How does the ACT standardized test change in 2020?

From fall 2020, the ACT standardized test will have three changes that are considered beneficial to test takers when using the exam results to apply for college admission.

ACT and SAT are two standardized tests used by most US universities to assess candidates during the admissions process. The ACT exam structure has four sections: English, Reading, Math and Science. In addition, candidates who choose ACT Plus Writing should take an additional Writing test.

On October 8, ACT announced three changes to help students planning to take the exam understand and strategize accordingly. The first is that students who have taken the full ACT standardized test at least once can choose to retake one or some specific sections they do poorly. For example, in the first exam, a student reaches a maximum (36/36 points) in English, Math, Reading, but only reaches 30/36 Science points. If he wants to improve his score, he just needs to retake Science instead of having to retake all four sections as current regulations.

Retesting will cost you. Specific rates have not been announced, but the ACT asserts will be lower than re-taking all four sections. Currently, the cost of the ACT is 52 USD (more than 1.2 million VND) if you take the four sections and 68 USD (nearly 1.6 million VND) if you choose to take an additional writing exam.

The second change is the fact that the ACT test will be expanded online tests on computers at some centers. Students can choose to take the paper or machine test. If tested on the device, the results will be returned in a few days; and on paper, it takes two weeks.

Another change most likely to affect enrollment results is that the ACT will automatically perform calculations to include "superscore" in the score report. As a result, students who have taken this test multiple times or partially repeated will get the highest score by combining the best scores they have achieved in each section. In the past, some schools that accepted the ACT "superscore" had to calculate their own scores when they submitted test results two or more times.

Mary Michael Pontzer, ACT Vice President, said the changes to serve students better and help them not have to spend too much time on the test. She also emphasized the changes not to compete with the SAT in the context that the number of ACT test people in recent years is lower than the SAT (in 2018, the number of people taking these two tests was 1.9 and 2.1 million respectively. ).

"The ACT is a not-for-profit organization. We aim for the benefit of our students. We are pleased to see that these changes will help students realize their maximum potential," Ms. Pontzer said.

However, some SAT and ACT observers argue that the introduction of subject-based retesting and the "superscore" may be even more beneficial for rich children. It can also cause unnecessary stress while high standardized test scores are increasingly popular and it is difficult to make a difference in a candidate's profile.

Jayne Caflin Fonash, president of the National Association of University Admissions Advisors, said that for a student who is under-performing in a certain area while others do well, the new ACT policy is helpful. But sometimes it can cause some other stress. "It is better to let students develop other skills in life instead of trying to improve the test scores which are already quite good," Fonash said.

While the ACT and SAT have some adjustments, more and more universities are giving candidates the option to refuse to submit standardized test scores to open the door for disadvantaged students. Universities that are experimenting with this policy are usually small private schools but also appear large ones, such as the University of Chicago.