ACT Allows Students To Retake Portions of Test
ACT changes its test policies to help students applying to college. (Flickr)
Students will soon have the ability to retake specific sections of the ACT college admissions examination, the ACT CEO announced on October 9. This change will take effect in September 2020.
ACT has recently made other changes to the examination process to enhance students’ options as well. The company will administer tests online for students who want to see their test results more quickly. They will also report a “superscore” for students who have taken the test more than once. A “superscore” combines the best score from each of the five sections across all of the tests a student has taken.
ACT’s chief commercial officer, Suzana Delanghe, stated that these changes reflect the company’s effort to enhance students’ success. “ACT is evolving to meet students in the digital world in which they live.”
In her announcement statement, Delanghe explained ACT’s reasoning for the changes. “Our research shows that ACT scores for students who take individual section tests are consistent with those earned when they take the entire test. We are simply offering new ways to take the ACT.”
Critics have raised new concerns about whether the new test rules will advantage to those who can afford to pay for a section test. ACT has not revealed the cost of section tests but has stated that it will be lower than a full test.
Over the past two years, the number of students who took the ACT has declined. However, the SAT entrance exam designed by College Board has continued to thrive. According to College Board, more students than ever took the SAT in 2019.
Many colleges and universities across the nation have dropped standardized tests as an application requirement. Even elite academic institutions such as the University of Chicago are no longer requiring standardized test scores. Currently, 1050 colleges and universities in the United States have this policy in place.
This development is partly due to recent criticisms that standardized exams such as the ACT and SAT privilege majority-white and wealthy school districts, which have more resources, better teachers, and greater access to Advanced Placement (AP) classes. As a result, ACT and the College Board have sought to increase access and equity to their tests.
To answer these concerns about fairness, SAT attempted to implement an Adversity Score. The adversity score represents the College Board’s response to the mounting disapproval of entrance exams in general. The College Board later retracted this plan after severe backlash.