ACT vs. SAT

[GoldenBear]

How do colleges compare these two? I took the ACT on Saturday and it was WAAAAAY easier than the SAT. There was almost no, if any tough vocab on it, giving me a much better feeling walking out of the test.

 

[IBhacknU]

I never took the ACT... but I'm just wondering if you'll feel it was easy when you see your score. Not to say you didn't do well. I'm just wondering how your feeling of doing well will translate into a good score?

 

[GoldenBear]

I have no idea how they're scored, but if it were based on the SAT scale, I'd say at least 1350. As opposed to the SAT, where I got about 1200

 

[sciencewhiz]

When I took the SAT I scored a 1340 (670,670). When I took the ACT I scored a 31 which translates to 1350 on the SAT. I also only missed 1 question on the science section which really helped because I was going into engineering.

I also thought that the ACT seemed easier, but you can see that it didn't make any difference for me.

 

[raptor13]

Colleges compare the two basically by which one they care about. Generally, the East and West coast schools prefer the SAT. Midwest schools prefer the ACT, gnerally. I'm not too sure they do the crossover score thing, but they might. From everything I've heard though, just look at the schools you're applying to, check their class bios, and see which scores they report averages for. If they report SAT, take the SAT. If they report ACT, take the ACT. Simple as that.

 

[Ranger X]

I think Colleges want to see SAT scores, rather than ACT scores. A decent score would be 1200 and above and a great score would be 1400 and up.

 

[sciencewhiz]

I applied to 6 colleges 2 on the east coast and 4 on the west coast. 1 of the colleges required SAT scores, 1 college said that they strongly prefered SAT, and the other 4 did not care. I submitted SAT scores to the first 2 and ACT to the rest. My mother is a guidance counselor and always recommends that students take both and submit the ones that they do best in.

If you would like, I can look up the approximate SAT->ACT conversions.

 

[Superwombat]

In case anyone cares, here's the comparison chart for SAT vs. ACT scores.



SAT.........ACT
1600........36
1560-1590...35
1510-1550...34
1460-1500...33
1410-1450...32
1360-1400...31
1320-1350...30
1280-1310...29
1240-1270...28
1210-1230...27
1170-1200...26
1130-1160...25
1090-1120...24
1060-1080...23
1020-1050...22
980-1010....21
940-970.....20
900-930.....19
860-890.....18
810-850.....17
760-800.....16
710-750.....15
660-700.....14
590-650.....13
520-580.....12
500-510.....11


SAT/ACT comparison chart

 

[convex]

hey, i took the act on saturday too... on half an hour of sleep