{"id":6576,"date":"2016-04-29t11:14:34","date_gmt":"2016-04-29t18:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=6576"},"modified":"2016-11-13t00:31:13","modified_gmt":"2016-11-13t08:31:13","slug":"are-the-sat-and-act-viewed-equally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/college-admissions\/are-the-sat-and-act-viewed-equally\/","title":{"rendered":"are the sat and act viewed equally?"},"content":{"rendered":"

bob is a college admissions counselor<\/a>. every day bob goes through dozens of application to find next year\u2019s crop of freshman students. yet bob\u2019s school is unique. every student who applies has to send an apple and\/or an orange as part of his or her admissions packet. bob and other admissions counselors eat the fruit to help determine whether or not to admit a student.<\/p>\n

on monday morning bob opens up a packet to find a student sent him an apple. it\u2019s not just any apple. it\u2019s a honeycrisp! it\u2019s big, crunchy, juicy, and tastes amazing. the next packet has an orange inside. it\u2019s a valencia with beautiful color. the rind is easy to peel, and no orange juice squirts onto bob\u2019s shirt as he eats it. afterward, bob is stumped. the student who sent him the apple clearly knew as much about good fruit as the student who sent him the orange. and though bob personally prefers apples over oranges, he knows his preference can\u2019t be a factor in his final decision. how will bob figure out which student to admit?<\/p>\n

strange story, right? but here\u2019s where it applies to your question. though apples and oranges may be different, they have a lot more in common than most people assume. same goes for the sat and act, the real fruit of my story.<\/p>\n

in this article, we\u2019ll show the differences between the tests and the similarities that tie them together in the college admissions world. and if you\u2019re wondering which test to take, i have a little advice for you, too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the tests<\/strong><\/h2>\n

the first step to understanding why the tests are treated equally is to learn a little bit about the history and content of the sat and act.<\/p>\n

sat<\/strong><\/h3>\n

the roots of the sat go back to the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century. with the nation\u2019s leading progressives pushing for greater access to higher education, colleges had to come up with a way to \u2018level the playing field\u2019 when it came to applications. the first test, held in 1901, was completely essay-based and included topics rarely studied in school today such as a greek and latin.<\/p>\n

the first true sat appeared in 1926, and after a few revisions over the following twenty-five years, it evolved into the multiple-choice test you or i would recognize.<\/p>\n

the current sat<\/a> was released in march 2016. some of the changes include the return of the 1600-point scale and the test no longer penalizing students for guessing. in the following paragraphs is the basic information regarding the new sat, and how the test compares to the current act.<\/p>\n

reading<\/em><\/p>\n

students answer 52 multiple-choice reading questions in 65 minutes. the reading test\u2019s passages are the same as those found on the act reading (natural science, prose, social sciences, humanities). questions are grouped around a passage.<\/p>\n

math test<\/em><\/p>\n

students answer 58 multiple-choice math questions along with one set of \u2018extended thinking<\/a>\u2019 grid-in questions. the time for the test is 80 minutes. like the act, the sat math covers pre through intermediate algebra, coordinate\/plane geometry, and some trigonometry.<\/p>\n

writing and language<\/em><\/p>\n

students answer 44 multiple choice questions in 35 minutes. the test closely resembles the act\u2019s english test, as it requires the students to apply knowledge of vocabulary in context, grammar, and editing.<\/p>\n

sat essay<\/em><\/p>\n

though completely optional, the sat essay measures a student\u2019s ability to read\/analyze material, and write a precise essay that argues a point. the time for the test is 50 minutes. the sat essay is unique compared to the act essay in that instead of the student building his or her own argument, the student must explain how the author of the passage creates a persuasive argument.<\/p>\n

act<\/strong><\/h3>\n

the act came onto the scene in 1959 as an alternative to the sat. its creator, everett lindquist, also invented the scanning technology that made bubble sheets<\/a> possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\"are
now we know who to blame for the bubbles!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

photo by the press-citizen<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

since its invention, the act has undergone only two major changes.<\/p>\n