Kaplan Test Prep Comments on the ACT’s Announced Changes to the ACT® College Admissions Exam
October 08 2019 - 8:50AM
Business Wire
The following statement is from Sam Pritchard, director of
college prep programs, Kaplan Test Prep, regarding today’s
announcement by the ACT on upcoming changes to the ACT college
admissions exam, which was taken by nearly 2 million high school
students this year:
“These are the most significant changes to the ACT in several
decades and are designed to give aspiring college students more
options in putting their best foot forward. First, allowing
students to retake individual test sections, rather than retaking a
three hour test, will enable them to focus their energy and study
efforts accordingly to improve sectional performance. Second,
putting the ability to ‘superscore’, or aggregate the best section
scores from all tests taken, into the hands of the test taker
allows students to present schools with their best test
performance. Finally, the shift to digital provides more immediate
reporting, which can give students more flexibility. Instead of
waiting for the 2-8 weeks it can typically take for score reports
to arrive, test takers can expect to receive their scores within
two days, which gives them additional time to study or decide if
they want to retake the exam.
“These are overall very positive changes for test takers, but
there are a couple of issues we’ll monitor closely to understand
their full impact. Making retesting more manageable may motivate
certain students to retake test sections several times, which can
feed into unnecessary test anxiety. Students should go into test
day believing this will be the only time they’ll take the test,
rather than relying on retest options. And not all students and
high schools have internet access to practice the digital test
format, which is why the test maker’s decision to keep a
paper-and-pencil format option is important in ensuring all
students continue to have access and options.
“But the shift to a digital format follows a trend we’ve seen
among major admissions exams over the past decade, as the
admissions exams for graduate school, business school, law school,
and medical school have all already made the switch from
paper-and-pencil to digital. This makes the SAT® the last major
admissions exam remaining in a paper-and-pencil format.
“For test takers, it’s important to keep in mind that the test’s
structure, scoring and content remain exactly the same.”
These changes mark the biggest changes to the ACT since 1989,
when certain sections were changed (Natural Science was replaced
with Science Reasoning, Social Studies was replaced with Reading,
trigonometry and pre-algebra were added, as was a focus on
writing). In 2005, the optional Writing section was introduced.
Kaplan is the official, exclusive partner for live, online prep
for the ACT test and offers free comprehensive prep for fee waiver
students. Kaplan will continue to share updates to help parents and
students understand the changes.
To schedule an interview with an ACT expert at Kaplan, contact
Russell Schaffer at russell.schaffer@kaplan.com or
212.453.7538.
ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Kaplan is the
official partner for live online prep for the ACT.
About Kaplan Test Prep
Kaplan Test Prep (www.kaptest.com) is a premier provider of
educational and career services for individuals, schools and
businesses. Established in 1938, Kaplan is the world leader in the
test prep industry. With a comprehensive menu of online offerings
as well as a complete array of print books and digital products,
Kaplan offers preparation for more than 200 standardized tests,
including entrance exams for secondary school, college and graduate
school, as well as professional licensing exams for attorneys,
physicians and nurses. Among those tests are the SAT®, PSAT®, ACT®,
GRE®, GMAT®, LSAT®, MCAT®, NCLEX-RN® and bar exams. Kaplan also
provides private tutoring and graduate admissions consulting
services.
Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings
Company (NYSE: GHC)
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191008005559/en/
Press: Russell Schaffer, russell.schaffer@kaplan.com,
212.453.7538 Twitter: @KapTestNews, @KaplanSATACT
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