ACT will allow students to retake sections of test
High school students will find the intense pressure to present their best efforts on the ACT exam a bit easier next year as they buckle down to the competitive college admissions process.
Officials at ACT, which makes the exam, said last week that starting next September, students who want to improve their scores would be able to retake single sections of the five-part test, which lasts about three hours, instead of sitting for all of them again. The change would allow students to avoid getting worse marks on sections they had taken earlier.
The new policy comes as educators, students and parents debate the role of standardized testing in admissions and whether it is an appropriate measure of student ability or worsens social inequities. Many colleges and universities have made test scores an optional part of applications. But many students still feel compelled to score highly on the ACT and SAT exams, committing to time-consuming and often costly prep sessions to gain an edge.
After the change was announced, some parents, students and tutors wondered if the option to focus their improvement efforts would fan the frenzy over test scores, putting students who do not have access to coaching at a further disadvantage.
The five subsections on the ACT — reading, math, science, English and writing, which is optional — are graded on a scale of 1 to 36. Currently, scores on the four required sections are averaged into a composite score. But students’ highest composite scores may not reflect their highest subscores because they may have done worse on an individual section.
Starting in September, students will get a new “superscore” combining their highest scores on the subsections from each time they took the test. Currently, if students who have taken the test more than once want colleges to see their best subscores, they have to send in multiple test results.
“They might think, ‘Why do I have to sit through and take all these tests again if I only need to improve my math score?’ ” an ACT spokesman, Ed Colby, said. “We’re trying to save them time. We’re trying to save them money.”