What You Should Know About Act

The ACT, which includes separate tests for English, math, reading and science, and even an optional writing test, is a national college admission examination.

The term ACT initially meant American College Testing. However, in 1996 the official name of the organization was shortened to simply «ACT» to better reflect the broad array of programs and services offered beyond college entrance testing.

There are three good reasons to take the ACT:

The ACT tests are universally accepted for college admission.

This test is different from an IQ or aptitude test. The questions found in the ACT test specifically target information learned in high school in the subjects of English, math and science.

ACT does not only offer tests, but also a plethora of other services including a profile of high school achievements and plans for the future, and a large inventory of career opportunities and information.

In the U.S., the ACT is administered on five national test dates in October, December, February, April, and June. Few states also offer the ACT in September.

The ACT tests are prepared according to the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education (1985); Code of Professional Responsibilities in Educational Measurement, National Council on Measurement in Education (1995); and Code of Fair Testing Practices in Education, Joint Committee on Testing Practices (1988).

Everyone, no matter what their ages or grade level, qualify to take the ACT. This of course includes anyone attending middle school grades and even people who have already graduated from high school.

The test includes 215 multiple-choice questions in four subject areas: English- 75 questions; Math-60 questions; Reading-40 questions; and Science-40 questions. Plus, one writing prompt in the optional writing portion.

There is no limit to how many times you can take the ACT, but there are some restrictions when it comes to how often you can take it. This means that generally speaking, you can only test once for every state date, though in some non-national tests such as special testing, you must wait 60 days between tests. The majority of students take the test twice, both as a junior and as a senior.

You should definitely consider retesting if you had any problems during the test, such as misunderstanding the directions or not feeling well. You can also choose to retest if you think you didn’t score in accordance with your potential.

It is always a good idea to retest if the result of your test and your average school grades are very conflicting, or if you have taken extra classes to improve your knowledge in certain subjects. Research shows that of the students who took the ACT more than once 55% increased their composite score on the retest. Taking the test more than once will give you the opportunity to have higher scores sent to colleges and scholarship programs.

You can learn more about the ACT from the ACT corporation, college admission offices, and high school guidance departments.

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