1. SAT,® ACT,® OR BOTH?

2. AGENDA SAT, ACT OR BOTH? PRESENTED BY: William H. Floyd
Truths and Misconceptions
AGENDA
Similarities and Differences
Improving Your Scores
PRESENTED BY:
William H. Floyd
Outreach Manager, College Prep Programs

3. TRUTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

4. WHAT DO THESE TESTS MEASURE?
Admission tests..
True
False
… measure intelligence?
… can be used to award aid?
… reflect your GPA in high school?
… predict your college GPA?
… can be prepared for?
… should be prepared for?
… test what you’ve learned in HS? 

5. STUDENTS OFTEN STRUGGLE WITH ACT/SAT
STANDARDIZED TESTS
HIGH SCHOOL EXAMS
TIMING/NUMBER OF QUESTIONS
Race against the clock
Done in plenty of time!
CONTENT
Covers years
Covers chapters
TESTS
Stress test alert!
What have you learned recently
ESSAY
Limited time
Hours & Weeks
READING
OMG! 1 minute left already!
Take your time
WRITING/ENGLISH
Grammar rules
Grammar has much less emphasis
MATH
Tricky and comprised of 4+ years; all or nothing
Straight forward and generally focused on 1 year; do your best
GRADING
Machine
Human

6. TOP FACTORS FOR FIRST TIME FRESHMEN
1. Grades
2. Test Scores
3. High School Curriculum

7. ADMISSION FACTORS Considerably important: High School Transcript
Test scores
Moderately important:
Essay/writing samples
Teacher & counselor recommendations
Class rank
Smaller institutions are more likely to rank subject tests, portfolios, interviews, and work experience as considerably or moderately important.

8. DID YOU KNOW:
Colleges have no preference whether you take the ACT or SAT, but tests are used to grant scholarships - almost 200 merit scholarships are tied to ACT and SAT scores!

9. BIG QUESTION: SAT or ACT?
REAL QUESTION: Why not both?

10. BUT DON’T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT!
Princeton University’s Dean of Admissions summed it up this way:
“For us, more information is always better. If students choose one or the other, that’s fine, because both tests have value. But if they submit both, that generally gives us a little more information.”
Guidance Counselor at Richwoods HS in IL:
“The mantra from college admissions counselors has increasingly been to advise students to take both.”

11. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

12. TESTS AT-A GLANCE BOTH THE ACT AND SAT HAVE:
Over 3 hours of testing time
Limited time per question
Answer choices (mostly)
Math, Reading, and Grammar questions
TESTS
AT-A GLANCE
ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., which is not affiliated with The Princeton Review..

13. ACT SECTION-BY-SECTION
English
45 minutes
75 questions
Math
60 minutes
60 questions
Reading
35 minutes
40 questions
Science
Writing
(optional essay)
40 minutes
1 essay
Total with Writing
3:35
215 questions

14. SAT SECTION-BY-SECTION
Reading
65 minutes
52 questions
W&L
35 minutes
44 questions
Math
(No calculator)
25 minutes
20 questions
(calculator)
55 minutes
38 questions
Essay
(optional)
50 minutes
1 essay
Total with Essay
3:50
154 questions

15. WHAT ABOUT THE ESSAY? Fewer than 20 schools require the essay
The University of California system contains nine of those schools.
We recommend you take the essay, but don’t sweat it!

16. SAT SCORING ACT SCORING MATH 200 – 800 READING AND WRITING 200 – 800
TOTAL – 1600
ACT SCORING
ENGLISH
MATH
READING
SCIENCE
COMPOSITE

17. TEST WRITERS EXPECT YOU TO RESPOND IN A PREDICTABLE WAY
COWS PRODUCE MILK
COWS DRINK WATER

18. TEST WRITERS EXPECT YOU TO RESPOND IN A PREDICTABLE WAY
If a store raises the price of an item by 20%, then decreases the new price by 15%, what was the percent change in the price of the item?

19. WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MISTAKES?
Answering questions too quickly 
Careless answers 
Doing work in your head 
Misreading the problem 
Don’t understand what to do 

20. A good score is the score that gets you into your dream college.28
1460
1560 29
1180
WHAT IS A GOOD SCORE? 32
1210
1370
1400 34 31
1280 25
A good score is the score that gets you into your dream college. 33 21
1600
1330 24 35
1540 20
1350
1490 36
1250 23 26 22 27
1420
1300
1510
1140

21. WHERE YOUR SCORES CAN TAKE YOU
SCHOOL
SAT*
ACT*
Harvard
1550 34
Loyola Marymount
1270 29
Penn State University
1220 27
Stanford
1530 33
Texas A & M University
1200
UC, Berkeley
1440 32
* SAT scores are reflective of the Critical reading and Math scores. The data is self-reported from the schools and represents data during the school year. * ACT scores are self-reported from the schools and represent data during the school year.
** Average merit award for qualifying individuals provided by schools.

22. GUIDING YOU ON YOUR COLLEGE JOURNEY
GUIDING YOU ON YOUR COLLEGE JOURNEY
We’ll help guide each step you take.
Visit princetonreview.com/journey to:
Maximize your score potential, find your dream college, and more!

23. IMPROVING YOUR SCORES

24. STRATEGY: PACING 540 26 correct 58 attempted 32 incorrect 26 610 5805 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 58 26
610
580
38 attempted: 30 correct +4
20 guesses 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 58 30 34

25. ceton Review Methods MATH STRATEGY: PLUGGING IN10
If Claire is C years old and is 6 years younger than Alan,
in terms of C, how old will Alan be in 3 years? 16
Target Answer 10
C-6
C-3
C+3
C+9
C+5 = 4 7 13 19 15

26. GRAMMAR STRATEGY: USING CONTEXT
The scientist’s work in the field of physics continued to
influence the public’s understanding of the subject.
No change
Continue
Will continue
Has the ongoing effect of continuing
Watch the context.

27. GRAMMAR STRATEGY: CONTEXT
The scientist’s work in the field of physics continued to
influence the public’s understanding of the subject. His
research will redefine a common misconception held by
many people. By conducting this experiment, the
scientist will become more famous than Albert Einstein.
No change
Continue
Will continue
Has the ongoing effect of continuing
Keep it consistent.

28. CREATING YOUR PREP PLAN
Step One: Take a Practice Test
Learn What You Need to Do
Step Two: Prep For Your First Test
Buy a Book Self-Prep Online Take a Class Work With a Tutor
Step Three: Take Your First Test
Get an Official Score
Step Four: Prep For Your Second Test
Take a Different Test or the Same Test Readjust Your Plan
Step Five: Take Your Second Test

30. GETTING INTO COLLEGE IS ABOUT MORE THAN SCORES
BETTER GRADES Z
3.8
BETTER
SCORES
1450
BETTER
APPLICATIONS

31. QUESTIONS? South High students get 20% off SAT or ACT courses
and 10% off Tutoring
To see upcoming courses, free events, and discounts:
princetonreview.com
800-2REVIEW
/ThePrincetonReview2
@ThePrincetonRev
ThePrincetonReview
SAT and AP are trademarks registered and owned by the College Board, which is not affiliated with and does not endorse this product. PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation which were not involved in the production of, and do not endorse, this product. All other tests are registered trademarks of their respective owners. None of the trademark holders are affiliated with The Princeton Review or these products. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University.