ACT Changes 2020 What You Need to Know
The Princeton Review
Starting in September 2020, the ACT will be changing.
As we have been there for you through past standardized-test changes, we are here for
you every step of the way as you prep for your exam date.
I want to start by saying that the changes ahead in the ACT are to your benefit.
Keep that in mind while I give you a little context:
About 1.8 million students in the class of 2019 took the ACT, while about 2.2 million
took the SAT.
The SAT had long been the more popular exam, but from 2012 through 2018, the ACT leapfrogged
ahead.
The SAT then reclaimed its first-place position — but with changes coming to the ACT, we’re
curious to see if the SAT will maintain its lead, lose its lead, or adapt to be more like
the ACT.
You can count on us to monitor new developments, and we’ll post video updates to keep you
informed.
Now, tests do change.
Since it debuted 60 years ago, the ACT has evolved.
As of 2020, it consists of 4 sections, which are averaged to give you your Composite score
on a scale from 1 to 36.
Those sections are: English
Math Reading
Science There is also an optional Writing section.
Now, the exam itself isn’t changing, but your experience of it will.
There are 3 big things you need to know.
And the big takeaway here is: All 3 of these changes bring about more options for you.
Here’s what I mean.
The first big change is section retesting.
The first time you take the ACT, you have to take the whole exam: English, Reading,
Math, and Science, plus — if you want — the optional Writing section.
Say you’re a dream in Math, your Science score is aces, and you are pleased with your
work in English.
But your Reading and Writing sections could’ve gone better.
That’s where section retesting comes in.
You have the option to retake just certain parts of the exam.
You get to choose which ones!
Before September 2020, you’d have to sit for the entire exam again in order to get
a second crack at those two sections.
As of September 2020, you can sign up either for the entire exam, or for a retest of 1,
2, or 3 sections.
In this case, you’d probably sign up for 2: Reading and Writing.
The benefit of this new option is that you won’t have to re-prep for the entire exam
again.
You’ll really be able to home in on the sections you need to improve on, and you can
coast on the well-earned scores you’ve already achieved in your stronger areas.
You will have to do your retesting on the computer, not on paper — I’ll talk about
that more in just a moment — but I think you’ll find that the benefits of section
retesting are worth dealing with that minor constraint.
By re-taking just part of the exam, you’ll save time on Test Day, to be sure — but
MORE importantly, you’ll also save LOTS of time on all the Prep Days preceding it.
Now, you’re probably wondering, if you re-take just a section or two (or three), how will
your scores be reported to colleges?
That’s the second big change: superscoring.
First, let’s talk about what a superscore is — if it sounds like a great thing, that’s
because it IS a great thing.
Your superscore is your highest possible composite score, across all of your ACT and ACT section
retests.
In other words: Your superscore is the average of your four best subject scores from all
of your ACT exam-taking experiences.
So if you had one great Reading score and one not-so-great Reading score, your better
score would be the one to get incorporated into your ACT superscore — even if you got
that better score on a totally different date than the other section scores.
See what I mean?
Superscores are great for you.
ACT’s research also shows that “superscores are JUST as predictive – if not MORE predictive
– of first-year grades than other scoring methods.”
Now, just because ACT readily superscores your various test-taking events into one optimal
mega-score — that doesn’t mean that you have to send your superscore, or that all
colleges will accept it.
Again, you have an option.
ACT will automatically calculate your superscore, but you’ll have the choice to send either
one full ACT composite score, OR your superscore to a college.
Colleges have options, too — and they all have their own superscoring policies.
So, here’s what the folks at ACT will do: They’ll supply colleges with your superscore
— including all of the scores from the test events that make up that superscore — along
with at least one full composite score.
For some of you, that full composite score may be the same as your superscore.
But if it isn’t, don’t fret!
A lot of colleges will accept your superscores.
So how does superscoring work?
Let’s say the first time you take the ACT, you get a 28 in English, a 20 in Math, a 24
in Reading, and a 29 in Science, for a composite of 25.
You’re happy with your English and Science, but you think you might be able to do better,
so you decide to retake the entire ACT.
The next time you take the ACT, you get 26 in English, a 27 in Math, a 27 in Reading,
and a 27 in Science.
You’re a bit disappointed with your English and Science, but your composite did go up
by 2 points, to a 27.
However, if you superscore, you’ll take your English and Science scores from your
first test and Math and Reading scores from your second test, for a composite of 28!
If you had instead decided to just take the Math and Reading as single-section tests,
you’d end up with the same superscore composite of 28, but your highest single test date would
still be 25.
So it should be clear by now why YOU benefit from superscoring.
But what about the colleges’ point of view on this?
Well — they look more selective when they can report higher average ACT scores among
their student body.
And in turn, that apparent selectivity may drive applicants to try to maximize their
scores.
So schools as well as students benefit from superscoring — in their own ways.
The third big change is another option you’ll benefit from: computer-based testing.
When you take the ACT for the first time, in its entirety, you won’t have to take
it on a computer — you can still choose to take the paper-and-pencil test that by
now is likely familiar.
But you can take it on the computer!
You’ll still need to go to a testing center and use their computers, however, and the
test dates are the same as the pencil-and-paper ACT.
So the only real change is format.
If you opt to take the ACT on a computer, you’ll still get scratch paper — but you’ll
have to log your answers digitally.
You’ll have an on-screen highlighter and answer eliminator tools, as well as the ability
to jump between questions within a section.
In other words, you’ll have similar tools available to you, regardless of the format
you choose.
One big benefit to taking the ACT online is that you’ll get your results faster — ACT
is promising a typical time of two business days, as opposed to almost three weeks with
the pencil-and-paper test.
You may also, at this point, be more comfortable taking exams online.
But if you’re an analog person, at least as far as exams are concerned, you can opt
for pencil and paper!
You should opt for the format that you are most comfortable with.
And remember that for section retesting, you’ll need to use a computer.
For an exam that isn’t majorly changing, the ACT is getting some significant updates!
What these three updates have in common is that all of them can enable you to put your
best foot forward.
But with choice comes responsibility.
You need to do your homework to figure out your best ACT strategy.
I can’t recommend highly enough our Princeton Review ACT Prep 2020 editions.
They include:
ACT Premium Prep, which comes with 8 full-length practice tests: 4 in the book and 4 online.
ACT Prep, which comes with 6 full-length practice tests: 4 in the book and 2 online.
And if you’re a practice-makes-perfect student, check out our 1,511 ACT Practice Questions,
6th Edition.
We also have some pretty amazing course and tutoring options here at The Princeton Review,
including a 31+ Guarantee prep class!
For eligible students, we will guarantee that you get a 31 or above on the ACT.
Now that’s pretty amazing.
Thanks for watching, folks!
Please know that we’ll be following any changes to the ACT — or subsequent changes
to the SAT — very closely.
And you can count on us for the skinny on what you need to know.
Subscribe to our channel to you can be among the first to get all the latest updates!
And look for our ACT Prep resources wherever books are sold.