The New ACT: What You Need To Know! - Merit Educational Consultants
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The New ACT: What You Need To Know!

What’s going on with standardized tests? 

Maybe because colleges aren’t relying on them so much anymore, the test companies are scrambling to change up their game. The SAT just made drastic changes that started in January 2016, and the ACT has been making little changes over the past few years. These changes aren’t earthshaking but it’s important to note what they are because most of the ACT prep workbooks and programs don’t address these changes.  So keep reading because I’ve laid out the general theme and outlined the changes.

The ACT is trying to become a standardized test that will be used in elementary, middle, and high school. I think they’re expanding their demographics to ensure a foothold on testing students over their entire K-12 span – not just for college-bound juniors and seniors.  The new ACT questions are less tricky than the old SAT but you have to be able to focus and zip through the questions quickly because of the time constraints (less than a minute to answer each question).

The ACT is also trying to assess and predict students’ interests in colleges and majors. They ask students to complete a deluge of questions when signing up to take the ACT, questions that have nothing to do with setting up the test date. Do NOT answer any of the “optional” questions because they may use your responses against you. Yup, that’s right.  They actually send the colleges recommendations on “College Readiness,” which is their way of predicting whether or not you will be successful in particular college courses. What’s really worrisome is that they’ll do that without your knowledge or permission. 

Here’s how we speculate they use this information. If you answer questions about your future major or career and you do poorly on that section of the ACT, they may suggest to the college that you will not be successful in that major or that college. Yikes!  This is really stepping outside their position as a standardized test company. So play it safe and only answer mandatory questions until the ACT decides how they will use their information and whether colleges even review the ACT’s findings.

Changes in the new ACT:

  1. Math: Increased difficulty in the math section because they’ve added 2-3 pre-calculus problems. Students who have taken pre-calculus or calculus may find this better because these advanced problems are fresher to them.  Sometimes advanced students miss easier problems because they haven’t done simple math in several years.
     
  2. Reading: Added a new comparison between 2 passages section.  So far, most of the passages have been in the humanities area but they change it up so be prepared for any topic.
     
  3.  Science: Reduced the number of passages from 7 to 6.  But, they have the same number of questions.  Most questions do not require scientific knowledge, but your ability to read charts and graphs. However, the new ACT has added about 3 questions that do require some science fundamentals.
     
  4. Writing: Increased the time allowed from 30 minutes to 40 minutes, which is good.  The 2 readers evaluate the essay based on 4 criteria: (1) ideas and analysis; (2) thesis development and support; (3) organization and logic of topics; and (4) language use and standard English convention. Raw scores are now 8-48.  The new scaled scores (1-36) are generally lower than the old ACT.  For instance, a raw score of 9 equals a scaled score of 29, 10 = 31, 11 = 34 and 12 = 36. Under the old ACT, a 9 would be a decent writing score but now that they’re scaling it, a scaled score of 29 doesn’t look as good. The ACT organization is still trying to standardize their new grading system, so you can request a re-evaluation for $50.
     
  5. Test Accommodations: If you have test accommodations with extended time to take the ACT, this would be the better test for you.  They allow you to complete any section you would like to take within the time frame.  This is very different from the SAT where you can only do one section per time block. In some cases, you can take the ACT over several days – that’s a huge bonus!

Many colleges are making the SAT/ACT optional, and for good reason.  If the colleges you’re hoping to attend require them, weigh out your strengths to determine which test is best for you.