For a student who is nearing graduation, choosing whether to take the SAT or ACT test becomes more imperative. The SAT and ACT are engrained as part of the American education system and need to be well understood for any student wishing to attend college. These tests are used by colleges and universities to determine several things, including admission, placement, and sometimes scholarship options. Deciding which one is better for you can seem to be a daunting task, but there are tools online that can make it easier to see which one will best suit your needs.
One of the first things to look at is which of them is preferred by the college or university to which you intend to apply. If you are applying to more than one institution of higher education, and they prefer different ones, you do not necessarily have to take both; usually they can convert the score from one to the equivalent of the other when necessary.
One of the things that can help is to take practice tests of each, and see which suits your test-taking abilities better. While the tests are very similar, they are enough different that some students will find that their strengths work better with one test than the other.
PotentialMagazine.com has practice tests available for free for both the SAT and the ACT. They also offer a combination test, as well. You will find these at http://potentialmagazine.com/actsat-prep/tools-for-act-and-sat/.
PrincetonReview.com took the time to compare and contrast the two tests. Their review provides a detailed account of the differences, making it easier to see which one is more suited to your strengths. You can find this review and their findings at http://www.princetonreview.com/sat-act.aspx.
Petersons.com offers a comparison that explains how the tests are geared and what is needed to prepare for taking them. This comparison is located at http://www.petersons.com/college-search/test-prep-act-sat.aspx.
Whichever test you choose, you will want to be sure to study. Even though the SAT is geared more to comprehension than stored knowledge, it is still possible to study to be sure you can do the best possible. Some sites that offer study helps for these tests include:
SAT
http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice
http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-study-plan
http://www.proprofs.com/sat/
http://dynamo.dictionary.com/test-prep/sat
http://www.testprepreview.com/sat_practice.htm
http://www.freesatpracticetest.com/sat-study-guides/
http://www.course-notes.org/test_prep/sat
ACT
http://www.act-math-practice.com/act-study.html
http://testprep.about.com/od/act/tp/Study-For-The-ACT.htm
http://www.testprepreview.com/act_practice.htm
http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/
http://www.studyguidezone.com/acttest.htm
Other sites that will help with studying for either one include http://www.cbsnews.com/news/7-cheap-ways-to-study-for-the-sat-and-act/ and http://www.internet4classrooms.com/act_sat.htm as well as our own site, Apex College Prep.
We know that the ACT or SAT can be an important key to your future, so we want to aid you in choosing the one that will work best for you, both for how you take tests and for where you want to go. Because of this, we offer things that will assist you to choose and that will help you to prepare yourself to get the best score of which you are capable. Let us help you decide which test to take, the SAT or the ACT.