ACT vs. SAT and practice tests

Want to know which test you should take?

The answer is easy: both.

The tests are really different. Some students do better or one than the other. There is no good way to predict who will do well on the ACT vs. the SAT, so take them both. If you don’t want to sign up for the official tests, no problem. Buy a practice book (get the ACT book from the ACT test makers and whichever SAT book you prefer) and take the test. Here are a couple things you need to do when you take the practice tests:

1. 1. Get sleep for two nights running before the taking the tests.

2. 2. Get up by 6 or 6:30 the morning you plan to take the test.

3. 3. Eat a good breakfast.

4. 4. Read something to wake up your brain.

5. 5. Go somewhere incredibly quiet to take the practice test –perhaps one of your parents’ offices on a Saturday morning. I hear the engineering library at UT is really quiet too. It is imperative that the place you take the practice test be quiet, just like the room for the real test will be.

Time yourself meticulously, or ask someone to do it for you. When your time is up, stop. If you finish a section early, wait until the full section time has elapsed. Do not go on to the next section until the the entire time for that section has elapsed.

In other words, take a practice test just exactly as if it is a real test. Exactly. That will give you a much better sense of how well you’re doing on the test than if you take a section here and there.

With the SAT, you can grade the vast majority of the practice test yourself -- and I can grade your essay quickly. With the ACT, you can grade the whole thing yourself and get your score.