ACT Study Skills

Students who take the SAT are also encouraged to take the ACT. It is assumed that the SAT is more widely accepted than the ACT, which is untrue. The ACT is accepted by more four-year colleges than any other college entrance exam, and over 2.1 million ACTs were administered during 2005-2006. The ACT is different than the SAT in format because the ACT consists of four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science, and the national average ACT composite score for 2007 was 21.2 out of 36.

The statistics on the ACT website show that students generally do better on the ACT than the SAT. Consider that fact when signing up to take the ACT and SAT. The next test dates for the ACt are as follows:

*October 27, 2007 (Registration Deadline--September 26, 2007)

*December 8, 2007 (Registration Deadline--November 2, 2007)

*February 9, 2008 (Registration Deadline--January 4, 2008)

*April 12, 2008 (Registration Deadline--March 7, 2008)

*June 14, 2008 (Registration Deadline--May 9, 2008)

Similar to collegeboard.com, actstudent.org offers online registration for the test. It also offers practice tests, student blogs about the ACT, and an "ACT Podcast."

--Whitney Black, Editor-in-Chief