ACT (examination)

The ACT is a standardized achievement examination for college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc.^[1] It was first administered in Fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test.^[2] Some students who perform poorly on the SAT find that they perform better on the ACT and vice versa.^[3] The ACT test has historically consisted of 4 tests: English, Math, Reading, and Science reasoning. In February 2005, an optional writing test was added to the ACT, mirroring changes to the SAT that took place later in March of the same year. All four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. accept the ACT^[4] but different institutions place different emphases on standardized tests such as the ACT, compared to other factors of evaluation such as class rank, G.P.A., and extracurricular activities.

ACT, Inc.

ACT, Inc., was originally known as the American College Testing Program, Inc., but changed its name to ACT Inc., the letters not standing for anything, in 1996. In 2002 the company was restructured to include "Education" and "Workforce Development" divisions, each overseen by its own advisory board. Each state also has its own state organization, and the entire company is overseen by a board of directors made up of 14 members. When high school students become sophomores, they take the PLAN test to help decide if they will want to take the ACT the following year.^[1]

In 2005 the company established ACT International. This organization is composed of ACT Education Solutions, Limited, and ACT Business Solutions, B.V. ACT Education Solutions is directed toward helping non-native speakers learn English in preparation for studying at an English-speaking educational institution. ACT Business Solutions attempts to help employers assess their employees' level of English proficiency through use of the WorkKeys assessment.^[1]

Following an article in the Des Moines Register in November, 2007^[5], as of Spring, 2008, ACT Inc.'s non-profit status was under investigation by the Iowa Attorney General's office for disproportionate compensation for both its C.E.O. Richard Ferguson as well as members of its board.

Function

ACT, Inc. says that the ACT assessment measures high school students' general educational development and their capability to complete college-level work with the multiple-choice tests covering four skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. The optional Writing Test measures skill in planning and writing a short essay.^[6] Specifically, ACT states that its scores provide an indicator of "college readiness", and that scores in each of the subtests correspond to skills in entry-level college courses in English, algebra, social science, humanities, and biology.^[7]

To develop the test, ACT incorporates the objectives for instruction for middle and high schools throughout the United States, reviews approved textbooks for subjects taught in Grades 7-12, and surveys educators on which knowledge skills are relevant to success in postsecondary education. ACT publishes a technical manual that summarizes studies conducted of its validity in predicting freshman GPA, equating different high school GPAs, and measuring educational achievement. ^[8]

Colleges use The ACT and the SAT Reasoning Test because there are substantial differences in funding, curricula, grading, and difficulty among U.S. secondary schools due to American federalism, local control, and the prevalence of private, distance, and home schooled students. ACT/SAT scores are used to supplement the secondary school record and help admission officers put local data — such as course work, grades, and class rank — in a national perspective.

In addition, some states have used the ACT to assess the performance of schools, and require all high school students to take the ACT, regardless of whether they are college bound. Colorado and Illinois have incorporated the ACT as part of their mandatory testing program since 2001. Michigan has required the ACT since 2007, Kentucky will require all high school juniors to take the ACT beginning in 2008 and Wyoming will require all high school juniors to take either the ACT or the ACT WorkKeys exams.^[9]

Use

Map of states according to preferred exam of 2006 high school graduates. States in blue had more students taking the ACT than the SAT.

The ACT is more widely used in the Midwestern and Southern United States, while the SAT is more popular on the east and west coasts, although recently the ACT has been gaining more use on the East Coast.^[10] Use of the ACT by colleges has risen as a result of various criticisms of the effectiveness and fairness of the SAT.

Format

The required portion of the ACT is divided into four multiple choice subject tests: English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning. Subject test scores range from 1 to 36; all scores are natural numbers. The English, mathematics, and reading tests also have subscores ranging from 1 to 18. (The subject score is not the sum of the subscores.) The "composite score" is the average of all four tests. In addition, students taking the writing test receive a writing score ranging from 2 to 12, a "combined English/writing score" ranging from 1 to 36 (based on the writing score and English score), and one to four comments on the essay from the essay scorers. The writing score does not affect the composite score. Sometimes the test includes an experimental section that may be a short version of any of the four major sections.

English

The first section is the 45-minute English test covering usage/mechanics and rhetorical skills. The 75-question test consists of a few passages with various sections underlined on one side of the page and options to correct the underlined portions on the other side of the page. There are also a few questions about the order of sentences in a paragraph and paragraphs in a passage and the author's tone in a section of text.

