New design of ACT provides students with more options
By Advay Koranne ‘20
On Oct. 8, 2019, the American College Testing (ACT) announced that it would allow a new option for students who plan to take the ACT from September 2020 onwards. Some of these new changes will allow for section retesting, super scoring, and faster results with online testing.
Most students at Catlin Gabel School (CGS) are encouraged to take either the ACT or SAT, and the new changes announced by the ACT might help students make the decision on which test will make them a more competitive applicant for admissions.
Catlin Gabel School’s college counselors. Photo Courtesy of Catlin Gabel School.
According to the Washington Post, the national average score on the evidence-based reading and writing (EBRW) portions of the SAT was a 531 and 528 on math. According to the Catlin Gabel 2019-2020 School Profile, the mean SAT score for the Class of 2019 at Catlin Gabel was a 705 for EBRW and a 709 for math.
Class of 2019 standardized test scores. Infographic Courtesy of Catlin Gabel School.
History of the SAT and ACT
There are two main non-profit companies that are in charge of standardized testing in the United States –– the ACT and the College Board. The College Board –– the company which hosts the SAT, PSAT, AP, and Subject Tests –– was founded in 1899 by colleges and prep schools on the East Coast and. Their primary mission was to create a standardized test for college admission.
Prior to the SAT, colleges administered their own tests. However, since students had to travel to colleges to take these tests, this method was largely biased towards “rich, white, and male students.”
The ACT originated in 1959 at the University of Iowa and was made as an alternative to the SAT’s testing style. Initially, the SAT had been designed as an aptitude test, but many people felt that the SAT only tested how good students were at taking the SAT and not actually what they had learned in school. The ACT was made with the intent of testing students on what they had learned in their education.
Current Choices and Popularity:
Most college-bound students in the United States are faced with two different choices in high school –– whether to take the ACT or SAT. Depending on where students live in the United States, students are more likely to take one test over the other. This is due to the fact that some states require students to take specific standardized tests –– Oregon does not currently require students to take the SAT or ACT.
According to US News, in 2018, 2.1 million students took the SAT, and 1.9 million students took the ACT. Before this, however, since 2012, the ACT had been leading the race in having more students to take tests, but a new push by the College Board to have SAT on school days helped them take the lead.
Infographic courtesy of College Raptor.
According to Princeton Review, a large, international test preparation and college admission service, students should take full-length practice tests and see which test students do better on.
ACT vs. SAT. Courtesy of Princeton Review.
ACT Redesign:
However, in 2019 the ACT announced a new design for the traditional paper-and-pencil ACT. The ACT is now allowing students the option to take the ACT test at test centers online or on paper. Students who take the test online will be given their results in two days.
New Redesign of ACT. Courtesy of ACT.
The ACT has four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Let's suppose you get 28, 28, 30, 26, respectively, on each of the sections. Previously, if students wanted to get a total score of 29, they had to retake the entire test and get an average of 29 on all sections, but now with the new test, they have the option to retake just one part. Additionally, the ACT will now “super score,” which means that it will allow students to take the average of the highest scores across different test dates, a similar process to how colleges super score the SAT. Some colleges do super score the ACT, however, it is not as common as the SAT. William Ouellette, Co-Director of CGS College Counseling, is happy for students with this new option.
“The latest redesign of the ACT does seem user-friendly to me. Students who may be very happy with subscores on the ACT will be able to focus on the areas of the test they feel less satisfied with,” wrote Ouellette over email. “Personally, I'm happy to know that my students wouldn't have to undertake the entire test to get the results they hope for.”
There have been no hints from the SAT to redesign its test to become more like the ACT’s newly designed test.
“First of all, if the ACT is offering this option, and if colleges allow their applicants to focus their retests, then I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the SAT decides to offer a similar plan. We'll have to pay attention to how all this unfolds, but this certainly could make the ACT the better option for many students. However, we can't at this time say so definitively. I wouldn't rush into recommending the ACT for these reasons. ‘Wait and see’ seems to be the prudent course of action to take,” wrote Ouellette.
Inside Higher ED had asked the College Board for a comment about the ACT’s changes, but the College Board replied by only explaining the SAT’s super scoring.
Though it may seem as if the ACT might be giving more chances for students to show their preparedness for college, there are problems that do arise with the redesign of this test. Students that have financial stability will be able to retake these tests as many times as they want, whereas students from underprivileged backgrounds might not be able to take full advantage of the ACT’s redesign.
Students with access to wealth and resources score better on the tests. Both agencies try to correct for this by offering fee waivers. Students who don't qualify for fee waivers and whose families cannot pay for test prep classes and tutors will have to look carefully at how they spend their money in the college process--testing is only one area of cost (consider, for example, the cost of multiple applications or visiting colleges).
“So, yes, the innovations the ACT proposes, while they might enhance access in some very practical ways, won't specifically address the problems of financial access,” wrote Ouellette.
“Robert Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest, said, ‘Clear winners here are the testing companies -- ACT, in this case -- and the test-prep industry, which will face even more demand from already advantaged families to figure out how to maximize their reported scores. Losers are kids from historically disadvantaged backgrounds whose scores will fall further behind because they will not know how to ‘game’ the new system and many school counselors/test supervisors who will have to spend more poorly-paid time administering a confusing set of options.'”
Quote courtesy of AJC.
Though the ACT and SAT are equal in terms of college admission, no one knows how the redesigned ACT might affect college admissions. There have been no public statements from colleges regarding how they will be taking into account this new change. Ouellette shared that some colleges may not accept these tests at first, and it will be up to applicants to find the requirements.
However, there have been colleges every year that have gotten rid of their standardized test requirements. In 2018, the University of Chicago announced that standardized tests would be optional.
“The very decision of certain well-known schools like the University of Chicago to no longer require tests carries existential implications for the ACT and College Board, so I'm not surprised that the ACT is now offering these options to stay relevant and vital,” wrote Ouellette.
There are still a lot of details that have to be explained from both the ACT as well as colleges regarding how this new test will take place and be evaluated.
So, to those sophomores and juniors who are planning on taking their first or fifth standardized test, make sure you understand these new changes so that you are knowledgeable about what test will place you in the best light for college admissions.
For more information on the ACT’s new design visit: https://www.act.org/.