Though many students assume that the ACT and the SAT are more or less the same, in reality there are major differences between the tests, and how you score on each type of test could vary significantly. Though it is impossible to say definitively which exam is “better” than the other (it varies on an individual student basis), it is our experience at Hunter Programs that international students, and especially Chinese students, typically fare better on the ACT, which measures learning achievement as opposed to academic aptitude.

The ACT is an achievement test, measuring what a student has learned in school up to that point in their education. The exam includes up to 5 sections: English, Mathematics, Reading, Science, and an optional Writing test (although many colleges require students to complete this). Instead of emphasizing vocabulary, the ACT concentrates on grammar, punctuation and syntax. It tests more advanced Mathematics concepts than the SAT, focusing on the proper application of rules and formulas, as opposed to critical reasoning. In addition, the ACT demands some knowledge of an Earth Science or a Physical Science, as well as Biology. Though the ACT covers more subjects than the SAT, the exam is generally considered to be more explicit and coherent, and is preferred by many international students.

In contrast to the ACT, the SAT tests a student’s academic aptitude by measuring their reasoning and problem solving ability. It is comprised of 3 sections, including Critical Reading, Mathematics and a required Writing test; two-thirds of the composite score are based on a student’s ability to read, write and analyze in English. The SAT places a strong emphasis on vocabulary, and includes reading comprehension questions for which there can be several correct answers. A student’s task is to select the “best” correct answer. If they choose incorrectly, the points are deducted from their overall score. These “trick” questions are challenging for native English speaking students, but they are especially difficult for international students since these answer choices require knowledge of very slight differences in meaning for vocabulary words. As such, many students are turning to the ACT, because they feel the test is more straightforward in nature.

According to ACT Education Director Jon Erickson in a recent US News article, “The structure of the ACT is conducive to international education. It’s tied very much to subject level [and] I think the science part is also attractive to international students. A lot of international students who are looking to U.S. colleges tend to be in STEM fields, so I think that’s attractive.”

The SAT has historically been considered the more “common” exam, but a recent report reveals that, as of 2012, the numbers of domestic students taking the ACT actually surpassed those taking the SAT. International students still represent a much smaller portion of testers than their domestic peers, but according to Sam Hwang, founder and CEO of New Pathway Education and Technology Group, a company based in Beijing that offers SAT and ACT tutoring, “”No one’s really taking it, but only because they don’t know what it is”. Though the ACT is by no means “easier” than the SAT, it is our feeling at Hunter Programs that the ACT test content and format is more comprehensible to international students, and should therefore be given equal consideration.

For more information on the SAT, the ACT or general standardized testing and college application questions, please visit www.hunterprograms.com, or call us at +1.949.831.8565.

If you have an opinion, or are a Chinese student who has experienced these tests, please share your thoughts.

The post For the Chinese student, is the ACT test a better alternative to the SAT? first appeared on Hunter Programs Education Services.

This is a question that is extremely important if you are a high school student who is beginning the college application process, and you are trying to determine which test is more appropriate for you.

If you have not yet experienced either test, you might think that aside from the obvious differences (such as the science section on the ACT that is absent from the SAT), that the two tests are essentially the same. After all, reading is reading and math is math, right? Not so.In actuality, the ACT and the SAT are significantly different. The ACT is a content-based test, measuring what students have learned in school, while the SAT is more of an aptitude test that focuses on critical thinking and reasoning.

Here are a few of the key differences:

1)    The ACT contains a science reasoning section, and the SAT does not. However, the ACT does not require extensive scientific knowledge retained from the classroom. The test consists of seven passages focusing biology, chemistry, earth/space sciences and physics, and asks students to evaluate the information using the paragraphs, charts, tables and diagrams that are provided. If your school has a strong science program, you will do fine with the ACT science reasoning material. Your only challenge then will be getting through all the science passages within the time limit –which is one of the design parameters of most standardized exams.

2)    The SAT has a stronger emphasis on vocabulary, and includes reading comprehension questions for which there can be several correct answers. A student’s task is to select the “best” correct answer. As hard as some students try, they can never develop a kind of feel for which is the best correct answer. This can be even more challenging for international students. As a result of this, many students prefer the ACT simply because they feel that the test is more straightforward.

3)    The ACT tests more advanced math concepts. The math on the SAT involves much more critical reasoning and requires less knowledge of rules and facts. Here is an example: On the SAT, you might be given a rectangular coordinate system with five lines on it, four of which are tilted upward at different rates from left to right, and one which tilts downward at a much steeper rate than the others. You might then be asked to select the line with the greatest slope. The line that slopes downward from left to right is the steepest, but the slope is negative and therefor the smallest. The answer choice “the steepest line has the smallest slope” is incorrect, and yet a great many students will select it. The ACT, however, might give students two ordered pairs, (2,3) and (-1,6) and ask them to calculate the slope of a line passing through both the points.

4)    The SAT has a guessing penalty, whereas the ACT does not. The sole purpose of the ACT is not to find out what you know, but instead it is to find out how much you know and how you can perform relative to your peers taking the same test. Since no one is penalized for guessing, and you are competing against everyone else, there is no advantage to guessing and only a disadvantage if you forget to bubble in random answers for all the questions you don’t know.

In California, the ACT is gaining popularity, although the SAT is still the dominant exam. One of the main reasons for this is that the University of California schools were the very first client of the College Board (the guys who create and administer the SAT), and to this day the University of California schools remain the biggest client. In the Midwest on the other hand, the ACT is by far the dominant test. However, overall there are now more students taking the ACT than taking the SAT in the United States.

Here at Hunter Programs, we can help students assess which test is better suited to their strengths, and work with them to ensure that they achieve the best scores possible.

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For additional reliable perspectives and more detailed facts about the ACT and SAT, select from the links below:

New York Times to further help you decide which test is best for you.

Washington Post for an incredibly interesting perspective on these two tests.

ACT for a sheet of interesting ACT facts directly from the creators of the ACT.

CollegeBoard for important SAT facts directly from the writers of the SAT.

CollegeBoard for SAT statistics.

The post ACT versus SAT first appeared on Hunter Programs Education Services.