Math

The second section is the 60-minute, 60-question math test with 14 covering pre-algebra, 10 elementary algebra, 9 intermediate algebra, 14 plane geometry, 9 coordinate geometry, and 4 elementary trigonometry.^[11] Calculators are permitted in this section only. The calculator requirements are stricter than the SAT's in that computer algebra systems are not allowed; however, the ACT permits calculators with paper tapes, that make noise, that have wireless capabilities, and that have power cords with certified "modifications" (disabling the mentioned features), which the SAT does not allow.^[12] Also, this is the only section that has five instead of four answer choices.

Reading

The 35-minute, 40-question reading section measures reading comprehension in four passages (taken and edited from books and magazines) one representing prose fiction (short stories and novels), another representing social science (history, economics, psychology, political science, and anthropology), a third representing humanities (art, music, architecture, dance), and the last representing natural science (biology, chemistry, physics, and the physical sciences), in that order.^[13]

Science reasoning

The science reasoning test is a 35-minute, 40-question test. There are seven passages each followed by five to seven questions. There are three Data Representation passages with 5 questions following each passage, 3 Research Summary passage with six questions each, and one Conflicting Viewpoints passage with 7 questions.^[14]

Writing

The optional writing section, which is always administered at the end of the test, is 30 minutes long. All essays must be in response to a given prompt. The prompts are about a social issue applicable to high school students. No particular essay structure is required. Two trained readers assign each essay a score between 1 and 6, where a score of 0 is reserved for essays that are blank, off-topic, non-English, not written with no. 2 pencil, or considered illegible after several attempts at reading. The scores are summed to produce a final score from 2 to 12 (or 0). If the two readers' scores differ by more than one point, then a senior third reader decides.

Although the writing section is optional, several schools do require an essay score and will factor it in the admissions decision^[15].

The chart below summarizes each section and the average test score based on graduating high school seniors in 2006.^{[16] [17]}

Test availability

The ACT is offered four to six times a year, depending on the state, in the United States, in September, October, December, February, April and June and is always on a Saturday.

Candidates may choose either the ACT assessment, ($31), or the ACT assessment plus writing, ($46).

Candidates whose religious beliefs prevent them from taking the test on a Saturday may request to take the test on the following Sunday. Such requests must be made at the time of registration and are subject to denial.

Students with verifiable disabilities, including physical and learning disabilities, are eligible to take the exam with accommodations. The standard time increase for students requiring additional time due to learning disabilities is 50%.^[18] Originally the score sheet was labeled that additional time was granted due to a learning disability, however this was dropped because it was seen as a scarlet letter by some colleges.

Scores are sent to the student, his or her high school, and up to six colleges. ^[19]

Score cumulative percentages and comparison with SAT

Of the graduating high school class of 2007, there were 1,300,599 students who took the ACT; this comprises 42% of the graduating class.^[20] The average composite score was a 21.1. Of 2006 test-takers, 517,563 (or 42.9%) were males, 646,688 (or 53.6%) were females, and 42,204 (or 3.5%) did not report a gender.^[17] Nationwide, 314 students who reported that they would graduate in 2007 received the highest ACT composite score of 36.^[21] Males on average scored one fifth (.2) of a point higher on the ACT than females.^[10]

2005 distribution of ACT scores

Although there is no official conversion chart, the College Board, which administers the SAT, released an unofficial chart based on results from 103,525 test takers who took both tests between October 1994 and December 1996; however, both tests have changed since then, and many suggest that the College Board's analysis is biased in favor of the SAT. Several colleges and test-prep companies have also issued their own charts. The following is based on the The Princeton Review conversion chart.^[22] The cumulative percentage are based on the published 2007 ACT distribution.^[23]. Note that ACT percentiles are calculated as the percent scoring the same or lower not as is sometimes the case just those who score lower. Note that these values are approximations; yet the distributions have retained a good degree of stability over the history of these exams. Also note that comparing percentile for the total SAT score to the percentile for the total ACT score is not a good way to compare, as many colleges have yet to start looking at the SAT's new writing section.

See also

• List of admissions tests
• PLAN (examination)
• SAT

References

External links

• ACT Test Taker's Site
• ACT Corporate Site
• ACT Scores explained