Students choose ACT to avoid new SAT

High school students have long favored the SAT college entrance exam for its lack of a science section and focus on literature, according to the New York Times. But in recent years, a different standardized test has won the attention of many college-bound students.

The number of students who took the ACT exceeded the number of those who took the SAT for the first time in 2012, by a slight margin of 1,500 students, according to a story in the Washington Post.

Perhaps in response to this trend, the College Board redesigned the SAT to align with the new Common Core standards. The new test will be administered starting in March 2016.

The revised SAT will ask students to cite evidence to support their answers. Additionally, it will be scored out of 1,600 points. The essay, however, is now optional. Students will be required to analyze documents and the rhetorical strategies used to support or oppose an argument, compared to using evidence from their own opinions and logic.

Various changes in the new SAT can be advantageous for students. For example, they will not penalize students for guessing, whereas before, students lost an additional one-fourth of a point for guessing incorrectly. The number of answer choices is also now four instead of five.

The ACT, on the other hand, typically asks for more of a general synthesis of the readings. The test has four sections: English, math, reading and science. The English section covers the mechanics of writing while the reading section tests passage comprehension.

Still, not all students are excited about the change.

“I don’t think it [is] a good idea to be the guinea pigs for the new SAT,” junior Anna Zhou said. “We’re the first people to try it out.”

This thinking has discouraged many students from waiting to try the new SAT. Many have been trying to take the current version of the SAT to avoid any surprises.

“I am feeling slightly overwhelmed since it’s changing, so I’m put under pressure to do well on my first few tries [on the current SAT],” junior Samana Shah said.

While students like Shah are studying for the October, November and January SAT exams, others, like junior Kai Donez, are choosing to wait to take the redesigned SAT.

“I’m feeling fine about [the change,] and I do feel somewhat prepared because the College Board, in conjunction with Khan Academy, has released some prep for it,” Donez said.

Unfortunately for it, the class of 2017 landed at the beginning of the release of the new SAT, whereas almost all of the class of 2016 will be finished taking the exam before the change.

Even with the remaking of the SAT, the ACT is likely to continue gaining popularity, especially during this transitional stage.

“The ACT seems to have a more solid and organized format than the SAT,” said sophomore Mya Pai, who is planning to take the ACT next year.

According to FLEX College Prep, one of the many local standardized testing tutoring businesses, students should avoid the new SAT because of the lack of preparation curriculum. FLEX said that the current preparation materials only give “a cursory sense of what the test will be like.”

Some freshmen even know that they are planning to take the ACT, like freshman Ronit Dey. He said his strengths are math and science, subjects he thinks he can do well in on the ACT.

Despite the apparently beneficial changes made in the new SAT, for now, the shortage in preparation material gives him a strong reason to avoid it.

“I can know what to expect much better with [the ACT] than I would with the SAT,” Pai said.