SAT or ACT? (1 Viewer)

[jjuunnee]

To people who have done them before, what are the tests like? Are they similar? Do you think a Year 10 student can cope with the test content?

 

[pHyRe]

I did quite well in the SATs, never attempted the ACTs. i think you'll have to learn more things for the ACT whilst SAT will require more learning how to answer the questions quickly

you'll be fine with the content of the SATs for sure

 

[JaySea2014]

SAT is out of 2400. 800 for Reading, Writing, Math each. Generally it's harder than the NSW equivalent of the SC but there is alot more material to prepare for it imo. I think you'll be fine if you study consistently and whatnot, it really prepares you well for later on. I know its vague advice but there isn't much more to it

That information is outdated. The SAT has been reworked/updated, and is very different to what it was prior to 2016. It is now out of 1600, with an optional essay section (Reading and Maths are still each out of 800).

As for the original question, I did the PSAT (Preliminary SAT - same as the SAT in terms of difficulty) in Year 10 with absolutely no study and scored what was then the equivalent of 2170/2400. So I think yes a Year 10 student can cope with the content, but it would depend on the individual of course.

Due to the changes that have been implemented in the SAT, it is now very similar to the ACT, and there aren't any huge differences.

 

[ishfish]

Hey there,

tldr: sat is fking easy and better than ACT. It has a clean and crisp structure with a nice majority of easy questions across the sections.

Like Jaysea214 has explained, the SAT test format has been largely altered to become a standardised score out of 1600 instead of 2400 (Please check out the collegeboard website for the logistics of this). Having practiced rather lightly for the old and new sat using free material online, I sat the exam in June. And believe me, if you are a capable student, you only need to study intensively for the reading comprehension section which as passages about the constituition. Boring stuff tbh if you ask me. Anyway, maths is a breeze if your maths level is > general maths. It is very easy to score 35+/40 on maths with little to no prep on both the maths section (Calculator and non calc) . There is also the essay which I kinda messed up because this sat exam was kinda a learning experience. I didnt go in with declarations of attending the ivy 10 universities. More so, I remained really fking calm which helped

Got 1390 as my final score which is decent enough for international study. (Dont freak out, this score is scaled and really very much within your capability). The cut off for Berkeley was 1410 :'( the feels, oh well. Like I would go anyway.

CHEERS and GOOD LUCK BRO

TBH: Sat is heaps better than ACT. Its more popular and less specialised. ACT if I'm right, needs legit prep for chem, phys etc. SAT is so general and chill with so many breaks, I forgot this was a 'high stakes exam' for american kids.

 

[jjuunnee]

TBH: Sat is heaps better than ACT. Its more popular and less specialised. ACT if I'm right, needs legit prep for chem, phys etc. SAT is so general and chill with so many breaks, I forgot this was a 'high stakes exam' for american kids.

I know it's weird to think that SAT is the HSC equivalent for american students. My cousin in america got an sat score of 2160 and managed to get onto the waiting list for fucking harvard, with like no extracurricular activities, while JaySea2014 got a better score when they were in year 10 (no study). My cousin was also in a selective school and his score is considered to be extremely good. But after looking at everyone's responses it seems that a high SAT score isn't very hard to achieve. So is it hard, is it not hard? tbh i dont even know anymore

 

[pHyRe]

I know it's weird to think that SAT is the HSC equivalent for american students. My cousin in america got an sat score of 2160 and managed to get onto the waiting list for fucking harvard, with like no extracurricular activities, while JaySea2014 got a better score when they were in year 10 (no study). My cousin was also in a selective school and his score is considered to be extremely good. But after looking at everyone's responses it seems that a high SAT score isn't very hard to achieve. So is it hard, is it not hard? tbh i dont even know anymore

its not the equivalent of the HSC, thats just stupid.

its a standardised test that makes up something like 20-40% of your application (depending on your opinion and the uni you apply to)

also, pretty much any good uni also requires 2 subject tests as well

pretty common for people in the know to say HS grades are a bigger factor than SAT scores.

as for whether its hard. not particularly, no. spend a summer read a few SAT books, do the questions in them, then do 10-15 practice test and you should be able to get a good score

 

[brodini]

SAT