New SAT-ACT Similarity

Our combined SAT-ACT class is starting next week: Old Saybrook, Saturdays, either 9-12 noon or 12:15-3:15 pm and Madison, 12:45-3:45 or 4-7 pm.  Students can attend any of the 4 classes on any given weekend.  (1 class per weekend). 7 weeks, $595, all books and materials included.

In the past, we have run SAT classes and ACT classes.  The soon to be old SAT and the ACT were different enough that it made sense to separate the two. Nonetheless, to serve our busy students, I always suggested that we only needed a crash ACT course to add on to our SAT class.  But now, the two tests are so similar and so many people want to take both tests that it makes sense to combine the program.  So far this format has worked wonderfully well for our students at The Williams School where I am teaching a combined SAT-ACT class.

For those interested in the details:

The SAT and ACT reading sections are nearly identical now. There are no more sentence completions in the SAT.  Instead, the new SAT has a series of long reading passages, much like the ACT.  The SAT and ACT grammar sections are also now almost identical.  The new SAT has done away with its spot the error and improving sentences sentences.  Now, exactly like the ACT, the new SAT has a series of passages that require editing.  The math on the new SAT is reasonably different than the ACT and the ACT has a science section which is somewhat approximated by one of the SAT reading passages.  But otherwise, the basics for each test are similar enough that we can save parents and students time, money, and energy by creating a class that trains students to excel in both.