SAT

The SAT has long been considered the standard of all standardized admissions tests. But in the past decade, the ACT has matched its popularity across the country.  Today, colleges and universities give both tests equal weight. 

The College Board debuted the digital SAT in March 2024, replacing the traditional pen-and-paper version.

Here’s a summary of the key changes:

Shorter test:

The digital SAT takes only 2 hours and 14 minutes, compared to 3 hours for the old version.

Combined reading and writing section:

Reading and writing skills are now assessed in a single section with fewer, but longer, passages.

Shorter passages:

The reading passages on the digital SAT are shorter and have only onequestion associated with each passage.

Calculator allowed throughout math section:

Calculators are now permitted for all questions in the math section. Students can also use the built-in graphing calculator on the testing device or bring their own. We recommend having the TI-83 or TI-84 Plus in

hand.

The new digital SAT is a computer adaptive test:

This means the difficulty of the test adjusts as you take it. This is different from the traditional SAT, which had a set of questions at varying difficulty levels that everyone received. With computer adaptive testing, the first section of the test will be a mix of easy, medium, and hard questions. Your performance on this section will determine the difficulty of the questions you see in the second section. If you do well on the first section, you’ll see more difficult questions in the second section. If you don't do well, you'll see more easy and medium difficulty questions. This is supposed to give you a more accurate assessment of your abilities and reduce the amount of time you spend on questions that are too hard or too easy for you.

Why choose the SAT over the ACT? 

The number one reason students prefer the SAT is that there is no science section (see ACT).  In general, students who have stronger verbal skills find the SAT to be a better fit for them.  

To settle any dispute over which one to take, I advise my students to take a diagnostic test for each one and compare the results. 

ACT

While the ACT has long been the more prevalent standardized college admissions test in the Midwest, it has recently found a footing on the coasts. 

The ACT features four different sections, each one graded on a scale of 1-36. The composite score is the average of all four sections.

ENGLISH (45 MINUTES)

MATH (60 MINUTES)

READING (35 MINUTES)

SCIENCE (35 MINUTES) 

AN EXPERIMENTAL SECTION (20 MINUTES) -

The experimental section appears at the end of the multiple-choice sections.  This section does not count toward a student’s score   

THE ESSAY (40 MINUTES)-OPTIONAL

While this portion is optional, college admissions officers prefer students to take this section. It will appear at the very end of the test.  

A QUICK WORD ABOUT THE SCIENCE SECTION

The word “science” is a bit misleading.  Rather than testing a student’s knowledge about scientific topics, this section is designed to test a student’s ability to interpret data featured in tables, charts and graphs.  To many students, this section initially looks alien.  But strategy and practice can easily turn what seems like a tough section into easy, and even fun, puzzles. 

ISEE

The ISEE is the Independent School Entrance Examination. This test is used for admission to private middle schools and high schools. If your goal is to attend an elite private middle or high school, this is a test for which you'll need to prepare.