Why the SAT is better

Why the SAT is superior to the ACT

Going to college is an exciting and nervous topic for any high schooler. There are many things that a student needs to complete before they take the next step in their educational journey, one of those being the taking a standardised test. In the United States, high schools can choose to take either the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the American College Testing (ACT). A good argument can be made that colleges would prefer to see SAT scores from students rather than ACT scores for these reasons.

First, the SAT has been in practice for about 30 years longer than the ACT. This would mean that the college board would have more time to make better tests and revise complaints. On the other hand, the ACT recently made the news in Bearden High School in Knoxville and Alvin C. York Institute in Jamestown because the ACT Inc. cancelled all the scores of students that took the test on Oct. 13. The ACT Inc. made this decision because they sent the schools the wrong test and are refusing to release the scores even though it is the fault of ACT Inc.

Second, all 10 and 11 graders in public high schools have to take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT). This means that before juniors start prep, they have already been exposed to this specific SAT format. It allows for students to have a better idea of what to expect when they go and take it for real. The SAT is also not as long, with it taking around four hours with the essay while with ACT it takes about five hours with the essay.

Third, the ACT has 215 questions for the exam while the SAT has 154 questions. Personally fewer questions seem like a no-brainer. Though each question is weighted more, but that means that a student can work harder mentally on each of the questions. This helps students feel like they can do better on standardized tests.

Whichever test a student might prefer, all that wish to continue their educational journey have one goal in mind: getting into college. The SAT may have more experience than the ACT, but the end goal is the most important step.