Should I take the Current SAT or the ACT?
How to decide between the ACT and the SAT administered Oct 2015 thru Feb 2016 (the “Old SAT”):
This is an excellent question. Maybe the single most important question. The answer is, “it depends”.
But the first big fact to hold onto is that ALL COLLEGES and UNIVERSITIES accept BOTH the SAT and the ACT. They are treated exactly the same. Schools do NOT prefer one over the other.
Next, BOTH exams are offered at least six (6) times each year, September thru June.
Finally, you can get real live previously administered SAT and ACT exams. See below.
So, you have options. But how to decide? Here is the trick you must follow no matter what—this is Non-Negotiable.
- Get a real SAT exam—a previously administered actual live SAT
- Get a real ACT exam—a previously administered actual live ACT
Now self-administer both exams and see how you do. If you find that you prefer one exam over the other or that you did better on one of them—well you’ve now answered your question.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT under any circumstance use a practice exam offered by a test prep company like Princeton or Kaplan or any of the other 100 SAT/ACT test prep companies. In order to evaluate the two tests you must use real live exams created by the companies that make the exams. Fortunately, it is rather easy to get your hands on actual SAT’s and ACT’s from previous administrations.
Two OPTIONS:
How to get REAL ACT exams:
- Search on Amazon for “The Real ACT Prep Guide” it costs under $20 and you get five previously administered real ACT exams.
- You can download the most recently released ACT exam from here.
How to get REAL SAT exams:
- Search on Amazon for “The Official SAT Study Guide” it costs under $20 and you get eight previously administered real SAT exams.
- You can download the most recently released SAT exam from here.
Note 1: You can buy the ACT book from any previous year—it won’t matter as long as you get real exams. If you can get a used book for cheaper, it’s just as good because they rotate the released exams—in other words, buying a 2015 book won’t get you anything better than buying a 2009 book. They all have similar exams.
Note 2: The same thing as note one applies to the SAT. EXCEPT—Pay attention here: if you are going to take the SAT in March 2016 or after, you will need to get a released exam that is specifically for the NEW SAT. You can download the officially released exams keyed to the March 2016 version right here (no book is yet available).
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