{"id":5619,"date":"2016-02-22t14:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-22t22:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=5619"},"modified":"2018-10-24t20:05:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25t03:05:51","slug":"should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/","title":{"rendered":"should you take both the act and sat?"},"content":{"rendered":"

in my years as an admissions counselor, academic adviser and professor, i often have encountered ambitious students who took both the act and sat. these students are a joy to work with. their enthusiasm and appetite for academic achievement are inspirational, but this still begs the question: <\/p>\n

how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? <\/strong>is it possible that deciding on either the sat or act<\/a> is a better choice for you?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

advantages to taking both tests<\/h2>\n

there are some undeniable pros to taking both the act and sat. for one thing, this practice can increase the chances of acceptance at top universities<\/a>. according to a recent report in the new york times<\/em>, elite universities<\/a> such as princeton like to see college applications with scores from both tests<\/a>, as it gives them more information to carefully consider in their competitive admissions process.<\/p>\n

of course, getting good scores on both tests can demonstrate ambition and diverse skills in the varied academic domains of thee exams. for instance, the sat is more vocabulary<\/a> focused than the act, while the act has a science section<\/a>, something not found on the sat. good performance on both tests demonstrates a dual strength in vocabulary and scientific reasoning; this kind of academic versatility can impress admissions representatives at top universities and mid-tier universities alike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

disadvantages to taking both tests<\/h2>\n

one obvious disadvantage is just how time-consuming it can be to take two standardized tests instead of one. while there is some overlap between the skills and question types on the act and sat, each exam is its own animal. to do well on both tests, you\u2019ll need to take time to practice with authentic materials from both act<\/a> and the college board.<\/a><\/p>\n

bear in mind that no school absolutely requires both exams. moreover, these two tests are treated as equally valuable by pretty much every university in america. in light of that, you need to ask yourself whether it\u2019s truly worth it to spend extra time passing both assessments.<\/p>\n

moreover, there\u2019s a risk of doing poorly on both exams because you didn\u2019t have the time you needed to really focus on each exam and get things right. while two good tests scores can be an asset, certainly one very good score is better than two scores that are mediocre or poor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the takeaway<\/h2>\n

