Let’s be real: standardized testing is the academic version of the Hunger Games. You walk in with a #2 pencil, sit under fluorescent lights, and pray you don’t blank on a question about parabolas. For most people, it’s miserable. For me, it was also confusing because I had to choose—SAT or ACT?

Spoiler: the ACT won. And not because I breezed into it. I actually started with the SAT.

My SAT Era (A.K.A. Pain)

I studied. Hard. I went through vocab lists, tore apart grammar drills, and spent way too many weekends with College Board practice books. The result? My math score soared—no surprise there, since math has always been my comfort zone. But English? Brutal.

No matter how many practice sections I did, my score refused to budge. I sat for the SAT three different times, convinced I could force it to click if I just worked harder. It never did. Every reading passage felt like running through quicksand, and the grammar questions got into my head.

At some point, studying turned into frustration. And that’s when people started saying: “Just try the ACT.”

Enter the ACT

So I did. And everything changed.

The English section—the one that haunted me on the SAT—was suddenly my strongest. The questions felt clear, the rules made sense, and I could rely on instincts I’d already built from AP Lang essays instead of trying to memorize endless lists.

The reading also worked better for me. The SAT made me slog through long, dense essays that guaranteed at least one zoning-out moment. The ACT? Shorter passages, more direct questions, and a pace that actually kept me focused instead of dragging me under. Yes, there were more questions overall, but the faster timing didn’t bother me—it actually helped. I stayed sharp because I didn’t have time to overthink.

The math was straightforward, less like riddles and more like “do you actually know algebra?” And the science section? Honestly, it was kind of fun. It wasn’t about memorizing every element of the periodic table, it was just reading graphs and making logical calls.

Oh, and the writing section? I took it. It didn’t boost my score or make a big difference in admissions, but I weirdly liked it. It felt like a mini AP Lang prompt—make an argument, back it up, move on.

I walked out of my first ACT almost in disbelief. Where the SAT drained me, the ACT fit like it was built for my brain.

The Score (and the Secret Behind It)

Here’s the twist: I ended up scoring nearly perfect on ACT English—the same section I could never conquer on the SAT. All the work I put into vocab, grammar, and reading strategies wasn’t wasted; it just wasn’t showing up on the test that didn’t suit me.

The “secret,” if you can call it that, wasn’t studying harder. It was picking the test that played to my strengths.

What I’d Actually Recommend

So, no, I’m not going to say “don’t study” and hope you luck into a good score. My Study Hall Secret is this:

• Test both. Take a practice SAT and a practice ACT. Pay attention to which one feels less like pulling teeth.
• Notice where you score naturally higher. My SAT math was always strong, but my English plateaued. On the ACT, suddenly English skyrocketed.
• Timing matters. The SAT gives you trickier questions but more time; the ACT gives you simpler questions but less time. Pick your poison.
• Don’t fear the ACT science section. It’s just graphs and data. If you can read a chart, you can survive.
• Writing section = optional. Colleges rarely use it, but if you’re an essay person, it’s honestly not that bad.

The truth is, both tests measure similar skills, but they’re packaged differently. Knowing which format works with your brain is half the battle.

Final Thoughts

I used to think my SAT struggles meant I just wasn’t good enough at standardized testing. Turns out, I was just taking the wrong test. Once I switched to the ACT, all the studying I’d already done finally had a place to shine.

So if you’re stuck in a cycle of prep books and practice exams that never move the needle—maybe it’s not you. Maybe it’s the test.

For me, the ACT was the one that didn’t make me cry.