What’s the difference between the SAT and the ACT? Those Who Can explains why the ACT may be a better choice for some students.
The SAT is notoriously abstract. A good deal of its difficulty is front-loaded — a big challenge in many questions is simply figuring out what the question is. The ACT actually tests more material, but its questions are considerably more straightforward.
Any student who prefers the concrete to the abstract should consider the ACT.
Students with test scores below the median probably will do better on the ACT. For different reasons, the ACT may be a good choice for students with SAT scores in the high 600s/low 700s.
Update: Don’t count on hiding your unimpressive SAT or ACT scores from colleges, warns a Florida blogger.
The math content of the SAT is very low. I once had a student who placed into calculus based on the SAT who could barely function in in pre-calculus. Compared to the ACT the SAT is more of an intelligence test. This student was extremely bright and apparently very good with test-taking strategies on multiple choice tests. Unfortunately, he had learned virtually no math beyond the middle school level in high school.
I can’t believe colleges would place people in math classes by using the SAT. As you said Charles, the actual math knowledge content is pretty low. It doesn’t even have any trigonometry content right? Even the state college I went to required a math placement test for everyone in addition to your SAT or ACT scores.
I think you might be unaware of the relatively low level of math skill at the CSU level. The SAT and the ACT are perfectly good for indicating whether or not the student has mastered algebra and geometry, and that’s about the average level of ability for a CSU student. The UC has this problem as well, but they use their own placement test.
I very much doubt any university would use the SAT or the ACT for calculus admission.
In Texas, public schools used the TASP test when I entered college (I believe they still do). There were various levels at which students would get flagged for needing remediation in writing, reading and mathematics, and other levels indicating “passing” (a student passing math, for example, who scored high enough to not get flagged for remedial courses, could go straight into entry level College Algebra.)