ACT vs SAT
Coke vs. Pepsi, Ford vs. Chevrolet, ACT vs SAT. Take your pick. To colleges and universities, it makes no difference. Each exam is given approximately six to eight times a year, mostly to high school juniors and seniors, both within the US and internationally. Over 3 million combined ACT and SAT tests were administered to seniors in 2012. Colleges will accept scores from either test, so students don't need to take both of them. Yet as similar as the tests are (both have sections on Math and Reading comprehension), there are some subtle and not-so-subtle differences.
The SAT, administered by the College Board, went online starting in 2024 and consists of four sections covering two subjects: Reading (two sections) and Mathematics (two sections). Testing is somewhat adaptive as the level of difficulty in the second section of each subject is based on how well the student performed in the first section. Both math sections allow you to use a calculator and Desmos Graphing is provided as part of the test. Students receive a combined English/Reading sub-score (between 400-800) and a Math sub-score (between 400-800) which are added to generate their overall SAT score (between 800-1,600).
The ACT, created by American College Testing, will have the option of being taken online or via paper sometime during 2025. There are four sections - English, Mathematics (calculator active), Reading, and Science. Starting mid-2025, the Science section will be optional. Students receive four (or three) sub-scores, one for English, Math, Reading (and Science) each between 0-36, along with their total score, the average of the four (three) individual sub-scores.
There are quite a few differences between the two tests, including:
Half of the SAT score is Mathematics, but only a quarter (or third) of the ACT score is Math
The ACT has an optional Science section, which technically isn't as much science as it is interpreting data (graphs and charts), although basic knowledge of science is required for some questions
Students have less time per question on the ACT than the SAT - the ACT is more of a sprint, but some consider their questions to be slightly less challenging than the ones on the SAT
The College Board and American College Testing together created an equivalency table that "converts" a score from one test into a corresponding equivalent score on the other exam. Sample questions can be found on both of their websites.
LINKS
ACT: https://www.act.org/
SAT: https://www.collegeboard.org/
Concordance Tables for converting scores between tests:
https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/ACT-SAT-Concordance-Tables.pdf