Viral Doshi is Founder of Viral Doshi Associates, an independent international education and career guidance boutique with offices in Mumbai, Dubai, London, Singapore and New York. Viral has mentored students and families for the last two decades.
Please give us some details about ACT and SAT - are they only for college admissions in the US? Are there any other benefits of taking these tests?
The standardised tests were brought in on the premise that academic rigour varies from school to school in the various states in the USA. The key role for these tests is to bring in a level playing field for all students. They are said to indicate how well a student will thrive in college.
SATs were introduced in the 1940's and 50's and have ever since gone through several changes. SAT includes an aptitude test in Maths, English comprehension and an optional essay writing component. This test is the most popular evaluation tool used by colleges in the USA. That said, I must mention that for about 40-50 colleges in the US, the SAT is optional, school academic scores are used instead. SAT is also used in for college admissions in Singapore.For UK colleges,SAT scores can be an enhancement to the student’s application.
ACT is a test originally initiated by a group of colleges in Midwest America, positioned as a ‘different’ test. In ACT, Math, English comprehension, Reading, Science logic are allotted 36 marks each. Average of all section scores is taken as the final score. Until about six years ago, ACT was not very popular in India. Now, about 40-50% of Indian students take up ACT, preferring it over SAT. Students whose areas of strength are science and math, often choose ACT.
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