ACT and SAT: What’s the Difference?

One of the most significant decisions students and their parents can make when looking to begin test prep is whether they will focus on the SAT or the ACT. Yet despite its importance, many families make an uninformed or misinformed decision.

This is why we decided to make our inaugural blog post all about the differences between the ACT and SAT, as well as what to do with the information once you have it.

Over the course of thirteen years – and counting – there have been a handful of blatant, yet persistent lies we have heard surrounding these exams. So, we are going to set the record straight by sharing our Program Analyst Team’s expert knowledge with you.

For a shorter, summary explanation straight from our Senior Content Specialist see the video below!

 THE ACT

We will start with the ACT. When calling us for the first time, many families don’t even know this exam exists, or if they do, they have heard all manner of misinformation about it.

Here is a list of the most common FALLACIES we hear about the ACT:

1. The ACT is harder than the SAT.

2. The ACT is not accepted by as many schools as the SAT.

3. You should only worry about the ACT if you are pursuing STEM in college.

   
   

While we can never be sure where these beliefs came from, we can be sure that they are all false!

Here is a more important list of FACTS about the ACT you should know:

1. The ACT is not necessarily harder than the SAT. Lots of students perform better on it than the SAT.

2. The ACT is accepted by virtually every single U.S. college and university, just like the SAT is.

3. The ACT may still be your best option regardless of what field you want to go into – now more than ever!

   
   

Now that we have cleared up any possible misgivings about the ACT, let’s get into the details of the exam.

The ACT has 5 possible exam sections:

1. English – 35 minutes with 50 questions

2. Math – 50 minutes with 45 questions

3. Reading – 40 minutes with 36 questions

4. Science (optional) – 40 minutes with 40 questions

5. Writing/Essay (optional) – 40 minutes

   
   

Without the optional Science section, the whole exam takes 2 hours and 5 minutes. With Science, it takes 2 hours and 45 minutes total. In response to the relatively recent change making Science optional, Florida schools have openly announced that they will accept ACT scores with or without it.

Florida Bright Futures has also adjusted for the change and now accepts scores with and without Science. The 2025-2026 Florida Bright Futures score requirement is a 25 for the Medallion level - commonly referred to as 75% - and a 29 for the Academic Scholar level – or 100%.

Generally, most schools no longer consider the optional Essay section. So it is best to opt out of it unless you know you are applying to a program that specifically requests it.

Overall the ACT is a faster-paced exam than the SAT, providing less time per question. However, the questions are usually easier to answer than SAT questions due to simpler structure and wording.

The ACT also differs from the SAT with its paper or online format options and non-adaptive nature – we’ll delve more into what it means for an exam to be adaptive a little further down.

Of course, there are some major advantages to taking an online exam, namely the ability to use Desmos. Desmos is a calculator software built into the online SAT and ACT exams that makes it much easier for testers doing complex math equations and graphing.

If you know how to use it right, Desmos is a great advantage. Naturally, we teach all our students how to become Desmos masters.

THE SAT

Now let’s talk SAT. While the SAT tends to be more well-known in South Florida, its popularity does not stem from any data-driven sources. It is a different, but equal exam to the ACT in terms of both value to colleges and difficulty levels.

The SAT has 2 exam sections that are split into 4 modules:

1. Reading and Writing – 64 minutes with 54 questions total

   - Each module is 32 minutes with 27 questions

2. Math – 70 minutes with 44 questions total

   - Each module is 35 minutes with 22 questions

   
   

The whole exam takes 2 hours and 14 minutes. The optional essay portion was discontinued as of 2021.

The 2025-2026 Florida Bright Futures score requirement is an 1190 for the Medallion level - commonly referred to as 75% - and a 1330 for the Academic Scholar level – or 100%.

Overall the SAT is a slower-paced exam than the ACT, providing more time per question. However, the questions can seem harder to answer than ACT questions due to more complex structure and wording.

As of 2024, the SAT switched to an entirely online format, eliminating the option to take it on paper. Along with their transition to online tests, College Board also made the exams adaptive. This means that a student’s performance on the first module of a section, will determine the difficulty level of the next module.

If you do great on the first part, you have the advantage of higher difficulty (and higher scoring) questions in the second half of the section. Which is great… unless you do poorly. If a tester does poorly in the first half, they will get, easier questions in the second half of the module, limiting their scoring potential.

HOW TO CHOOSE

The ACT and SAT are two competing college entrance exams accepted across the U.S. in virtually every college and university for admissions purposes. They are similar in length and both present different advantages and challenges for each test-taker.

We have seen from our data that neither exam is conclusively better for students than the other. The only way to find out which exam is best for you is to take them both.

The best option for students is to take an ACT and SAT diagnostic exam with a test prep company. This is because a diagnostic exam can be done in a more controlled environment, where the scores will not be permanently added to official transcripts.

If you decided to start by taking each official exam instead, whatever score you get is added to your official transcripts whether you choose to submit it to schools or not. Some colleges and universities will have access to review all your scores, or require that all of them be sent in.

While the ACT and SAT do provide practice material and even exams – like the SAT’s Bluebook exams – they don’t provide in-depth analysis of your results or help you narrow down areas of strength and weakness.

Our free diagnostics do both. If you are looking for a fast and accurate measurement of how you perform on each exam to help you decide which one is right for you, then you can sign up for a free online ACT and SAT diagnostic on our Test Prep page.

We don't recommend using a previously taken PreACT or PSAT as a basis for comparison. These exams are designed to be easier than the ACT and SAT respectively, as they are typically used to introduce students to this sort of standardized testing in their earlier years of high school.

Direct comparisons would also be difficult, given that the PSAT has a total score of 1520 rather than 1600 like the SAT. Likewise, the PreACT has a maximum score of 30 or 35 – depending on which version it is – rather than the ACT’s 36.

Whether you decide to start with official exams or diagnostics, making an informed and data-driven decision about your test prep is crucial to saving time and money, not to mention maximizing results.

We sincerely hope that now you are able to take the next step in your test prep journey with more knowledge and confidence behind your decision. If you still have questions, then don’t be afraid to give us a call or leave a comment below.