SAT vs ACT (2026): Digital SAT vs Enhanced ACT, Which Test Should You Take?

Last updated: 11 September 2026. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. Every section time, question count, fee and score rule on this page was read from the College Board’s and ACT’s own pages on 11 September 2026; prep prices were read the same day. See our review methodology.

QUICK VERDICT

The SAT and the ACT are the two admission tests US colleges accept, and for the 2026–27 application cycle they matter again: most of the Ivy League, MIT, Stanford and Caltech have reinstated a testing requirement after the pandemic-era pause. This guide compares the two tests as they exist now, section by section, with the fees, the score conversion table colleges use, and the prep that is actually worth paying for. If you want the fast answer, the table below is it.

SAT vs ACT at a glance (2026)

Every figure comes from the College Board’s SAT structure page and ACT’s enhanced-test page. Fees are from each organisation’s fee page for the current year.

What changed: the digital SAT and the enhanced ACT

Two redesigns landed within about a year of each other, and they moved the tests in the same direction: shorter, less reading, more choice.

The SAT went digital and adaptive (March 2024)

The paper SAT is gone. You now take the test on a laptop or tablet in the College Board’s Bluebook app, at a test centre or in school. The test has two sections instead of three, each split into two timed modules, and the second module adapts: the College Board says that “based on how you perform on the first module, the second module of questions will either be more difficult or less difficult.” Reading passages are short, often three or four sentences with one question each, and the whole Math section allows a calculator, with a Desmos graphing calculator built into the app. There is no essay on the weekend SAT. Total time fell from three hours to 2 hours 14 minutes. If you are studying from an older book, check the date on the cover; anything describing a “no-calculator” Math section or an essay is describing a test nobody takes any more.

The ACT got shorter and made Science optional (April 2025 online, September 2025 on paper)

ACT calls this the “enhanced ACT”. English dropped from 75 questions to 50, Math from 60 to 45, Reading from 40 to 36, and the four sections were trimmed to 35, 50 and 40 minutes for the three required ones. Science, the section that used to scare students off the ACT, is now a 40-minute optional add-on, and ACT’s guidance for colleges confirms that “the science and writing sections are optional and do not affect your Composite score.” The Composite is the average of English, Math and Reading. If you sit Science you get a separate Science score and a STEM score (Science plus Math). The ACT still offers a paper test, which the SAT no longer does, and online testing happens at a test centre rather than at home.

Section by section: what each test actually asks

Reading and writing

The SAT’s Reading and Writing section (64 minutes, 54 questions) mixes comprehension, vocabulary in context, grammar and rhetoric into one set, and every question comes with its own short passage. You never have to hold a 900-word essay in your head. The ACT splits the job into English (35 minutes, 50 questions: grammar, punctuation, sentence logic on a marked-up passage) and Reading (40 minutes, 36 questions on four longer passages). The ACT English section is the most learnable part of either test, because the rules are finite and repeat; the ACT Reading section is the most pace-sensitive, at roughly 67 seconds per question including reading time.

Math

SAT Math (70 minutes, 44 questions) leans on algebra: the College Board’s own breakdown is 13–15 questions each of Algebra and Advanced Math, and 5–7 each of Problem-Solving and Data Analysis and Geometry and Trigonometry. Roughly a quarter of the questions are student-produced responses, where you type a number instead of picking from four choices, and the calculator policy allows one on every question. ACT Math (50 minutes, 45 questions) is all multiple choice, ranges wider (more geometry and trigonometry, some statistics), and gives you about 67 seconds per question against the SAT’s 95. Students who know the material but work slowly should notice that gap.

Science (ACT only, optional)

The ACT Science section is not a chemistry or biology exam; it tests whether you can read charts, tables and competing hypotheses and answer questions about them in 40 minutes. Now that it is optional and excluded from the Composite, the practical question is whether your colleges want it. Yale, for instance, tells ACT takers to “include scores from the English, Mathematics, and Reading sections, as well as a Composite score. The Science and Writing sections are optional.” Engineering and pre-health programmes are the ones most likely to ask for the STEM score, so check before you skip it. The SAT folds data interpretation into its Reading and Writing and Math sections instead.

Essay

The SAT has no essay. The ACT’s Writing test is a 40-minute optional add-on, scored separately and not part of the Composite; few colleges require it, and MIT’s testing FAQ is typical in ignoring it. Unless a specific programme names it, skip it and save the $25.

