Act vs SAT
The ACT Assessment was developed in the late 1950s by college faculty, chief among them E.F Linquist, associated with the University of Iowa. Linquist was also the primary founder of the American College Testing Program, Inc., later changed to ACT, Inc.
ACT’s current literature characterizes the ACT Assessment as “tests of educational development” measuring readiness for postsecondary education. It is more popularly known as an achievement test since it is organized by subject matter area and its scaled scores are reported that way. There are four tests in the curricular areas of English, Mathematics, Reading and Science Reasoning. The contents of the ACT tests are based on the judgments of high school and college instructors about the academic knowledge and skills that students need to succeed in typical first-year courses and that are taught in typical college-preparatory programs in high school. Since 1988, during the development phase of what was then called the “Enhanced ACT Assessment,” ACT conducted a National Curriculum Study and has since continually analyzed (every three years) state curriculum guides, scopes and sequences, and state-approved textbooks to determine the content of the ACT Assessment and its related assessments. [iii] This is consistent with Linquist’s vision of college-admissions testing: that what should be measured is what the student can do with what they have actually been taught.
The SAT Reasoning Tests consist of two tests that measure verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities of college-bound students. The College Board, primarily Carl Campbell Brigham, first developed it in 1926. [iv] Historically, the SAT I has been considered an “aptitude” test emphasizing critical thinking and problem solving skills that are deemed essential for college-level work. Indeed, “SAT” was once an acronym for “Scholastic Aptitude Test,” suggesting no tie to a particular curriculum. In fact, the Board argues, this approach compensates for non-standard, and by implication, sub-standard, grading practices and differences in secondary school quality and curriculums. The Board further argues that while the SAT is not intended to be curricular, the test nonetheless reflects acceptable educational content, standards and practices. (Content and technical specification differences of the ACT and the SAT are described in greater detail below in a separate section.) The Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) is the only other standardized exam directly related to the SAT. It was developed and normed for college-bound high school juniors and is made up of retired SAT questions.