The ACT or SAT? Which One Should You Take?

Colleges often use either the ACT or SAT score of a prospective student to help determine if the person will be successful in higher education. These schools will take these scores from the standardized exams and figure out if the student is “college-ready” as they hope high scores indicate future academic success. 

But What Do the ACT and SAT Measure Exactly?
The ACT and SAT are two different exams that evaluate separate things. As a high school student figuring out which one to take, keep these differences in mind.

The ACT
The ACT is said to measure what a student already knows. This means that if a high school student is scoring well throughout their classes, they may earn a high score on the ACT. 

The SAT
The SAT is a standardized exam that is more of a predictor of what a student may learn. It is a way to gauge how well a student might do down the road and less about what they already know. To put it simply, the SAT acts as a crystal ball as education professionals try to use it as an indicator of potential. It may cover material that was never touched upon in their high school classes, so it is all about learning the information on the fly while taking the exam. 

Still Not Sure Which Test to Take?
There is no law that says you have to take one or the other.  We highly recommend taking both our free practice ACT and SAT test to see what your baseline score is and which test is going to be a better fit.  If you are interested in this, we can send home both practice tests to take.  Once we grade the practice tests, we will email you a very detailed score report and also offer a free phone consultation to go through the results.  Since pretty much all colleges accept both ACT and SAT scores, there is no point in prepping for both.  It’s literally double the amount of work and stress!  And we want to help reduce that for you.

Not Happy with Your Score?
You may take either exam essentially as many times as you can fit it in your schedule if you are not pleased with a poor score. Of course, there is a fee to take both tests, but in the long run, if it helps you get into your dream college, then it is worth it. We recommend that students aim to take the test anywhere from around 2-4 times as the majority of students don’t earn their goal score the first time around.

Trust a Professional Tutor That Specializes in the ACT/SAT
There are tutors out there that can make a difference in ensuring that a student is prepared to take either exam. Their knowledge of the tests could be a huge factor in earning solid scores the first time around. It is best to hire a tutor specializing in the exams instead of trusting someone who may have taken either test once or twice in the past ten years ago. 

With this in mind, iAchieve offers professional tutors for both the SAT and ACT.  Our test prep instructors are highly qualified individuals that have experience tutoring students in test prep and have scored within the 90th percentile themselves.  A little early preparation for these standardized exams could lead to a student earning their goal score and getting into the college of their dreams!

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