Both the SAT and ACT are used by colleges for intelligence testing. While both tests have critical reading, math and writing, the ACT also includes English and science. Both tests take about three to four hours, but the SAT is scored out of 2400 and the ACT out of 36.

While senior Cole Salazar disliked having to take both exams, he “liked the SAT more than the ACT because the SAT was easier to understand.”

Students are wondering which test is better, the SAT or the ACT. Rumor around school is that more logical minded people test better on the SAT and creative minded people do better on the ACT. A majority of students have taken both tests and have a firm stance on which exam they think shows more accurate intelligence results. The real question is which test best suits which student. It’s down to the basic right brain versus left brain argument.

 “The ACT takes more creativity because you are being tested on things you don’t see in school while the SAT focuses more on classroom stuff,” senior Connor Thomas said. “I think the SAT was better because there were fewer subjects to study.”

Although, some students think that it takes more resourcefulness to take the SAT.

“The SAT is more creative because you have to write a paper,” Salazar said. “On the ACT the essay is optional.”

There are also some students that agree with the idea that the rumor that the ACT is the creative based test, but for ironically different reasons.

“The ACT is better for me because I tend to do better in science and math,’ senior Naqib Dhukka said, “With science, you have to read and understand the graphs. That makes you have to think in a more creative way.”

Naqib only took the ACT once in April, but took the SAT twice. He scored a 22 on the ACT, a score in the top 62% of all students who tested, and a 1560 on the SAT, a score in the top 57% of all students that took the SAT.

“The ACT has to be the better one,” senior Diane Kim said. “Even though it has math and science, it has easy reading and writing.”

Kim hasn’t taken the ACT, but is positive that if she had the chance, she’d score better on the ACT than the SAT she took in May.  She used the Princeton Review, the “Porsche of all SAT study books,” to prep for her test. But she still didn’t feel satisfied with her results. Maybe Kim is a creative girl who needs to take the ACT instead of the SAT.