My niece and nephew both took the ACT in St. Louis earlier this month. I know a bunch of teenagers, including my son, who will be taking the SAT soon.

Both tests play to different strengths which is why plenty of kids end up taking the SAT and the ACT. (What fun!)

My daughter Caitlin suffered through both tests when she was in high school, but ultimately we faced a problem:  Was her SAT score better or her ACT score?

The highest score you can earn on the SAT is 2400 while the best ACT score is 36.

Back then I searched without success for some kind of  SAT-ACT conversion chart. We ended up sending Caitlin’s ACT and SAT scores to all the colleges, but later we learned that her SAT result was the superior one. We could have saved a lot of money — you have to pay the testing services to send test scores — if we had known.

In a college blog post that I wrote this week for CBSMoneyWatch.com, I  included an SAT-ACT conversion chart. Please check it out.

Further Reading:

A New ACT Strategy

Lousy SAT Score? Don’t Despair

The Dirty Secret Behind the ACT and SAT Tests