ACT Vs SAT Testing

Growing up in the United States, most people have experience on college preparation tests, and so have I. There are two tests that I have done to prepare and also fulfill the prerequisite to enter Arizona State University are the SAT and the ACT. The two test are designed to measure one’s ability in mathematics, reading, and writing (ACT has an extra section on Science). However, there are large quantity of students tend to do well on only one of the two, but not usually both. The reason is that even the students with the same level of education, or placed on the same measure of ability could perform drastically different on tests. Thus, it is important for students to learn on being fair with themselves, and willing to take on different testing formats, in order to have a truer reflection of their understanding of the materials.
Although both SAT and ACT are designed to for the same purpose, to measure one’s ability to enter college level courses, and in their own right carrying the same level of validity, SAT’s reasoning test, “with questions are evidence and context-based in an effort to focus on real-world situations and multi-step problem-solving”(1) requires a different approach to the test as opposed to the content-based ACT’s “straightforward questions with long prose, but usually less difficult to
decipher”(1). When I was high school, SAT was more widely available, making it the test of choice for most students. Many student never had the chance to learn about ACT, and try themselves out for the test. Similarly, English testing has many standardized formats conducted by professionals; so again, the students must go out and put themselves in different testing rooms in order to have the most valid reflection of their own understanding, unless they are required to take a specific test.
A discrete language test, or multiple choice test is usually more reliable, because there is only one right answer, as opposed to an integrative language test, or essay-type question, with a lot of room for subjectivity in grading.
I have never encountered a scenario, when unreliability was clearly seen; however, legibility of one’s written answer could be one of the causes for inconsistency in marking a integrative language test. A combination of both multiple-choice questions and an essay portion, similar to most of the standardized test would be the best way to make tests reliable for students, and reduce the time taken to grade them for
teacher.
Testing is an necessary part of learning, because it helps one to verify their own progress. Students have to understand that being able to know themselves in order to improve is more important them getting into a higher level class.