by Sarah Hartley |

These days, most colleges in the United States require applicants to take a college entrance exam to be considered for admittance. To high schoolers, these college entrance exams are more commonly known as the ACT and the SAT.

Although different regions of the country once required one test over the other, the majority of colleges now accept either. Therefore, teenagers now have to decide between the two and pick the one to take that will let them show off their full potential.

I am personally against all standardized tests, especially college entrance exams, for many reasons that I will summarize.

First, as some areas are poorer than others, many people do not have access to the same education as wealthier areas. These people are at a disadvantage when it comes to such tests because they did not have the chance to learn the same material. Second, these tests prohibit students from being able to convey skills such as leadership, motivation, and even wisdom, which are vital to having success in college. Third, there are many factors that can prevent a student from performing as well as they have the ability to do on one of these tests. A common factor is test anxiety.

However, the matter still stands that for the most part these tests are required to be accepted into college and so complaining about them does no good. For those who are looking into a college that will accept either test, I would recommend the ACT over the SAT.

The ACT was designed to measure what a student has learned in school and the material is therefore more specific and relevant. From personal experience, it is much easier to study for the ACT than it is for the SAT. According to “About.com: College Admissions,” The SAT was designed to measure a student’s reasoning and verbal abilities, and is supposed to be a test that one cannot study for at all.

One of the biggest reasons I am more for the ACT is because it has four general sections that allow you to remain in the same mindset throughout the entire test. The SAT on the other hand has 10 sections, so your brain is constantly switching gears to adjust to the new style of questions.

Another reason I prefer the ACT is that the ACT does not have a “guessing penalty.” On the SAT, students lose ¼ of a point for every wrong answer. This was implemented so that students do not get extra points for guessing randomly. I like that the ACT does not have this penalty because sometimes one just does not know the answer to a question and that could be out of their control for a few different reasons. Another strong feature for ACT is that our district pays for us to take the test and gives us time to take it during school. This year’s test is April 23.

To conclude, the SAT and ACT measure different abilities and will therefore benefit different people in different ways. Those that are good with vocabulary and critical thinking will perform better on the SAT and those that are good at scientific reasoning and rhetorical strategies will perform better on the ACT. It is really a personal matter and people should research both tests to decide which is best for them.

Most colleges do require them for entrance so students should prepare and study accordingly.