. William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Harvard, assures, We accept ACT and SAT scores on an absolutely equal basis." Students can rest assured the same is true at any school where they intend to apply. What schools do not take the ACT? At last check, the lone holdout was the Webb School of Naval Architecture. Should students take the ACT with Writing? While the ACT Writing score is not part of the Composite score, many colleges still want students tested on an essay. All students should plan to take the ACT with Writing and try to do their best.

3 ACT vs. SAT ACT English vs. SAT Writing: The SAT more consistently tests on the deviation between standard written English and how we actually speak the language, while the ACT focuses more on testing punctuation. The SAT Writing section, therefore, principally addresses grammatical points (subject-verb agreement, pronouns, parallelism, dangling participles, etc.). The ACT English section principally addresses the mechanics of punctuation (commas, apostrophes, dashes) and rhetoric (transitions, sentence order, conjunctions). Students who don't have an ear for language are likely to struggle on both, but may find more success on the ACT English. However, there are two important strategic concerns: 1.) The ACT English is more important : As many colleges are still not affording the SAT Writing section as much weight as the Critical Reading and Math sections in their admissions decisions, students may be able to slightly tumble on the Writing section without greatly hurting their admissions chances. Not so on the ACT. Because the Composite is a pivotal number for admissions and the English score affects the Composite score, a poor showing on the English section cannot be swept under the rug. 2.) The essay in the SAT Writing is more important : One-third of the SAT Writing score comes from the graded essay (the section s multiple-choice questions account for the other two-thirds of the score). In contrast, the ACT essay s score is not incorporated into the Composite score. When choosing a test, students should consider their comfort with writing timed essays and whether they re better served by having a graded essay integrated into, or excluded from, an important score for admissions. ACT Reading vs. SAT Reading: The ACT Reading is straightforward. The answers are in the passages. The test, however, is designed to ensure that only strong readers can comfortably finish all of the questions in time. The ACT has the advantage of not emphasizing vocabulary the way the SAT does, so students with weaker vocabularies (non-native English speakers, for example) will generally have a much higher potential on the ACT Reading. The inherent difficulty of the SAT Critical Reading is not found in the level of the text or a lack of time, but in the cleverness of the answer choices. Students frequently feel bedeviled when trying to decide between two answers. Students who have an ability to parse language, with effective guidance, can learn to see through the SAT. Students for whom such an approach is difficult may find greater success on the ACT Reading. ACT Math vs. SAT Math: Both the SAT and ACT Math sections cover arithmetic, geometry, and algebra I. A handful of items from algebra II also make an appearance on both tests, including functions, coordinate geometry and analytic geometry.

4 The math on the ACT has the benefit of being more straightforward, however, at the highest level, more advanced. Students may encounter problems on logarithms, trigonometry, matrices and conic sections concepts not tested by the SAT. Dutiful students, therefore, will likely find the ACT Math more to their liking, as the most difficult problems test more esoteric topics. Clever students, especially ones who have not yet encountered math beyond geometry, may perform better on the SAT Math, where the most difficult problems are tricky versions of more rudimentary math. ACT Essay vs. the SAT Essay: The essay on the ACT typically asks questions about school life, teen issues or educational policy questions that students should form an opinion on and defend with examples. This essay tends to be easy for most students. The essay on the SAT typically asks more philosophical questions that are best answered with concrete examples from history, literature, etc. Students who are comfortable with generating detailed support will feel at ease with the SAT essay. Keep in mind that the SAT begins with an essay and the ACT ends with one. Some students prefer to get the writing over with, while others would prefer to save their energy for the multiple-choice questions and tackle the essay last. Should I take both tests? Which Test is Right for Me? There is no advantage to taking both tests and you certainly don t need both. Moreover, there has to be a better use for your Saturday mornings than sitting for yet another standardized test! A much better plan: take the PSAT and the PLAN (if it is offered at your school) to get practice and familiarity with the tests and a prediction of how you might score on each. If you re not able to do so, take a practice SAT and ACT test. Make an educated decision about which test is better for you (hopefully, this FAQ is helping!), and then put your energy into preparing for that test. Is the ACT easier than the SAT? Any test s degree of difficulty is a function of its power (the absolute difficulty of its questions) and its speededness (the number of questions that can be answered in the allotted time). The SAT has a higher power and lower speededness. The ACT is the flip. Having all day to do questions on the SAT won t change the fact that there are vocabulary words that you simply doesn t know or that there are certain math questions that are just too tricky. With the ACT, students frequently feel as if they could have worked through all of the questions if they had more time. Students trying to figure out which test is the better test for them should consider which test plays to their strengths, how their anxiety manifests itself, and whether the structure of one test is less anxiety-inducing than the other.

5 You might do better on the ACT relative to the SAT if You re a fast reader. You re comfortable with the more advanced math tested on the ACT (trigonometry functions, conic sections and logarithms). You re a highly academic student who is prone to test anxiety. Anxiety can affect working memory (the ability to mentally retain information for a short period of time). Since ACT questions are structured in a way that is less dependent upon working memory, an anxious student s performance on the ACT may be less affected by test-day nerves. You might do better on the SAT relative to the ACT if You are a sharp wise-guy (or girl). The SAT rewards people whose mindset is to look for the angle. You have a killer vocabulary and don t need Spark Notes or an explanation to figure out what even the densest text is saying. You are a slower reader but can analytically approach reading comprehension questions. You have no idea what a conic section is because your math class hasn t yet covered the higherlevel math tested on the ACT. Finally, if you can get extra time on one test but not the other, take the test you can get extra time on. If you can get extra time on both, take the ACT. What is Score Choice? Begun with the high school class of 2010, the SAT joined the ACT in allowing students the option of choosing which scores to report by test date. In theory, you now can send the results of a May test, but not a January test, if the January test didn t turn out as planned. This gives you the freedom to swing for the fences as if it s a home run derby, ignore the whiffs, and then only send the killer score to create the impression that you are a natural. HOWEVER: Several schools still require applicants to report the scores from every standardized test taken. Prudent students, therefore, should err on the side of caution: don t rely heavily on the Score Choice policy to cover up poor scores. Continue to treat standardized tests as students did in years past. Don t take the SAT (or the ACT for that matter) to see how it goes or to get a baseline score. Be prepared. Have an idea of where your scores will come out before taking an official test. If you don t do your best the first time out, it is not a crisis. Prepare a bit more, and take the test again. What is Superscoring? Superscoring is the process by which colleges form your aggregate standardized test score by cherrypicking the highest sub-scores from individual sections across multiple test dates. Before Score Choice, most schools calculated their SAT scores in this way, and many still do. Some schools also superscore ACT sub scores, yet the most important score remains the highest Composite score. Regardless of which test a student takes, it is vitally important that he or she check on the testing policies of the schools they are applying to before deciding which scores to send.