Reading is the most dreaded section on both the ACT and the SAT. Hence, it is common to ask “Which is easier for me?” Although both the tests are intended to measure a student’s ability to analyze text and “read between the lines,” there are a few differences that can help you decide which is a better fit for you. 

 

Sequential v/s Random order of questions

The reading questions on the SAT are ordered sequentially, while the reading questions on the ACT are organized randomly. Hence, question 1 on SAT reading will have its reference in the passage earlier than the reference for question 2 on the same passage. This is not true for ACT reading questions. So, you have to ‘hunt’ for the right portion to answer the questions. Hence, it is more important to read the full passage before jumping to questions on the ACT than on the SAT. 

 

Content of the passages

The passages on the SAT reading are more “academic”. The language used on the SAT passages is more formal or even dated. You feel this more in the History/Social Science passages and the US/World Literature passages.

The passages on the ACT reading are more “contemporary” and are often picked from books on academic subjects. The ACT tends to use more modern sources for the passages, hence, you feel more familiar with the words in these passages.

 

Time per question

The SAT asks you to answer 52 questions in 65 minutes giving you approximately 75 seconds per question. The ACT asks you to answer 40 questions in 35 minutes giving you approximately 53 seconds per question. However, the SAT has 5 passages versus the ACT which has only 4 passages. So, you have less content to read to answer fewer questions on the ACT but you have to do so at a faster pace.

 

Length of the passages

The passages on the SAT are generally lengthier than the passages on the ACT. The passages on the SAT are generally between 600-750 words, while the passages on the ACT are generally between 750-800 words.

 

Evidence-based questions

Since the SAT changed in 2016, the Reading section has included a new type of question: the Evidence-based questions. These questions ask you to provide an evidence line reference for the answer to the previous question. So, you can consider these questions as paired questions. Hence, the answer to one of these paired questions is likely to affect your response to the other question. This is not the case on the ACT, where all the questions are independent of each other.

 

Science vs No Science

The SAT includes 2 science passages in the Reading section and there are questions based on both the passage and informational graphics that appear at the end of the passage. On the other hand, The ACT has a separate Science section for these passages and hence, no informational graphics in the reading section. 

 

A few more less obvious differences include:

 

Line references

The number of questions on SAT that have line numbers far outnumber such questions on the ACT. How does that impact your test-taking experience? It affects the speed as the SAT questions accompanied by a line reference (According to lines 34-39..) require that you go the specific portion of the passage and simply eliminate answer choices. However, since most ACT questions don’t provide line references, you have to be really methodical and quick in searching for the portion that is relevant to the question.

 

Word in context

Word in context questions appear on both tests and focus on testing whether you can understand college-level words in terms of their contextual use in the passage. 

Each SAT passage will have approximately two such questions. The ACT also features such questions but not with such predictable frequency.

 

Paired passages

Both SAT and ACT feature paired passages in the reading section. While on the SAT passage pairs do not appear in the literature passage, on the ACT even the literature passage can feature a passage pair.

 

You might end up deciding between the two tests based on this analysis. However, a good strategy to lay the foundation for either test is to develop a reading habit. Read from multiple resources and develop a habit to draw conclusions from that text. To make things interesting, you can also look forward to adding points of your own to strengthen or weaken the passage.

 

But, if you want to opt for a short test that will help you further identify the better one for you, here is a link to our SAT vs ACT test- https://collegify.com/sat-vs-act

 

Other titles in this series:

SAT vs ACT Overview

SAT vs ACT Math

SAT Writing vs ACT English

SAT vs ACT Essay