Every U.S. college accepts either the SAT or the ACT. There's no point in taking both as a student — pick the one you score higher on relative to averages and focus all your prep there. The hard part is figuring out which is your stronger test before you commit weeks of practice.
This guide answers two questions: how to convert between SAT and ACT scores, and how to decide which test fits you better.
The official SAT-ACT concordance (2025–2026)
The College Board and ACT jointly publish concordance tables — the official statistical conversion between the two scales. Here's the simplified version:
| SAT (1600 scale) | ACT (36 scale) | Percentile |
|---|---|---|
| 1600 | 36 | 99th |
| 1540 | 35 | 99th |
| 1480 | 33 | 97th |
| 1400 | 31 | 92nd |
| 1320 | 28 | 84th |
| 1230 | 25 | 72nd |
| 1150 | 23 | 60th |
| 1060 | 20 | 47th |
| 990 | 18 | 35th |
| 900 | 16 | 24th |
A 1400 SAT and a 31 ACT are statistically equivalent — both put you around the 92nd percentile of test-takers. Colleges treat them as interchangeable. So if you have a 1400 SAT, retaking the ACT to score a 31 doesn't add anything to your application.
Which test should you take?
There's no universal answer — the right test depends on your strengths. But here are the patterns:
Take the SAT if…
- You're a careful, methodical reader who likes time to think.
- Your math is strong, especially with a calculator.
- You can sit still for 2+ hours (it's now 2h14m, down from 3h in the paper era).
- You're comfortable with adaptive testing (your second math/reading module gets easier or harder based on the first).
Take the ACT if…
- You read fast and don't mind tight time pressure.
- You're comfortable interpreting science data (charts, experiments, conflicting viewpoints) — even if you've never taken AP Bio or Chem.
- You can power through 215 questions in 2h55m without losing focus.
- You prefer straightforward, non-adaptive testing.
Take a practice test of each (this is the real answer)
The College Board offers free Digital SAT practice tests through Bluebook (their official app). ACT offers free official practice tests too. Take one of each over two weekends, score them with our SAT Score Calculator and ACT Score Calculator, and compare percentiles using the table above.
Whichever puts you in a higher percentile is your test. The 30 hours of focused prep beats spreading thin across both.
Common pitfalls
"I'll take both to be safe." Splitting your prep time roughly halves your improvement on each. The exception: you've already prepped one and scored well, and a single sitting of the other might surface a hidden strength.
"My friend got higher on the ACT, so I should too." Friends are not statistically valid samples. Your friend may be a different kind of student — fast reader, science enthusiast, calculator wizard — and the same test that suited them may not suit you.
"The SAT is more prestigious." It's not — hasn't been for at least a decade. Every U.S. college accepts both with no preference. Some students still believe otherwise because of outdated guidance; ignore it.
"I should retake until I hit my school's average." Three sittings is normal. Four is acceptable. Five is "diminishing returns" — your composite usually doesn't move much after the third try. At that point, the time is better spent on essays or extracurriculars.
Sending scores to colleges
Both the SAT and ACT let you choose which scores to send. Most schools accept "Score Choice" — you only send your best result, not every attempt. Some schools (and a few specific scholarships) require you to send all scores from a given test type. Check each college's policy before applying.
If you took both and want to send both, that's fine — admissions officers will look at the higher of the two relative to their applicant pool. Sending one is also fine, especially if it's clearly stronger.
Superscoring
Many colleges "superscore" — they take your highest section scores across multiple sittings and combine them into your best possible composite. SAT superscoring is universal; ACT superscoring is offered by most colleges but not all.
If your target school superscores, optimize for retake strategy: focus prep on whichever section is dragging your composite, then take just that test again rather than starting from scratch. ACT's single-section retest (introduced in 2020) makes this especially efficient.
The bottom line
Pick one test, take an official practice test before committing, and put your full prep time into the one that suits you better. The SAT-ACT decision is one of the few high-leverage choices in test prep — getting it right can save you weeks of misdirected work.