SAT, ACT: which one or both? why or why not? how are they different?

[butterfly113]

I am certain this is covered on here somewhere. I have read more about these tests, dates, prep, college apps and the like over the past several days than my brain can handle. It is a lot to consider, and I am forever grateful for the wisdom on this board.

 

With all of that said, I am wondering if it matters which test is taken. Other than obvious reasons that a particular college only accepts one test or the other.......

Should a student only take one or the other?

SAT or ACT? which one?

Should they take both?

Why or why not?

How are the SAT and ACT tests different?

 

I am curious to the wisdom and thoughts from the hive... GO ! :hurray:

 

IF this topic is discussed at length on the board elsewhere and I could not find it, PLEASE point me to the thread, or post a link in comments. Thank you. 

[JBJones]

:bigear:

[8filltheheart]

Al schools accept either one. I would have my student take a couple of practice tests from both formats and see if they do better on one vs the other. My kids have been split. Some do equally well on both; some definitely skew better on one over the other.

 

If they take the PSAT and score high enough to be considered for NMF, they have to have a verifying SAT score.

[EKS]

Just a heads up:  The new SAT is much more like the ACT than the old one was.

 

And I agree with 8--Have your student take several practice tests and then decide.

[Lanny]

My DD is beginning 10th grade now. I plan for her to take both exams. Why? Because some students do better on one than on the other. Also, because the new  SAT is an unknown.  I also plan for her to take the PSAT and the  preliminary ACT exam (I can't remember the name of that one as I type this).

As you wrote, some universities accept either exam, some one or the other. 

[learners4life]

Speed seems to be a bigger factor with the ACT than with the SAT...

 

[mschickie]

You might just want to take both of them at least once and see how the student does.  Then you can decide if you want to retest to improve the score.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I haven't personally run into a school that only accepts one or the other. However out state university wants extra stuff from homeschoolers. Either an accredited diploma or a FED or 5 SAT Subject test scores or the ACT. The ACT is the easiest of these in my mind.

[G5052]

One of mine has struggled with math some and actually did better on the SAT versus the ACT because the SAT math problems tend more towards reading and reasoning. The ACT also requires some memorization of formulas.

 

So for us, the math is the driver.

Edited August 31, 2016 by G5052

[Arcadia]

Both. It takes two Saturday mornings only. If your child take either one, you would be spending time second guessing if he could have done better on the other. My oldest did better on the ACT compare to the new SAT on first try. No way we could guess which one he could have scored better.

[Shelly in VA]

Both! The schools my kids were applying to seemed to favor the SAT, but accepted either score, so we prepped for the SAT and took it first, then did more minor prep for the ACT a few months later. Dd scored slightly better on the SAT; Ds scored better on the ACT. For me, it was completely worth the peace of mind to have both scores to present to schools (it felt like they were validating the transcript and other scores), and it stopped me from wondering, "What if...?" Also, after prepping for one, it was a simple task to prep for the other. Really, the only thing we did for the ACT was to take a few practice tests in advance, and since the kids already had SAT scores they were happy with, it didn't seem to put much pressure on them to take another.