The ACT is faster paced, but has simpler questions that can be answered in that time frame. Both of my kids (one a stem kid, and one a humanities kid) preferred it and made great progress each time they took it. One went from a 26 to a 33 over 3 tries and the other went from a 25 to a 30 over three tries.

Anonymous wrote:From parent of 10th grader, looking for some BTDT.

If your kid really preferred one over the other, what was the difference for them? Do you see any other advantages to one over the other?

And, what level of math (and science for the ACT) are really required/beneficial for these tests?

thanks

I have six kids.
The first two only took SAT they did more than fine.
Third child's school everyone took both tests
By fourth & fifth we only did ACT

Mine preferred ACT for them the test structure was way better.
As for how much math is required, math is an easy subject in my house. By the time my kids took these tests they were way beyond math needed like past AP Calulus. Yes, we do math. LOL

Picking between the two if only taking one I wouls do the ACT. If you can afford it do both.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The trend that I had been noticing is that American-born STEM students seemed to prefer the SAT - math is worth 50% and presumably they know English. Humanities students I know have done well on the ACT - Math counts for only 25%.

interesting. both my dcs did the diagnostic and both came back with recs to take the ACT even though 1 DC is an insanely good math student (ACT made total sense for other as they are humanities all the way).

The salient points I remember -
schools don't care about either
ACT is a much faster pace test - need to move through a lot of material to do well
easier to improve math score with ACT while one can hit a ceiling on math score if not good at math

DCs ended up with identical ACT score - 35 - which shocked all of us, especially the not strong math kid who took the test a year later. Took test in April and DC thinks it was a lucky curve.

can you explain this point? as compared to SAT?

my 10th grader was set to take a practice ACT this morning via zoom. I printed out the test questions and when she told me she didn't have enough science to take the ACT, we looked at the science section. Sure enough, the first handful of science questions were straight physics (not terribly hard but completely undoable unless you've studied it). So she did not take the practice test. Too bad because I feel she may do better on the ACT format.

Anonymous wrote:ACT is better if your kid is more right brained.

The whole right-brain person vs left-brain person has been soundly debunked. https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/right-vs-left-myth

ACT is better if your kid is more right brained.

Anonymous wrote:The trend that I had been noticing is that American-born STEM students seemed to prefer the SAT - math is worth 50% and presumably they know English. Humanities students I know have done well on the ACT - Math counts for only 25%.

interesting. both my dcs did the diagnostic and both came back with recs to take the ACT even though 1 DC is an insanely good math student (ACT made total sense for other as they are humanities all the way).

The salient points I remember -
schools don't care about either
ACT is a much faster pace test - need to move through a lot of material to do well
easier to improve math score with ACT while one can hit a ceiling on math score if not good at math

DCs ended up with identical ACT score - 35 - which shocked all of us, especially the not strong math kid who took the test a year later. Took test in April and DC thinks it was a lucky curve.

ACT has less time per question. More straightforward language.
SAT has more time per question. Less straightforward language.

There is no substitute for trying both. Timed at home. There are free official practice tests available online.

The trend that I had been noticing is that American-born STEM students seemed to prefer the SAT - math is worth 50% and presumably they know English. Humanities students I know have done well on the ACT - Math counts for only 25%.

If your kid isn’t a speed reader i’d have them focus on the SAT

Anonymous wrote:ASVAB or gtfo.

+1 Most kids would be better served doing ASVAB and taking time off from school to mature.

ASVAB or gtfo.

I think the best advice is have your DC take a practice test of each and then focus on the one they perform better on. Every college consultant I’ve ever heard speak on the subject says schools have absolutely no preference between them. I think it’s more a question of format than difficulty. FWIW, the SAT is about to change to 2 hours (down from 3) and is using dynamic questions, meaning they start with baseline questions that then decide which later question you will answer. Not everyone will take the same test. If you do well on the early questions you get harder later questions which will enable you to score high. But if you botch some early questions, you will be capped out at a middling score because you’ll only be given medium difficulty questions. People are curious how this will play out and whether the ACT will follow suit.

As part of test prep some companies will give your child a short assessment to evaluate which test is a better fit. I think ACT has science and maybe less verbal.

From parent of 10th grader, looking for some BTDT.

If your kid really preferred one over the other, what was the difference for them? Do you see any other advantages to one over the other?

And, what level of math (and science for the ACT) are really required/beneficial for these tests?

thanks