Alexis Avila Founder/President of Prepped & Polished</a> explains how the ACT is a shorter and more straightforward test than the SAT.

The ACT is straightforward because there is no guessing penalty.
The ACT is straightforward because there is only one English, Math, Reading, Science, and Essay section.
The pacing for the ACT is straightforward.

U.S. News & World Report ACT article highlights a Prepped & Polished test prep tip.

A lot of students are now making the switch. They’re taking ACT over the SAT. US News and World Report recently featured one of my ACT tips in their article: 6 tips for ACT success. We were tip no. 1, so check it out.

The ACT is a shorter and more straightforward test than the SAT. It is straightforward because there’s no guessing penalty. It is more straightforward because there’s only one section per component, so you’ll only see the English, Math, Reading, Science, and essay once, and then you’re done.

The ACT Pacing

The ACT is more straightforward in its pacing. In the English section, there are five passages, 45 minutes, each passage in nine minutes.

The Math section has 60 questions, 60 minutes, one minute per question, but you want to work quicker on the first 30 math questions so that you can get to the last 30 and have a little bit more time.

In the Reading section, there are four passages; you have 35 minutes to do them. So you basically want to do each passage in eight minutes, which will give you three minutes to go back to that one passage that gave you trouble.

In the Science section, there are seven passages, 35 minutes, so that’s five minutes per passage, but I recommend that you take many practice tests to get accustomed to moving quickly through the science section.

So, if you want a more straightforward test, I recommend you take the ACT.

I’ll talk to you soon.

Do you find the ACT more straightforward than the SAT? Which test do you prefer?

Post your tips/comments below.

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