News Story by Lucia Ambrose

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed the importance of standardized testing. A few years ago, it would have been strange to think that submitting ACT and SAT scores would be a choice students could make. Schools wanted to eliminate the pressure on students to take standardized tests because the testing process was especially challenging during the pandemic.

Many students responded positively to the weight of trying to achieve the perfect score of 36 lifted off of their shoulders. It seems unfair that all of students’ hard work throughout high school can be undermined by a score. Some think that very little can be determined about the kind of person you are based on the number of questions you can answer correctly on a test.

The ACT test continues to evolve with society trying its best to accommodate students and help them to get the highest score possible. The ACT test first broke down barriers in 2006 when school-day testing was introduced ensuring that all students have access to test scores for college.

Then in 2017, ACT led the testing industry in offering online testing. In 2020, ACT met the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by opening up pop-up testing centers that followed the protocols to ensure the safety of test takers.

Shortly after, in 2023, the ACT introduced Encourage, a free college and career planning program that is used in more than 10,000 schools and provides nearly 1 million high school students with resources to explore success after graduation.

Starting in April 2025, students will have the option to take the test online. On this test, students will be given more flexibility experiencing a shorter test and having more time to respond to each question. The ACT are making these innovations because they claim their test is primed for student success and college admission.

The science portion of the ACT will become optionallike the writing test. Students can make the choice to take the ACT, the ACT plus writing, the ACT plus science, or the ACT plus writing and science. The composite scores will be the average of the English, Math and Reading scores.

Many questions arise from this new update. Does this mean the ACT does not value science as a subject? How does this make science educators feel?

Physics teacher Matt Winterboer said “he is disappointed but understands why this needs to change.” “With this decision, the ACT is stating that science reasoning is less important than the other subjects. This new decision will help lots of students but for students who are stronger in science, even if you choose to take it and do well on the science section, it will not be part of your composite score. This would have negatively impacted me as a student.”

Some speculate that the ACT only made this change to match the SAT which does not offer science. The ACT used to be a nonprofit organization but is now transferring to be a for profit organization. This may affect the decisions that the ACT organization makes and what the intentions of their choices are.

The test has reduced in length up to one-third depending on which version students decide to take. There will be 44 fewer questions total allowing for students to answer each question thoroughly.

Senior Lylie Olsen said, “I wish the test was like this when I took it. I think these changes will really help students to choose their strengths and improve their scores.”