SAT and ACT FAQ

  • What are the SAT dates for the 2011-2012 school year?

    In the winter and spring of 2012, SAT’s will be offered on January 28th, March 10th, May 5th and June 2nd. There are no tests in February or April. 

    You can register online through the College Board. Sign up as soon as you’ve decided on a date to improve your chances of getting your first choice test site.  

  • When are SAT registration deadlines for 2011-2012?

     

    Test Date Regular Registration Deadline Late Registration Deadline
    March 10, 2012 February 10, 2012 February 24, 2012
    May 10, 2012 April 6, 2012 April 20, 2012
    June 2, 2012 May 8, 2012 May 22, 2012

  • What are the ACT dates for the 2011-2012 school year?

    In the spring of 2012, the ACT will be offered on April 14th, and June 9th.  There are no tests in March or May. 

    You can register online through ACT, Inc.  Sign up as soon as you’ve decided on a date to improve your chances of getting your first choice test site.  

  • When are ACT registration deadlines for 2011-2012?

     

    Test Date

    Registration Deadline

    April 14, 2012

    March 9, 2012

    June 9,  2012

    May 4, 2012

  • Should I take the SAT or the ACT?

    Most students seem to perform similarly on either test. Some do much better on one than on the other. Even if your scores come out in the same ballpark, you may find you feel more comfortable with one over the other.

    One of the best ways to decide if you should take the SAT or ACT is to take a practice (unofficial) test of each.  The results and/or the experience may help you make up your mind. 

    You might get a better sense of each test from reading about their differences below.

  • What are differences between the SAT and ACT?

    In short, the SAT is a reasoning test, and the ACT is an academic achievement assessment. The SAT was originally created to help elite colleges (like Harvard) discover “smart” students who hadn’t gone to good high schools. The idea was to create challenging questions out of basic content. The challenges are less about knowing the material and more about figuring out the answer during the exam. The ACT was created much later by educators who thought a college admissions test should stick to assessing mastery of the basic high school curriculum.

    However, neither test seems to do exactly what its creators claim to have intended. The SAT, for example, directly tests knowledge of college-level vocabulary (the ACT does not), while the “science” section of the ACT demands way more reasoning and less academic knowledge. With the exception of some math problems that test basic trigonometry and other Algebra 2 topics, the ACT and the SAT base questions on the same academic content. While most of the ACT questions are more straight-forward, the ACT demands even more accuracy and speed than the SAT does.

    Other differences between the SAT and ACT are:

     

    ACT

    SAT

    Content that’s the same

    Reading passages; math including basic Algebra and geometry; basic English usage and grammar rules.

    Reading passages; math including basic Algebra and geometry; basic English usage and grammar rules.

    Content that’s different

    Math - basic trig (SOHCAHTOA, sine and cosine curves), logarithms and circle and ellipse equations with no formulas given

    Denser, more factual reading passages

    Optional essay

    Science section that presents experimental data and asks questions about it

    Math formulas like special right triangles, Pythagorean Theorem and areas of circles and triangles included at the start of each math section

    More nuanced and ironic reading passages

    Mandatory essay

    No science section

    Sentence completion questions that require college level vocabulary.

    Pacing

    Very very fast

    Fast

    Scoring Range

    1 -36 composite

    600-2400 composite

    Guessing Penalty

    No, the score is based on the number of correct questions

    Yes, you lose ¼ point for each incorrect answer

    Length

    The 4 required sections total almost 3 hours (175 minutes).  The optional writing section adds another 30 minutes.

    The 10 sections total 3 hours and 45 minutes .

    Answer Type

    Excluding the optional writing section, the ACT is completely multiple choice.

    Excluding the essay and 10 math grid-in questions, the SAT is multiple choice.

    Test Format

    The ACT has 4 required sections and 1 optional. English, Mathematics, Reading and Science, are required, and the Writing Test (which is an essay) is optional.

    The Reading and Science Sections each last 35 minutes, English lasts 45 minutes and Math is 60 minutes. (The optional essay is 30 minutes.)

    The SAT has 10 required sections: 3 Critical Reading, 3 Math and 3 Writing sections (including the required essay).  There is also an experimental section that can be in any area and doesn’t count toward your score.

    Most SAT sections last 25 minutes, but the last three are 20, 20 and 10 minutes respectively.

    You can get more information on the ACT from ACT, Inc. and on the SAT from the College Board.

  • When is the latest that I can take the SAT?

    Your latest test date depends on the deadline(s) of the school(s) that you are applying to and whether you’re applying for early or regular admissions.  It’s common that early admissions applicants can take their latest test in November, and regular admissions applicants in December or January. Even though scores for these tests may come out after deadlines for submission of applications, many colleges will still take these scores into consideration. Make sure, however, by checking with the admissions office of the college(s) to which you’re applying.

  • How many times should I take the SAT?

    Most students take the SAT twice. The College Board tells students that testing more than two times is unnecessary. We discourage students from taking the actual test more than three times. Most of our students take the test for the first time in the spring of their junior year and again in the fall of senior year.

    We strongly recommend that students take unofficial practice SAT tests before the official one. These tests should be proctored and timed, so you can have an experience as close to the real thing as possible.  By taking practice tests, you can track your progress and begin to feel more comfortable with the test.  The more familiar the test is, the easier it will be for you to excel on the real test day. Veritas offers practice tests each weekend throughout the school year. 

  • Will the college I apply to see all of my SAT and ACT scores?

    The College Board offers Score Choice, which allows you to choose which scores to send to colleges. You can only choose to send or withhold your entire composite SAT score, though. This means you can’t choose your best test sections across different testing days. Also, all colleges don’t participate in Score Choice, so some schools may still ask for all of your scores.  Some schools have their own version of Score Choice, in which they ask you to submit all scores, but then only use your top scores from each section across test dates. For a comprehensive list of colleges and their Score Choice policies, download the CollegeBoard’s ScoreChoice FAQ document.

    For some reason, all colleges allow Score Choice for the ACT. You may take the ACT as many times as you like and submit only the scores you want colleges to see.

  • Do colleges prefer the SAT?

    No. Colleges prefer the highest score you can give them. 

  • Since colleges that demand SAT Subject Tests will accept an ACT score instead, can I take the ACT and skip the Subject Tests?

    Depends. You need to discuss this with your college counselor before doing it. If you are applying to the most competitive colleges, you will be competing against other strong students who use Subject Tests and AP (Advanced Placement) exams to demonstrate their mastery of academic work. There are, however, circumstances in which taking only the ACT makes sense.

  • Do I need to prepare for and take both the ACT and SAT or should I focus on one or the other?

    Most students are better off focusing on one or the other. Your school work comes first. While a lot of the preparation is the same and similar strategies apply, the two tests have slightly different content and very different pacing. You can use a lot of the same exercises to prepare for either a snowboarding or a skiing competition, but, ultimately, you would not want to train simultaneously for both races.