SAT and ACT Guide

Overview

The SAT and ACT are the two major standardized college admissions tests in the U.S., and while their content and format differ somewhat, most colleges accept either one interchangeably. Many students take a practice version of both before deciding which to prepare for seriously, since individual students sometimes perform meaningfully better on one format than the other.

This guide covers how the two tests differ, how to decide which to take, how to build a realistic study plan, and how to think about testing strategically now that many schools have adopted test-optional policies. See our test-optional admission guide for the related question of whether to submit scores at all.

Why this matters

Standardized test scores remain one factor admissions committees consider at most schools, even test-optional ones (where a strong score can still be submitted to strengthen an application) — approaching test prep strategically, rather than either ignoring it or over-investing without a clear plan, tends to produce the best return on the time invested.

Where this fits in your timeline

This topic sits in the application-season core of the process — typically summer before senior year through winter of senior year for first-time undergraduate applicants, though transfer and graduate applicants often work on a compressed or different-shaped timeline. Most of the guides in this group are time-sensitive relative to specific deadlines (testing registration windows, early action/decision dates, recommendation letter lead time), so it's worth reading the relevant guide with your specific target deadlines already in hand rather than in the abstract.

Step by step

1. Take a full practice test of each before committing to one

Most of the meaningful content differences between the SAT and ACT (the ACT includes a science reasoning section and moves at a faster pace; the SAT has historically had a somewhat different math-to-verbal balance) show up clearly in a full practice test — use official practice tests from each test's own organization for the most accurate comparison.

2. Compare your practice scores using an official concordance table

The College Board and ACT publish official concordance tables that let you compare a score on one test to an equivalent score on the other — use this to determine which test you're likely to perform better on, rather than guessing.

3. Check your target schools' specific score policies

Confirm whether your target schools are test-optional, test-blind, or require scores, and whether they practice "superscoring" (combining your best section scores across multiple sittings) — this affects both whether you test at all and how you plan multiple attempts.

4. Build a realistic study timeline

Effective test prep is generally a multi-month process, not a last-minute cram — build a study schedule with specific, regular practice sessions leading up to your test date, focused on your identified weaker areas based on practice test results.

5. Use official practice materials as your primary resource

Official practice tests and questions (from the College Board or ACT directly) most closely reflect actual test content and difficulty — supplement with third-party prep books or courses, but don't substitute them for official practice material.

6. Register early and confirm testing accommodations if needed

Register for your test date well in advance, since popular test centers and dates can fill up — and if you have a documented disability, start the accommodations request process early, as it can take weeks to process.

7. Plan for the possibility of a second attempt

Many students improve their score on a second attempt with focused practice on specific weak areas — plan your testing calendar with at least one retake opportunity in mind, ideally before major application deadlines rather than immediately before them.

8. Decide how you'll use superscoring or your best single-sitting score

If your target schools superscore, plan your retake strategy around improving specific sections rather than needing a better score across the board in a single sitting.

9. Reassess your testing plan against test-optional policies before your final decision

Once you have a real score in hand, compare it to your target schools' reported middle 50% range (published in each school's common data set) to decide whether submitting strengthens or doesn't help your specific application — see our test-optional guide for this decision in detail.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Committing to one test without ever taking a practice version of the other.
• Cramming intensively in the final weeks rather than building a multi-month study plan.
• Relying primarily on third-party materials instead of official practice tests.
• Registering too late and losing access to a preferred test center or date.
• Not checking a target school's specific score policy (test-optional, test-blind, superscoring) before planning.
• Submitting a score without comparing it to your target schools' typical admitted-student range.

Quick-reference checklist

Copy this into your own notes or spreadsheet and check items off as you go:

• Take one official full-length practice test of each exam.
• Compare practice scores using an official concordance table.
• Confirm your target schools' score policies and superscoring practices.
• Build a multi-month study schedule targeting identified weak areas.
• Use official practice materials as your primary study resource.
• Register early and request accommodations well ahead of time if needed.
• Plan for at least one potential retake before major deadlines.
• Compare your final score to your target schools' published middle 50% range.

Adapting this to your specific school

The steps above describe sat and act guide in general terms that apply across most U.S. institutions, but the specifics can shift depending on the type of school involved. Public and private institutions sometimes handle the same process through different offices or forms; community colleges frequently have a more streamlined (and sometimes less standardized) version of processes that four-year universities run through a dedicated office; and highly selective private institutions sometimes layer additional requirements — an extra essay, an alumni interview, a supplemental scholarship application — on top of the general process described here. Larger public university systems can also differ campus by campus even within the same system, so confirm you're looking at the specific campus's process rather than a general system-wide description that may not apply exactly to your target campus. If you're working through this at more than one school simultaneously, keep a school-by-school checklist rather than assuming a single unified process applies identically everywhere, since missing a school-specific variation is one of the more common and avoidable ways students lose time in the process described above. It's also worth revisiting this checklist periodically rather than only once at the start, since a school's specific requirements can be updated between when you first research them and when you actually need to act on them.

How much time to budget

How much time sat and act guide actually takes varies by your specific situation, but it's worth budgeting more time than feels strictly necessary on a first pass — most of the steps above involve at least one dependency on someone or something outside your direct control (a recommender's schedule, a government agency's processing time, a school office's response time, a required document from a third party), and those dependencies are consistently where delays actually happen, more often than the parts of the process fully within your own control. Build a personal timeline with your own target dates for each step above, set several days to a week earlier than the true external deadline wherever a step depends on someone else, and revisit that personal timeline periodically rather than only once at the start — a plan that accounts realistically for this kind of dependency-driven delay is meaningfully more reliable than one that assumes every step will go exactly as scheduled on the first attempt.

Where to find current, authoritative information

SAT and ACT Guide involves specific details — dollar figures, deadlines, forms, and eligibility rules — that change from year to year even though the underlying process and sequence of steps described above stay fairly consistent. For applying-related questions specifically, the most reliable single starting point is often the relevant office directly (a school's financial aid office, registrar, international student services office, or admissions office, depending on the topic), since general guidance describes typical practice while your specific school's or agency's current policy governs your actual situation. Where a step above points to a specific external source — studentaid.gov, the U.S. Department of Education's accreditation database, a visa-related government site, or a specific school's own published policy — treat that source as the more current authority for exact numbers and deadlines, and treat this guide as a reliable map of the underlying mechanics and sequence, which changes far less often than the specific figures within it.

Related guides

This guide is part of our "Applying" group of guides — see the full guides index for the complete list organized by stage. Related reading:

Frequently asked questions