Posts published on October 6, 2010

ACT Surpasses SAT In Number Of Test Takers

  A major reason for this trend is casued by 8 states requiring all their high school students to take ACT as part of the state assessment program for k-12. But this article from the Sacramento Bee explores other causes for college entrance.

© 2010. The Sacramento Bee. All Rights Reserved.

For years, most students turned to the SAT as the college admission test of choice.

Now, besides deciding when and where to take the all-important test, students are debating whether to take the SAT or ACT, or both.

The ACT officially caught up with the SAT in popularity nationwide for the class of 2010 test takers, although California students still prefer the SAT 2 to 1.

With several major differences between the tests, parents and students are researching which one will produce the best results.

Every college that requires a college admissions test accepts the SAT or ACT.

“It used to be that you just took the SAT,” said Desiree Pierson, whose son Chase is a senior at the small School of Engineering and Sciences in the Pocket. “Now, you have a choice and colleges look at those, so we parents are looking at those to see which would work best for our kids.”

Pierson said she is considering academic strengths and weaknesses in deciding with her son which test is right for him. Chase Pierson is a good writer, but math isn’t his strong point, she said.

“We haven’t made a decision,” she said. “He’ll probably take both.”

Kristen Campbell, an executive director at Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, said that when counseling students on which test they should take, she goes over some of the major differences between the SAT and ACT. For example:

• The SAT penalizes for wrong answers by 1/4 point. The ACT does not.

• The essay is mandatory on the SAT and optional on the ACT. Some colleges do not require the essay.

• The SAT is longer, lasting 3 hours and 45 minutes. The ACT is 2:55 without the 30-minute essay exam.

• Campbell said the SAT has more math problems. The ACT has less math, but more of those questions are advanced.

• Scoring is very different between the tests. Until 2006, a perfect score on the SAT was 1,600, but an 800-point section was added, bringing it to 2,400.A perfect score on the ACT is 36.

Campbell said over the last three years, most of the students coming to Kaplan centers are opting to take both tests. That explains why the increased popularity of the ACT hasn’t cut the SAT’s growing numbers.

In the class of 2010, 1,568,835 students nationwide took the ACT, while 1,547,990 students took the SAT.

Twenty years ago, 817,000 students across the country took the ACT, while 1,093,833 took the SAT.

“We have been doing what we can to inform students and counselors about the ACT and the benefits it offers,” said ACT spokesman Ed Colby. “We would like to see more students taking the ACT in California.”