The SAT has historically been more popular than the ACT. This doesn’t mean that students preferred the SAT over the ACT – they would probably prefer to take neither. It does mean that more students took the SAT than the ACT. In 1986, 1,000,748 students took the SAT compared to 730,000 who took the ACT. In 1996, 1,084,725 students took the SAT while 924,663 took the ACT.
Slowly, the number of college applicants taking the ACT began to creep up. Finally, in 2012, the ACT’s popularity surpassed that of the SAT. That year, 1,666,017 students took the ACT and 1,664,479 took the SAT. This is most likely due to the fact that the ACT is a more consumer-friendly exam.
Its writing section is optional so if a school doesn’t require a writing score, students don’t have to complete this. There is no deduction for wrong answers so it is alright to guess. The ACT offers “score choice” so students can eliminate one day’s bad score if they need to. The ACT also does a better job of marketing itself to states as a replacement for high school exit exams.