The ACT is Worth More than the SAT at Some Schools

It wasn't too long ago when snooty college admissions folks on the East Coast referred to the ACT as the Jocks' Test. Not too long ago, it was viewed as the test for students who lived west of the Mississippi and who were not applying to schools east of the Hudson - except if the student was an athlete who didn't do so hot on the SATs.

That perception is wetter than the Hudson River. The ACT today is not only given the same value as the SAT at many schools, but at some schools students who take the ACT are excused from taking SAT IIs.

At Yale University and at Brandeis University SAT IIs are required for SAT takers, but not for students who take the ACT. This is because the ACT is perceived to be more of a content exam than the SAT, which by its own admission is a reasoning test.

So just what is the ACT? It's a college entrance exam that is as popular in the Midwest as the SAT is in the East. The biggest distinction between the two tests is that the ACT has a science section, more difficult math, more focus on content than on reasoning, less critical reading, less emphasis on arcane vocabulary, no sentence completion, and the essay is optional. The ACT puts a greater emphasis on attempting to measure what a student has learned about English, Math and Science, while the SAT attempts to measure what a student has learned about English and Math as well as a student's ability to reason. Hence, the tricked up, slippery questions that are the marrow of the SAT test.

The administrators of the ACT say that roughly one-third of the students who take both exams do better on the ACT, one-third do better on the SAT, and one-third do worse on the ACT. What we've seen is that the group that does better on the ACT than on the SAT is made up by and large of good students who've got a strong base in the three R's as well as science. They also have strong short-term memories because this test is more memory reliant than the SAT.

So what's on the test and just how long is it? The three and one-half hour ACT consists of four multiple-choice tests and an optional writing test; each test is designed to measure academic achievement in English, mathematics, reading, science and writing. The test is made up of a 45-minute grammar test; a 60-minute math test (pre-algebra, 23 percent; elementary algebra, 17 percent; intermediate algebra, 15 percent; coordinate geometry, 15 percent; plane geometry, 23 percent, and trigonometry, 7 percent); a 35-minute critical reading test; a 35-minute science test (biology, chemistry, earth/space sciences, physics); and a 30-minute writing test.

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