Big Changes Coming to the ACT in September 2020

You might have heard about the changes coming to the ACT in September 2020. The ACT will offer students more choices and help ensure that ACT test scores reflect students’ academic knowledge, effort and future potential. Here is an overview of what you and your teen can expect:

• Section retesting – No longer will it be “all or nothing” when it comes to retaking the ACT (meaning, if your teen did well on three of the four sections but would like to increase his or her English section score, currently your teen must retake the entire ACT). Students will be able to retake one or more section(s) of the ACT to improve their scores. Keep in mind:
  • This is available to all students who have taken the full ACT test, offered seven times a year on the same date as the national ACT test.
  • Students can take up to three retests at a time, as many times as they like.
  • Section retests are offered online only and are identical in content and follow the same format as the full ACT test.
• Superscoring – Students will now be able to send their best ACT test results to colleges combined as one “superscore,” which shows the highest possible composite score across multiple tests and section retests. ACT calculates the average of the four best subject scores from each ACT attempt. Example:
  • Your teen received the following scores on two different test dates:

 

Test date	English	Math	Reading	Science	Combined
June	28	19	21	24	23
September	24	20	22	20	22

           

The ACT score report will include your teen’s best-combined score of:

English	Math	Reading	Science	Combined
28	20	22	24	24

 

• Faster results – Students can choose between online and paper testing. Those who choose the online method will get the results quicker—as early as two business days after the test date—allowing them to make faster decisions about retesting. The ACT organization contends that today’s students are more comfortable with online testing, but has no plans to do away with paper-and-pencil testing for those who prefer it.

A few things to keep in mind:

• These changes begin with the September 2020 test.
• Colleges have their own policies for admission and might only accept composite scores, not superscores. However, ACT will still supply colleges at least one full composite score with each superscore as well as the scores from the tests that are part of the superscore composite.
• Pricing for individual section retests has not yet been announced but will be less than taking the entire test.
• Students who take the ACT on a school day through their district or state can retest at an ACT test center on national test dates (but section retesting will not be available as part of ACT’s state and district testing programming just yet).
• Starting in July, students who register for the ACT test in September 2020 will see which centers offer the ACT test online.
• Online testing is available at ACT testing centers.

Huntington is ready to help your teen earn his or her best score on the ACT and make getting into that dream college a reality. Contact us at 1-800 CAN LEARN to learn more about our individualized, flexible ACT prep programs.

---

Share