ACT or SAT. That is the question.

Or is it both? Neither?

April 14 is national ACT test day, and I'm taking it to see how my scores look. What's interesting is how many of my friends tell me that colleges want SAT, not ACT.

So I researched it, and found out that it's kind of a regional difference. Most of the midwest states have a tradition of taking ACT tests, but the east coast is all about the SAT.

College websites tell a different story:  they'll take either one, and some of them don't care if you take neither.

What's more important is to take a look at something called "common data set" for each college (Google it for each college; it's faster) which shows the most recent scores for the students accepted to that college, 25%-75%, along with what percentage took ACT or SAT.

It's one way to see if that's a college where you might fit in, data wise.