Back-to-school time for older high school students means a swirl of questions about college admissions testing — with parents and kids often equally confused.

Here is the most up-to-date latest information about key tests — and how they differ, why they differ, and why they matter.

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The PSAT
This is essentially a practice test to help students prepare for the SAT. The PSAT provides scholarship money to the top scoring three percent of students. It’s not a bad idea for students to take the PSAT so they get a sense of where they stand on the SAT — but it’s not essential, especially if the student plans to take only the ACT.

The SAT
To many experts in the field, the SAT is experiencing an identity crisis. In 2005, this college admissions test changed its content and scoring from 1600 to 2400.

This past March, it once again revamped itself — returning to a 1600 scale.

With this change in scoring came major changes to the exam. The SAT now has four sections: reading, writing and language, math, and an optional essay section.

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The ACT
In contrast with the SAT’s variability, the ACT has remained basically the same exam since 1989, with its four sections: English, math, reading, and science. An optional writing section was added in 2005. For the past few decades, the ACT has offered a Test Information Release (TIR) Service for its December, April, and June tests. For an extra $20, students can receive a copy of that specific exam. As a result, students have countless questions to review before taking their real ACT.

Likewise, the College Board releases its October, January, and May SATs to students who request the Question-and-Answer (QAS) Service. For an extra $18, students will receive a copy of that exam. However, since the SAT was radically changed this past March, there are simply not enough former exams available for students to study.

Using Kaplan and Princeton Review study guides does not compare with studying from former exams.

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A Critical Comparison
The revised SAT is very similar to the ACT. The reading sections for the two tests are similar, as they both evaluate students’ reading comprehension skills. The SAT’s writing and language section is nearly identical to the ACT’s English section — both of them test grammar.

The math sections of the SAT and ACT require students to know algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and other math topics. While a portion in the SAT math section prohibits the use of a calculator, students can use calculators for the entire ACT math section.

The ACT’s science section has no SAT comparison. Students read about science experiments and use charts and data to respond to questions. A basic background in earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics is useful but not required.

Related: Why Young Women Are Acing College

The SAT and ACT are nearly identical in length. With the optional essay, the total test time for the SAT is 3 hours and 50 minutes, while the ACT is 3 hours and 35 minutes for those who take the essay portion. Similar to the ACT’s decades-long policy, students are no longer penalized a quarter of a point for incorrect answers on the SAT.

And the Most Popular Test Is … 
In 2012, the ACT overtook the SAT as the most popular test, according to The Washington Post. In fact, the ACT has about 10 percent more test-takers than the SAT, and this number is growing every year. Parents simply do not want their children to be used as guinea pigs. Since every college in America accepts either the ACT or SAT, more students are turning to the test with which they feel more familiar.

While both the SAT and ACT have optional essay sections, most colleges request that students to take them. Students receive a separate score for the essay section — allowing colleges to focus on the sections they care most about.

The SAT Subject Tests
In addition to the SAT and ACT, many colleges require students to submit several SAT Subject Test scores. These are hour-long, multiple-choice exams that are content-specific and include: U.S. History, World History, Literature, Mathematics Level 1, Mathematics Level 2, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Latin, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

SAT Subject Tests are scored on a scale from 200 to 800.

Students applying to highly selective colleges should consider taking the more challenging Subject Tests, such as Mathematics Level 2, Physics, and Chemistry. The majority of students who take the foreign language exams are native speakers; therefore, results for those tests are frequently skewed.

Related: How to Thrive in College

Many colleges require applicants to submit scores from two SAT Subject Tests. These schools include Barnard, Amherst, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, and MIT. Other colleges, such as Princeton, Lehigh, and Emory, recommend that applicants submit scores from two Subject Tests. Georgetown stands out from the pack in that it strongly recommends that applicants submit scores from three Subject Tests.

Options for Students
What many parents and students frequently overlook is that there are many colleges that allow applicants to submit ACT (with the optional essay) scores in lieu of SAT and Subject Tests scores. That list includes Brown, Tufts, Duke, Haverford, and Rice.

There are also several colleges that allow applicants to submit three SAT Subject Test scores instead of SAT or ACT scores. That list includes Colorado College, Middlebury, Colby, and NYU.

It is important to remember that every SAT and Subject Test a student takes goes on his or her College Board transcript. Students can use the score choice option when submitting scores to colleges and send their best test results. However, in spite of this option, there are several schools that require applicants to submit every SAT and Subject Test score. These colleges include Pomona, Yale, UCLA, and Stanford.

In contrast to the SAT, the ACT does not place every test score on a single transcript. Rather, students are required to submit their ACT scores per a specific test date. This allows students to hide low scores from colleges without any repercussions.

Before registering for the SAT or ACT, students and their parents should discuss the options with a guidance counselor. Before spending many, many hours preparing for these exams — it’s critical to develop a plan of attack.

Daniel Riseman, founder of Riseman Educational Consulting in Irvington, New York, has been counseling students and working with families for 16 years.