Which Is Better, the SAT or the ACT?

As a tutor for the past nineteen years, I have been asked numerous times the magic question: “which test is better, the SAT or the ACT.” Until the College Board completely altered the playing field in March of 2016 by dramatically changing its test, I would have responded that neither one was better, that that they were simply two distinct tests. Until last March, the SAT was based, in large part, on tricks and traps while the ACT was more based on knowledge. That analysis and comparison is no longer valid.

So is it really possible to label one or the other test as “better”? In terms of one test or the other being “better”, that is much like trying to define beauty. As the old saw goes, it is in the eye of the beholder. Some students will naturally perform better on the SAT, others better on the ACT while many will earn equivalent scores on each.

Both tests include sections which test the students’ knowledge of grammar and ability to handle a variety of mathematical issues. The grammar sections on both tests are not, for many students a problem in terms of time. However, on the ACT math the student has, on the average, only one minute per question, while on the SAT, the student is given, on the average, 75 seconds per question. That is a significant difference.

Also, while both tests present a section of Critical Reading passages, the difference is again time. On the ACT the student is given 52.5 seconds per question. On the SAT the student is given 75 seconds per question. The ACT offers a Science (the SAT does not) section and again the time is 52.5 seconds per question.

It is this author’s humble opinion that the slower pace on the new SAT provides the student with a better opportunity to show his or her true level of performance. The test should not be a sprint because in college the student can take as long as he or she likes to complete any assignment except an exam.

While it is clear that some students are naturally better suited for the ACT, it is my belief that the new SAT I is more student friendly than its counterpart, the ACT.