Nine tests, side by side

The same four questions asked of each: how long, what shape, what scale, and when. Every cell below is a reading from the testing body’s own page — open a test to see the wording behind it.

Test	Body	Length	Sections	Scale	Calendar	Facts
SAT US and international undergraduate admission.	College Board	2 hours 14 minutes	2	400–1600	12 Sep tomorrow	16
PSAT/NMSQT Practice for the SAT, and the qualifying test for National Merit.	College Board	2 hours 14 minutes	2	320–1520	by appointment	9
ACT US undergraduate admission — accepted everywhere the SAT is.	ACT	125 minutes	5	1–36	19 Sep 8 days	12
LSAT Law school admission in the United States and Canada.	Law School Admission Council (LSAC)	About 3 hours	4	120–180	7 Oct 4 weeks	9
GRE Graduate school, and many business and law programmes.	ETS	About 1 hour 58 minutes	5	130–170 per measure	by appointment	10
GMAT MBA and other graduate business programmes.	Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)	2 hours 15 minutes	3	205–805	by appointment	10
MCAT Medical school admission in the US and Canada.	Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)	6 hours 15 minutes	4	472–528	11 Sep today	9
TOEFL iBT Proving English for university admission and for some visas.	ETS	About two hours	4	1–6	by appointment	8
AP Exams College credit and placement, taken in school alongside an AP course.	College Board	—	—	1–5	by appointment	9

“Length” is each body’s own headline figure and they are not measuring quite the same thing: the MCAT’s is content time and its seated time is longer; the ACT’s is the time to a Composite score, before the two optional sections; the LSAT’s excludes Argumentative Writing, which is taken separately. Each test’s page says which is which rather than flattening them into one column that lies.

What each one is for

University SAT Digital, adaptive, two sections, taken on College Board's own app. US and international undergraduate admission. University PSAT/NMSQT The same shape and the same clock as the SAT, on a lower score scale. Practice for the SAT, and the qualifying test for National Merit. University ACT Shortened, and science is now optional. The Composite is three sections, not four. US undergraduate admission — accepted everywhere the SAT is. Graduate / professional LSAT Four 35-minute sections, one of which does not count. Logic Games are gone. Law school admission in the United States and Canada. Graduate / professional GRE Under two hours since the 2023 shortening, and adaptive between sections. Graduate school, and many business and law programmes. Graduate / professional GMAT Three 45-minute sections, no essay, and you choose the order. MBA and other graduate business programmes. Graduate / professional MCAT The long one: six and a quarter hours of content, about seven and a half in the chair. Medical school admission in the US and Canada. Graduate / professional TOEFL iBT Under two hours — and on a new 1–6 scale since January 2026. Proving English for university admission and for some visas. University AP Exams Not one exam but dozens, all reported on the same five-point scale, all in two weeks of May. College credit and placement, taken in school alongside an AP course.