No ACT Section Retesting This Fall: What That Means for You
COVID-19 Series The Princeton Review
On the heels of the June 13th ACT administration, the folks at ACT have announced that they
are postponing section retesting that was scheduled to start this fall.
As we’ve talked about here before, there were 3 big ACT changes slated for September:
1 - Option to take the ACT on paper or digitally; 2 - ACT-calculated superscoring;
and 3 - Section retesting (where, once you’d
taken the whole ACT once, you could retake 1, 2, or 3 individual sections without having
to sit for the entire exam again).
Numbers 1 and 2 are still happening (with the digital option available at some but not
all test centers).
But that 3rd change is now off the table for the fall.
And that’s actually a good thing for you, because it means ACT will have the capacity
to administer more full-length ACT exams to students needing those crucial composite scores—not
just for admissions, but also for financial aid and scholarships, and academic placements.
Now, the ACT was administered in 45 states on June 13th.
In an ordinary year, an ACT administration would be ordinary news.
But this year, it’s a big deal.
It is the first big exam for high school students given on a large scale since the winter.
It wasn’t a typical administration, of course.
Many students still weren’t able to test.
Among those who were, students were screened for Covid-19 symptoms before being permitted
to test.
They were also encouraged to wear masks, and they were required to sit at least 6 feet
apart.
Test administrators were screened too, and they were required to wear masks.
This was not the ACT that last year’s cohort of test takers experienced.
But now, ACT has administered the exam in a Covid-19 environment.
That’s big.
They are working to improve the process and to increase testing capacity for the July
18th and future test dates.
Students who are registered for that July 18th test date should know the status of their
exams—whether they’ll be able to take the exam or not—by the end of June, within
the next week or so.
For the fall too, ACT is looking to expand test-center capacity, and they’re even considering
adding more test dates to the schedule.
Registration for fall 2020 and spring 2021 test dates will open up at the end of July.
Stay tuned for more information about that.
Now, looking ahead to the late fall and early winter, ACT is still planning to roll out
a remote proctoring option on a limited basis.
We’ll of course continue to update you there as well.
As we get on firmer footing, we can start to make durable plans for the future.
With one ACT test date behind us, we can feel better about what future ACT administrations
will look like.
As for section retesting, ACT is still planning on
that, but not immediately.
As of now, they’re looking to make that available later in 2021, but first they’re
prioritizing safe and equitable access to complete ACT exam testing—so if, due to
the pandemic, special testing conditions continue to be necessary into 2021, then section retesting
will need to be postponed further to ensure that everyone who needs to take the full ACT
can do so.
As always, we’ll be here keeping you informed.
Thanks so much for watching.
Please subscribe to our channel for the latest updates about exams, admissions, and more.
If you have a question you’d like us to address, leave us a comment!
Take care and be well, my friends.