What Distinguishes the ACT from the SAT?
For international students applying to US and other international universities, choosing between the SAT and the ACT is a significant decision. Educational institutions typically acknowledge and give significant weight to the outcomes of these standardized exams when making admissions choices. While they are comparable in that they both seek to ascertain whether a student is ready for college success, they differ greatly in terms of structure, content, scoring, and the skills they assess. These differences should be understood by students everywhere so they can select an exam that best suits their learning style and academic goals.
SAT VS ACT: Definition
SAT: Two standardized examinations that assess students’ college preparation are administered to applicants for admission to U.S. colleges: the SAT and the ACT. Critical reading, writing, and advanced math—including trigonometry—are prioritized on the SAT.
ACT: The ACT places greater emphasis on basic problem-solving techniques, language, and punctuation. While the topics covered in math are similar, the assessments’ approaches and structures are different.
SAT: Structure, Scores, and Skills Analyzed
To give institutions a way to compare all of their candidates, the College Board created the SAT to gauge a student’s level of preparedness for college.
Structure:
1)Reading time: 65 minutes, 52 questions. This section evaluates evidentiary sufficiency, reading comprehension, and the capacity to understand challenging texts.
2)Writing and Language: 35 minutes, 44 questions. In this domain, editing skills, context-based vocabulary, and grammar are assessed.
3)Math (20 questions, 25 minutes) without a calculator. The focus of this section is on algebra, problem solving, and data analysis without the use of a calculator.35 minutes, 38 questions in math (calculator). More difficult mathematical problems, such those needing understanding of geometry and trigonometry, can be found here.
4)Essay: One prompt, fifty minutes (optional). While most schools no longer require essays, they are still used to evaluate students’ writing and critical thinking abilities.
ACT: Structure, Scores, and Skills Analyzed
United States college admissions also heavily utilize the American College Testing (ACT), which is managed by ACT, Inc. Structure:
1)English: 75 questions, 45 minutes. Rhetorical abilities, sentence construction, punctuation, and grammar are all evaluated in this part.
2)Math: 60 questions, 60 minutes. Algebra, geometry, and trigonometry are only a few of the many subjects covered in the Math area.
3)Reading: 40 questions, 35 minutes. Literacy in the social sciences, the humanities, and the scientific sciences is tested here via reading comprehension passages.
4)Science: 40 questions, 35 minutes. The Science portion evaluates the candidate’s ability to think critically and solve problems using evidence from the scientific community.
5)Writing (Optional): 1 prompt, 40 minutes. Students must formulate and express their viewpoint on a certain topic in the Writing part.
