Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Difference between ACT and SAT

I am curious about those who have taken both tests which one did you or your kiddo score higher on and why? I have read on the internet the differences etc. I was looking for a more personal experience. We need an ACT score for an early entrance college program and have been advised by the program to wait till the Feb. 11 date and to take the test only once. She needs an 85 percentile score. I am curious how she might do compared to her SAT scores. Thanks in advance.

The ACT is more knowledge-based, while the SAT is more reasoning-based. DC20 didn't take it much earlier than usual, but his scores were higher on the SAT (2E, though, so some reading issues might have happened with the ACT). DC17 scored better on the ACT than the SAT, but she's more of a high-achiever with a lot of effort.

A very long time ago, I took both as young pre-teen. My SAT scores were higher than my ACT scores, although they were somewhat similar. I wasn't accelerated in school at that point, so I struggled a bit with the purely knowledge-based questions in the writing and math sections. That would be something she could look over before the exam, though. I believe there are review materials for the ACT these days.

It's been 20 years, but my scores were similar, both the overall scores and the individual scores for math and literacy.

I can only speak to the math side of the ACT. I actually have written practice questions for the ACT for a test prep company near where I live. The ACT is all about knowledge. The questions aren't tricky, but they do involve higher math than the SAT. For example, the ACT covers basic trigonometry, functions, practical geometry but not calculus. I can see younger students who are gifted doing better on the SAT just because they may not have been exposed to some of these other math concepts. The ACT also has a section on science.

I hit the ceiling on one test and nearly so on the other and took both over 20 years ago. I understand the SAT has changed significantly since.

IIRC, the ACT was a lot more fun and more fact based when it came to the math and science sections. I felt I could grunt out the answer based on what I knew. On the SAT I had to think hard about some questions. On both tests, being able to quickly finish easy problems and checking your work was essential.

On the verbal side, the ACT was more about the mechanics of grammar and comprehension whereas the SAT was about shades of meaning and knowing obscure vocabulary words.

The thing I remember is that the ACT included Science in addition to Math, Reading & Writing. I remember I did much better on the ACT than the SAT, probably because the Math portion weighed less.

Your best bet is probably to just pick up book of practice tests for each one (available at most bookstores and at Amazon) and let her have a go at both under conditions that are as similar to real testing conditions as you can manage (quiet, timed, etc.) That will give you a feel for which test and format she is more comfortable with, and will make the real thing a little less intimidating.

That likely would be the case for my dd as well. I do believe that the early entrance program flower's dd is looking at wants around the 85th percentile on math, reading, and english on the ACT and doesn't really strongly consider the composite or science scores so much.

I agree. Great advice.

I am currently a college freshman and I took both the ACT (32, then 33) and the SAT (2290), so I can hopefully shed a little light. As others have mentioned, the science and math sections of the ACT can be a little tougher if you haven't seen the material yet. The other thing to consider is the difference in how the tests are taken - the ACT has each subtest in one, long chunk (i.e. 45 minutes for 75 questions in English), while the SAT offers parts of each subtest in 20-25 min increments. I personally "enjoyed" taking the SAT more because the smaller segments helped me pace myself with less stress and it was nice to alternate between English, math, and writing instead of working on the same subject for a long time.