Scoring, superscoring and how colleges compare the two

The SAT reports a total from 400 to 1600, built from two section scores of 200 to 800. The ACT reports a Composite from 1 to 36, the rounded average of the English, Math and Reading scores, with Science, STEM and Writing shown separately. Neither test penalises wrong answers, so never leave a blank.

Both tests can be superscored, but differently. ACT calculates a Superscore for you: it takes your best English, Math and Reading from any test date since September 2016 and reports the resulting Composite on your account and to colleges that accept it. The College Board does not compute an SAT superscore, but most colleges do it themselves from your score reports, combining your best Reading and Writing with your best Math across dates. Yale and MIT both say they superscore; MIT’s FAQ puts it as considering “the highest score achieved in each section.” What no college does is combine an SAT section with an ACT section, which is the main reason to commit to one test.

ACT to SAT score conversion

Admissions offices compare the two tests with the concordance tables that ACT and the College Board published jointly in 2018. The Composite-to-total mapping is below; a 30 on the ACT, for example, is read as a 1370 on the SAT. We publish all six official concordance tables in full, in both directions, together with the standard error ACT and the College Board report with them. Two cautions. The tables were built on the paper SAT and the pre-2025 ACT, and neither organisation has published a replacement for the digital SAT and enhanced ACT, so the conversion is approximate at the edges. And a concordance is not a promise: if your practice ACT converts to 40 points above your practice SAT, that is a real signal; a 10-point gap is noise.

How much the SAT and ACT cost in 2026

The College Board’s fee page lists the SAT at $68, and ACT’s fee page lists the ACT at $70 for the three required sections, with Science and Writing sold as add-ons. Both offer fee waivers that make the test free for eligible students; the College Board’s waiver also covers late registration and unlimited score reports, and ACT gives waiver students its Official Self-Paced Course at no charge.

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Which test should you take? A decision in four steps

• Take one free official practice test of each, timed, on the same weekend. Use a Bluebook practice test for the SAT and one of ACT’s free full-length tests. Third-party tests are fine for practice later; for the decision, use the real thing.
• Convert the ACT result with the concordance table above and compare. A gap of one concordance step or more (roughly 30–40 SAT points, or one ACT point) is decisive. Anything smaller means you can choose on comfort.
• Check the testing page of every college on your list. Most now say “SAT or ACT, no preference,” but a handful of programmes ask for the ACT Science or STEM score, and a few still list the Writing test. The college’s page is the only source that counts; the roundups you find on prep-company blogs go stale within a cycle.
• Commit to one test and book two dates. Superscoring rewards a second sitting on the same test, not a switch. Our ACT test dates page covers the calendar; the SAT runs seven weekend dates a year.

Choose the SAT if…

• you read carefully rather than quickly, or English is not your first language: short passages and 71 seconds a question suit you.
• you rely on a calculator and check your work; every SAT Math question allows one.
• you dislike geometry and trigonometry; the SAT keeps them to 5–7 questions.
• you test better on a screen with a built-in timer, highlighter and answer eliminator.

Choose the ACT if…

• you work fast and steadily and rarely run out of time on school tests.
• you are strong on grammar rules; ACT English is 50 questions of exactly that.
• you want a paper test, or you want to show a STEM score to an engineering or health programme.
• you prefer straightforward questions to puzzles; ACT Math asks more, but asks it more directly.

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Do colleges prefer the SAT or the ACT?

No, and they say so in writing. Yale’s policy reads: “All first-year and transfer applicants must include scores from the ACT or SAT,” and “the admissions office does not prefer scores from one exam over the other.” MIT requires “the SAT or the ACT” and superscores both. What has changed since 2023 is not preference but requirement: after four years of test-optional admissions, most of the Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, Caltech and several flagship state universities require a score again for the 2026–27 cycle, and more have announced requirements from 2027–28. Test-optional still applies at the large majority of US colleges, but if a selective school is on your list, assume you will need a score and plan the test into junior year.

The best SAT and ACT prep in 2026

Start with the free official material, because it is the only practice built from real questions and the only practice that runs in the real interface: Bluebook for the SAT, ACT’s online practice for the ACT. Khan Academy’s Official SAT Prep, which the College Board describes as making “a study plan for students,” is free and tracks the digital test. Pay for a course only when you have a baseline score, a target, and a gap the free material is not closing. These are the paid options we would put money on; our test prep course guide covers the wider field, including MCAT, GRE and GMAT prep.

