SAT or ACT?

As appeared in the Albuquerque Journal 11/14/09

Remember your senior year of high school when your thoughts began to turn away from biology quizzes and homecoming dances to what the heck am I going to do after graduation and how am I going got get there? Future plans that for many included preparing for college, a.k.a. taking the standardized college admissions tests SAT and ACT.

According to the RRPS website, there are basic differences between the SAT and the ACT and they should help you determine which test is best for you. For example:

-The ACT focuses on science reasoning, whereas the SAT does not.

-There are 4 trigonometry questions on the ACT and none on the SAT.

-Vocabulary is less important on the ACT and emphasized on the SAT.

-There is no guessing or wrong answer penalty on the ACT, but the SAT will dock you a quarter of a point for guessing and getting a question wrong.

I can’t decide which is the lesser of the two evils. Who wrote these rules?

I can still remember that cold Saturday morning in my senior year of high school driving out to the community college to take the SAT. Back then there was no preparation offered for the daunting four hour timed ordeal. You packed your lucky No.2 pencil and calculator and hoped for the best.

Nowadays kids have a better chance of doing well on the test. There is help everywhere including test tutors, preparation classes and even sample tests online that one can take to better acquaint the student with what to expect.

My favorite prep method has to be the “The Official SAT Question of the Day,” that www.collegeboard.com sends out. Once you enter your email address, a sample test question arrives in your inbox everyday; a question typically found on the SAT that familiarizes you with what to expect on the big day. I wish every high school teacher would put the question of the day on the board every morning to challenge their students and help them grow.

I signed myself and my oldest daughter up to receive these brain teasers. I thought it would be helpful to her so that she wouldn’t be caught like a deer in the headlights on test day. And for myself, I thought it would be fun to see the easy questions. Now that I was so much older and wiser, I was sure it would be a snap. The questions range in subject from math and critical reading to writing and vocabulary. Here was the mathematics question from last Wednesday:

In a community of 416 people, each person owns a dog or a cat or both. If there are 316 dog owners and 280 cat owners, how many of the dog owners own no cat? 36? 100? 136? 180? Or 316?

It’s a trick question, right?

And one of their critical reading questions went like this:

The show’s host was usually genial, but he had a reputation for turning ------- when provoked by guests who challenged his opinions. Surly? Intrusive? Lenient? Convincing? Or giddy?

A snap? Well, that one was on the easy side compared to others they’ve sent. You will feel as smart as a whip or dumb as a doornail, depending on the question. I think I will stay on the mailing list and continue with the questions long after my daughter takes her test. For two reasons; one, it’s a good way to sharpen the mind, and two; for the life of me I don’t get Sudoku.

Quote of the Week: “Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.” - Daniel J. Boorstin, twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress from 1975 until 1987.