PreACT®/ACT® FAQ
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General ACT
The PreACT
SAT vs. ACT
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General ACT
I heard that Colorado and many other states now only administer the SAT. Should I even take the ACT?
Yes, you should take the ACT. A common misconception among many parents and students is that the state of Colorado “only accepts” the SAT. Let us clarify. Many states, including Colorado, have recently switched to using the SAT for statewide standardized testing of public high school students (for many years, Colorado administered the ACT for such testing). This does not mean that colleges favor the SAT over the ACT! In fact, many states use the ACT for statewide testing of public school students. This sort of state testing has no impact on the way colleges view SAT and ACT scores. Colleges treat the SAT and ACT equally and 99% of colleges and universities have no preference for one test or the other. While taking the SAT may be mandatory for if you’re a public school student in a state where the SAT is used as a standardized test to assess school performance, you should still plan to take the ACT at least once to see whether it’s your better test. When it comes time to apply to college, you want to submit scores from whichever of the two tests you’ve done better on (i.e., the test where your scores fall into a higher percentile). Taking the ACT allows you to compare scores between the two tests and focus on your stronger test moving forward.
I always run out of time on tests. Should I avoid the ACT?
No. The ACT was designed so that the majority of students taking the test would run out of time on one or more sections of the test. It’s specifically designed to be a time crunched exam, and the way the test is scored accounts for this. You can score incredibly well on the ACT even if you run out of time and have to guess on many questions.
I’m horrible at science. Should I even bother taking the ACT?
Yes. While the Science Test on the ACT can seem intimidating, it’s not testing what you know about science but rather how you think scientifically. The Science Test is made up of passages where you’re provided with information that you use to answer accompanying questions; very little outside science knowledge is required, and it’s usually rather basic when it is. If you’re good at analyzing new information and reading graphs, then you’ll likely feel comfortable with the Science Test. Furthermore, it’s a section that gets considerably easier with some practice. In other words, if you hated Chemistry or haven’t taken Physics, that’s no reason not to take the ACT.
Should I take the ACT with Writing (essay)?
Probably. While the ACT Writing Test is optional, many colleges require a Writing score to accompany an ACT score package in a student’s application. If you are not sure which schools you’ll ultimately apply to, then it’s a good idea to take the Writing to be safe. It’s important to note that the Writing Test score does not affect a student’s composite ACT score, but rather is scored on a separate 2–12 scale.
Can I receive testing accommodations on the ACT due to my learning difference?
Yes. The ACT provides students with documented learning differences accommodations appropriate to their diagnoses and needs. While not all students with learning differences will be granted accommodations, those who receive accommodations in school due to a professionally diagnosed and documented disability can request accommodations. The most commonly granted accommodation is National Extended Time Testing, which gives students 50% extra time on each section of the test. To request time accommodations, you first have to create an ACT account and register for an ACT test date, at which time you’ll be able to indicate the need for an accommodation and the type of accommodation you’re seeking. You’ll then receive an email with instructions on how to work with your school counselor, and your school will then submit the request along with any required documentation.
If I run out of time, should I guess on the questions I have left?
YES! The is no guessing penalty on the ACT. Wrong answers never hurt. The way the test is scored accounts for random guessing, so you should absolutely guess on the remaining questions if you run out of time on a section since doing so will only help increase your score.
The PreACT
What is the PreACT?
The PreACT is taken by some students during the spring of their sophomore years. The exam is a shorter version of the ACT, with difficulty and content adjusted for sophomore-level curriculum. It includes the same four multiple-choice sections as the ACT (English, Math, Reading, and Science). It does not include an equivalent to the ACT Writing. PreACT results include predictive score ranges on the same scale used by the regular ACT (1–36).
The PreACT can provide a helpful baseline indicator of how students might fare on the real ACT. Its real value lies in helping students identify areas of strengths and weakness so that they can more effectively focus their ACT preparation during junior year.
SAT vs. ACT
What are the most significant differences between the SAT and ACT?
Much of the content tested on the SAT and ACT overlaps, which is why students can prepare for both tests simultaneously. For instance, the vast majority of the English and Math concepts covered on one test appear on the other. Nonetheless, there are significant differences between the two tests, which explains why in the majority of cases students will ultimately perform better on one than the other.
- Timing: In general, the ACT involves much more time pressure than the SAT. Most students will run out of time on at least one section of the ACT, often several. In fact, the ACT was designed so that timing would be a significant factor in the test’s difficulty. While many students run out of time on SAT sections (most commonly on the Math sections), students almost invariably find that ACT test sections are more difficult to complete on time than SAT test sections.
- Reading: One of the most significant differences between the ACT and SAT reading sections comes down to the timing issue discussed above. On the ACT, students have 52.5 seconds per question (not including time spent reading the passages) while on the SAT the time per question increases to 75 seconds (again, not including time spent reading the passage). Furthermore, the ACT contains many “fact-finding” questions that essentially require students to locate relevant information in the text. While these questions don’t tend to be particularly difficult for most students, they are rather time-consuming. Although the SAT does contain questions that require students to find supporting evidence in passages, these questions almost always provide four choices of line references in the answer choices themselves that student can look up and evaluate. In short, students spend very little time looking for information on the SAT and quite a bit of time doing so on the ACT. While the time pressure on the SAT is much less acute, most students find the passages and questions to be somewhat more difficult on average than on the ACT. For one, the SAT reading section includes a passage that draws from a US or global historical document (e.g., the Constitution, a speech by Abraham Lincoln, an essay by a contemporary of the French Revolution, etc. ). Since these texts are usually drawn from 18th and 19th centuries, students often struggle with the language used. Furthermore, the SAT contains a Literature passage that also sometimes draws from older works of fiction (e.g., 18th and 19th centuries). All of the ACT’s reading passages are drawn from contemporary sources, so students generally find the language used to be more approachable.
- Math:
- ACT
- 1 section with 60 multiple-choice questions
- Calculator use permitted on entire section
- Slightly broader scope of concepts tested than the SAT, particularly pre-Calculus
- SAT
- 2 sections: No Calculator (20 questions) and Calculator (38 questions)
- 45 multiple-choice questions and 13 “student-produced response” questions where students must solve a question and grid in the correct answer
- Slightly heavier focus on Algebra than the ACT. Not as many pre-Calculus based questions as the ACT
- ACT