SAT vs ACT vs New SAT

How to use officially released SAT, New SAT, & ACT exams

Get all of the officially released exams here.

The SAT is created by a company called “The College Board”. They in turn are owned by a parent company named “ETS”. ACT (American College Testing) is created by ACT Inc. Both of these companies are multi-billion dollar revenue companies and have been around for a very long time. They spend lots of resources preparing the exams.

In short, NO test prep company can exactly duplicate an SAT or ACT exam. They can teach concepts, explain and deconstruct, but they cannot precisely duplicate. That means, it’s essential to use officially released exams in the ways indicated below:

Deciding which test to take: Since both the SAT and the ACT are accepted at ALL colleges and universities, there is no reason to prefer one exam over the other. After you have obtained the four (4) officially released exams, you should take a full length SAT and a full length ACT and see for yourself which one you do better on and whether one or the other appeals to you. If, for whatever reason, you perform better on one exam over the other, then you should focus your study on THAT exam.

1. Diagnosing: after you have selected your exam of choice (SAT or ACT) you should review your answers to verify where you are strong and where you are weak. That will help you diagnose where to focus your study time.
2. Training and Study: after taking both exams to decide which you want to make “yours” and then evaluating your score to diagnose strengths and weaknesses, THEN it’s time to start actually training and studying. This is when a test prep course can be very helpful. Use it to assist you in learning the content you don’t know and reviewing everything else.
3. Timing and Comprehension: after you have selected your exam, diagnosed, and trained, it’s time to work on speed. Being able to answer exam questions is important, but it’s NOT enough. You must be able to answer questions UNDER TIMED conditions—and that adds another, very substantial level of difficulty. You should ONLY use real officially released exams to test your timing and comprehension. Once again, no test prep company can exactly duplicate exam questions. So it’s critical to use official questions to test your speed. If you used one of the SAT’s and one of the ACT’s to verify which exam appeals to you and then you used your answers from that same test to diagnose your strengths and weaknesses, that means you will have three (3) full length exams remaining for your use.

To test your timing, you don’t need to take a full test. You can use a single section at a time to test yourself on that area. Example: if you have just finished prepping for math, take a 45min or 60 min math section, set your timer and take just that subsection under real timed conditions. Don’t cheat or fudge—you’ll only hurt yourself. Then score your results and see where you still need work.

Following this method, the three (3) remaining exams will provide sufficient opportunities for you to test yourself repeatedly. Towards the end of your prepping you could also test yourself again with a full length exam.

Continue the three step circular process of

1. Test
2. Diagnose
3. Train/prep

Then back to
Step One: test timing
Step Two: diagnose results…then back to
Step Three: training/prepping
and so forth around the circle.