By: Brian Burnsed

They're the three letters that strike fear into the hearts of nearly every high school student: SAT. The Scholastic Aptitude Test generally takes high school students about four hours to complete on sleepy Saturday mornings, and it plays a significant role in the college application process. To lessen the stress, it's important to get a handle on how this 170-question behemoth is structured.

The test is comprised of three primary components—writing, critical reading, and math. Each component is graded on a 200-to-800-point scale. The writing section consists of a 25-minute essay and 49 multiple-choice questions that are split between one 25-minute section and one 10-minute section. The critical reading component, which measures a student's ability to assimilate and analyze what they read, consists of three separate sections. Sixty-seven total questions are asked over two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section. Like the critical reading component, the math on the test is broken down into two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section. There are 44 total multiple-choice questions and 10 questions in which the student must solve the problem without the aid of multiple choice.

Use these nine tips to help decide if the SAT is the right test for you and to earn the best score you can:

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By: Brian Burnsed

The ACT, which has long been the college-entrance exam of choice in the nation's heartland and some portions of the Southeast, is expanding its reach. It's proven to be a viable alternative to the SAT, as every four-year school that accepts SAT scores also accepts the ACT. With the test's broadening appeal, it's important to get a firm grasp of the test's structure to determine if it might be a better fit for you than the SAT.

The ACT doesn't consist of numerous subsections like the SAT. Instead, it is divided into four separate, timed tests: English, math, reading, and science reasoning. There's also an optional essay that most students complete. The English section consists of 75 questions over 45 minutes with a primary focus on sentence structure and grammar. Students are allotted 60 minutes to complete the 60 math problems, which range from basic algebra to trigonometry. The reading and science reading sections each have 40 questions, and test takers have 35 minutes to complete each section. The test is scored on a scale of 1 to 36.

Take a look at these six tips to decide if the ACT is the right test for you and how to earn the score you want:
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