taking both the act<\/a> and sat<\/a> can make you a competitive candidate in your pool of college applicants. but only if you can study for both exams and<\/em> get top scores on both. if you are thinking of taking two college entrance exams instead of one, carefully consider the amount of time you\u2019ll need to spend. if you feel you can only realistically do one or the other, don\u2019t worry, that\u2019s the route most students go. your odds of acceptance will still be pretty good with an excellent score on your test of choice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[215,7,4,64],"ppma_author":[24913],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nshould you take the act and sat? | high school (life) | magoosh blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"should you take both the act and sat?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshenglishlearning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-22t22:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-25t03:05:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"david recine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"david recine\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"david recine\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\"},\"headline\":\"should you take both the act and sat?\",\"datepublished\":\"2016-02-22t22:00:24+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2018-10-25t03:05:51+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\"},\"wordcount\":504,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"act & sat\",\"act study tips\",\"act vs. sat\",\"sat study tips\"],\"articlesection\":[\"college admissions\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\",\"name\":\"should you take the act and sat? | high school (life) | magoosh blog\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website\"},\"datepublished\":\"2016-02-22t22:00:24+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2018-10-25t03:05:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"readaction\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"breadcrumblist\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemlistelement\":[{\"@type\":\"listitem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"home\",\"item\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\"},{\"@type\":\"listitem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"should you take both the act and sat?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"website\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\",\"name\":\"magoosh blog | high school\",\"description\":\"act, sat, college admissions, life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"searchaction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"entrypoint\",\"urltemplate\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\"},{\"@type\":\"organization\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\",\"name\":\"magoosh\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":60,\"caption\":\"magoosh\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameas\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/magooshsat_act\"]},{\"@type\":\"person\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768\",\"name\":\"david recine\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c25f47bb3a8328890274eea1ac8ba62f\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb83f01789b236e00117edd9663c4568?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contenturl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb83f01789b236e00117edd9663c4568?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"david recine\"},\"description\":\"david is a test prep expert for magoosh toefl and ielts. additionally, he's helped students with toeic, pet, fce, bulats, eiken, sat, act, gre, and gmat. david has a bs and ma from the university of wisconsin-eau claire and an ma from the university of wisconsin-river falls.\",\"sameas\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshenglishlearning\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucra3kqojlop7rywacyh2qew\"],\"knowsabout\":[\"toefl\",\"ielts\",\"toeic\",\"pet\",\"fce\",\"bulats\",\"eiken\",\"sat\",\"act\",\"gre\",\"gmat\"],\"knowslanguage\":[\"english\",\"italian\"],\"jobtitle\":\"content creator\",\"worksfor\":\"magoosh\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/davidr\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ yoast seo premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"should you take the act and sat? | high school (life) | magoosh blog","description":"how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/","og_locale":"en_us","og_type":"article","og_title":"should you take both the act and sat?","og_description":"how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are.","og_url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/","og_site_name":"magoosh blog | high school","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshenglishlearning","article_published_time":"2016-02-22t22:00:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-25t03:05:51+00:00","author":"david recine","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@magooshsat_act","twitter_site":"@magooshsat_act","twitter_misc":{"written by":"david recine","est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"article","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#article","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/"},"author":{"name":"david recine","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768"},"headline":"should you take both the act and sat?","datepublished":"2016-02-22t22:00:24+00:00","datemodified":"2018-10-25t03:05:51+00:00","mainentityofpage":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/"},"wordcount":504,"commentcount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization"},"keywords":["act & sat","act study tips","act vs. sat","sat study tips"],"articlesection":["college admissions"],"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"commentaction","name":"comment","target":["\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"webpage","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/","name":"should you take the act and sat? | high school (life) | magoosh blog","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website"},"datepublished":"2016-02-22t22:00:24+00:00","datemodified":"2018-10-25t03:05:51+00:00","description":"how useful is it to take both the act and the sat? it depends on who you are.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#breadcrumb"},"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"readaction","target":["\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/"]}]},{"@type":"breadcrumblist","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/should-you-take-both-the-act-and-sat\/#breadcrumb","itemlistelement":[{"@type":"listitem","position":1,"name":"home","item":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/"},{"@type":"listitem","position":2,"name":"should you take both the act and sat?"}]},{"@type":"website","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/","name":"magoosh blog | high school","description":"act, sat, college admissions, life","publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization"},"potentialaction":[{"@type":"searchaction","target":{"@type":"entrypoint","urltemplate":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inlanguage":"en-us"},{"@type":"organization","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization","name":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/","logo":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","contenturl":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","width":265,"height":60,"caption":"magoosh"},"image":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/magooshsat_act"]},{"@type":"person","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/fa2be5405a605e37f4199c90e2236768","name":"david recine","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/c25f47bb3a8328890274eea1ac8ba62f","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb83f01789b236e00117edd9663c4568?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb83f01789b236e00117edd9663c4568?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"david recine"},"description":"david is a test prep expert for magoosh toefl and ielts. additionally, he's helped students with toeic, pet, fce, bulats, eiken, sat, act, gre, and gmat. david has a bs and ma from the university of wisconsin-eau claire and an ma from the university of wisconsin-river falls.","sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshenglishlearning","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucra3kqojlop7rywacyh2qew"],"knowsabout":["toefl","ielts","toeic","pet","fce","bulats","eiken","sat","act","gre","gmat"],"knowslanguage":["english","italian"],"jobtitle":"content creator","worksfor":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/davidr\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24913,"user_id":80,"is_guest":0,"slug":"davidr","display_name":"david recine","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb83f01789b236e00117edd9663c4568?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"recine","first_name":"david","description":"david is a test prep expert for magoosh toefl and ielts. additionally, he's helped students with toeic, pet, fce, bulats, eiken, sat, act, gre, and gmat.\r\n\r\ndavid has a bs from the university of wisconsin-eau claire and an ma from the university of wisconsin-river falls. his work at magoosh has been cited in<a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2c50&q=recine+magoosh&btng=\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> many scholarly articles<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/minds.wisconsin.edu\/handle\/1793\/65479\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> his master's thesis<\/a> is featured on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.readingwithpictures.org\/2013\/09\/research-highlight-teaching-english-language-learners-with-comics\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> reading with pictures<\/a> website, and he's presented at the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.witesol.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/2014-witesol-program-final-10-28-14.pdf\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> witesol (link to pdf)<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/interoff\/docs\/nafsaregionv_2014conference\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> nafsa<\/a> conferences. david has taught k-12 esl in south korea as well as undergraduate english and mba-level business english at american universities. he has also trained english teachers in america, italy, and peru.\r\n\r\ncome join david and the magoosh team on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucra3kqojlop7rywacyh2qew\"> youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshenglishlearning\"> facebook<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/magooshenglish\/?hl=en\"> instagram<\/a>, or connect with him via<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/david-recine\/\"> linkedin<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5619"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}