Two notes on the table. Kaplan is the only prep company that is ACT’s official partner, which means its ACT practice tests are built with ACT’s material; that matters more for the ACT than for the SAT, where the College Board’s own Bluebook tests already exist. And every guarantee has conditions (attendance, completed homework, a prior official score), so read them before you buy on the strength of one.

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Test-day logistics that differ

• Device. The SAT requires a laptop or tablet running Bluebook; the College Board lends devices to students who request one in advance. The ACT online test runs on the centre’s equipment or your own, depending on the site, and the paper ACT needs nothing but pencils.
• Calculators. Both allow an approved handheld calculator on Math, and both now have one built into the digital test. Neither allows one outside Math.
• Breaks. The SAT has one 10-minute break between sections; the ACT has a short break after Math and, if you take it, before Writing.
• Scores. SAT scores post to your College Board account, usually within about two weeks; ACT multiple-choice scores take two to eight weeks and Writing longer. Plan the last sitting so scores land before application deadlines.
• Checklist. Our SAT test-day checklist and ACT tips cover admission tickets, ID and what to leave at home.

Frequently asked questions

Is the ACT easier than the SAT?

Neither is easier overall; they reward different students. The enhanced ACT gives you more questions in less time per question (131 core questions in 125 minutes) and its Reading passages are longer, so quick readers who work steadily do well. The digital SAT gives you fewer questions with more time each (98 questions in 134 minutes), shorter passages, and a calculator on every Math question, so students who prefer to think carefully and check their work tend to score better. The ACT no longer has a mandatory Science section, which removed the biggest reason students used to avoid it.

Do colleges prefer the SAT or the ACT?

No. Every US college that accepts test scores accepts both, and admissions offices say so explicitly; Yale, for example, states it does not prefer scores from one exam over the other. Colleges compare the two using the official 2018 ACT/SAT concordance, so a 30 ACT and a 1370 SAT are read as equivalent. Choose the test you score higher on, not the one you think a college wants.

Should I take both the SAT and the ACT?

Usually not. Take a full-length official practice test of each (both are free), convert the ACT result with the concordance table, and commit to whichever scores higher. Taking both for real costs $138 or more in fees, splits your preparation, and rarely changes an admissions outcome, because colleges superscore within a test but do not combine tests. The exception is a student whose two practice scores are within one concordance step of each other and who has the time to prepare for both.

How do I convert an ACT score to an SAT score?

Use the 2018 concordance tables published jointly by ACT and the College Board, which map each ACT Composite to an SAT total: 36 is 1590, 33 is 1460, 30 is 1370, 27 is 1280, 24 is 1180, 21 is 1080, 18 is 970. The tables were built on the pre-2024 paper SAT and the pre-2025 ACT, and neither organisation has published a replacement for the digital SAT and enhanced ACT, so treat the conversion as approximate.

Is the ACT Science section still required?

No. Since the enhanced ACT rolled out online in April 2025 and on paper in September 2025, Science is a 40-minute, 40-question optional add-on ($5) that does not count toward the Composite. Your Composite is now the average of English, Math and Reading. If you take Science, it is reported separately and combined with Math into a STEM score, which some engineering and health programmes ask for, so check your target colleges’ pages before skipping it.

How long are the SAT and the ACT in 2026?

The digital SAT is 2 hours 14 minutes of testing: a 64-minute Reading and Writing section and a 70-minute Math section, each split into two modules. The core ACT (English, Math, Reading) is 2 hours 5 minutes; adding the optional Science section makes it 2 hours 45 minutes, and the optional Writing essay adds another 40 minutes. Both are shorter than the tests your older siblings took.

How much do the SAT and the ACT cost?

The SAT is $68 with a $38 late-registration fee, and eligible students can take it free with a fee waiver. The ACT is $70 for English, Math and Reading; Science adds $5, Writing adds $25 (so $75, $95 or $100), and late registration is $42. Both organisations give fee-waiver students free official prep as well.

Which test is better for a slow reader?

The digital SAT. Its Reading and Writing questions each come with a short passage of a few sentences, and you get about 71 seconds per question. The ACT keeps long passages in Reading (36 questions in 40 minutes) and also demands speed in English. A student whose problem is pace rather than comprehension almost always scores higher on the SAT.

Related guides

• ACT to SAT conversion charts — the full official concordance, both directions, with the error margin ACT and the College Board publish alongside it.
• What is a good SAT score?
• What is a good ACT score?
• How long is the SAT?
• How long is the ACT?
• How to study for the SAT
• ACT test dates
• Best test prep courses online
• When do SAT scores come out? (2026–27 release dates)