Now that the old SAT is gone:

So now the old SAT exam has come to an end and the question of which exam to take, ACT or the redesigned SAT, remains. Our suggestion is for the moment to take the ACT as we have yet to see the new examination and its respective curve. When making your decision though there are several important factors to consider:

Does my child struggle with Math? Do they make mistakes on paper and pencil math computations? Remember the ACT allows the calculator the entire time whereas the SAT has a non-calculator math section.

How does fatigue affect my child for the reading section? Both tests (ACT and the redesigned SAT) utilize the same principles in the reading section. The ACT is more difficult for students to complete in time whereas the passages appear to read better than those of the SAT (we cannot make a definitive statement until the new SAT is administered).

Will my child be willing to learn how to attack the ACT science? Reading graphs and charts as a standalone test is not something most students are familiar with. They need to employ a different set of strategies for this than the ones they are used to.

The grammar portion of the redesigned SAT appears to be very similar to the ACT. 

We will discuss the essay under a separate blog post.

When you are determining how to best prepare your child it is important to begin by assessing their strengths and weaknesses and if needed get advice.