ACT changes

9th November, 2018, by Steve C. (G.12)

From September 2018, American College Testing Program (ACT) officially changed the international exam into computer-based test (CBT) in order to prevent the leakage of test questions. Previously, students took the test in paper format. Because there were many international students intentionally paying brokers to see the test paper in advance, ACT has changed the testing format in order to strengthen the security.

There are many arguments on the newly constructed ACT testing format from the student who studied hard from a long time ago. It creates the unfairness for the student who used to study from a long time ago and found their own strategy to solve the question fastly. Because the testing time is comparably short to Sat, it requires the student to concentrate and find their own strategy to proceed towards next question fastly.

ACT exam is one of the critical aspects in student’s resume because college cares about the score massively. College actively use the ACT score for student evaluation and one point can even determine a student’s acceptance. As the testing format has changed to a computer-based, it frustrated many students who previously used to practice with paper. Harry Y. (G.11) one of the ACT-taking student, said: “It embarrassed me when Act officially announced about the changes because I practiced solving via paper for an entire year”. “I need to change my strategy of solving the question and take some time to adapt into the new system”. Especially for Student studied ACT from a long time ago, it is such a disaster to face because they need to change the strategy of solving the question.

There were many complaints towards ACT after the CBT first implemented in September. Many students faced the unstable internet connection while the testing which distracted them. When one clicked the next button in order to proceed to next questions, the screen stopped for couple of minutes. Also, many students were unhappy with the fact that they needed to stare at the computer screen for 4 hours. Pete K. (G.12), who took the ACT in CBT format, said: “I felt like my eyes were getting destroyed during the exam”. “It was difficult to stare at the electronic screen for 4 hours with full concentration”. Many students missed the old ACT testing format and chose to fly to the states in order to take the exam. Because the United States still offers the paper format, many students decided to register the test in the U.S. However, it cost tremendous amount of money in order to make the trip to United States. Alex K. (G.12), who recently took the ACT exam in Los Angeles, said: “I spent about 3000 dollars total in order to take ACT including the cost for hotel, plane and food”. Student whose not able to afford the cost will not even have a chance to take the ACT in paper which can impact largely on their college acception.

However, there is one advantage of CBT which makes some people to be compromised. The testing result comes out in 3 days which allow the student to make a faster decision for their future testing. Usually, it took nearly a month for the test result to come out. Because the computer automatically calculates the student’s score right way, it enables the student to view the result in a couple of days. This part has made many SAT student change to ACT because of the short amount of time-consuming for the result. Danny K.(G.12), who used to take SAT exam, said: “I recently changed my testing to ACT because the result comes out in a couple of days”. “As a result, I have one more chance to take the exam before the due date for college application because the result comes out early”.

There are many contrasting points in the ACT. Some students argue that computer-based test brought many disadvantages while some say that they satisfy with the new system. As the due date for early application is approaching, there is more student willing to take the ACT exam due to the fast score release. According to Prep Scholar, it is stated that the number of ACT taker has exceeded the number of Sat taker. However, many students who studied ACT from a long time ago simply need to adapt to the new system. Thus, there aren’t a lot of time left until the college application which frustrates the old ACT takers. Because it is ACT organization who created the chaos, they will need to come out with the solution that can prevent the leakage of test questions and satisfy the ACT taking student at the same time.