"Last week, Walnut Hills High School announced that 17 of its students scored a perfect 36 on the ACT college admissions test.
Things got a little crazy after that. Jimmy Fallon joked about the Cincinnati school on the ‘Tonight Show.’ Social media blew up with congratulations and conspiracy theories. And test experts buzzed about what it all meant.
But was it really that unusual? Yes. But maybe not as unusual as everyone first thought.
Turns out, the number of perfect ACT scores nationwide has more than doubled since 2015 and is six times higher today than it was eight years ago.
In 2010, 1 of every 2,600 students nailed a perfect score. In 2018, it was 1 of every 500." …
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/05/01/act-sat-scholarships-college-admissions-scandal-scores-test-prep/3640007002/
Wow- what a shocker. You can pay to edge out the competition. That’s why when folks here advocate standardized tests as the be all end all of evaluating students, so many disagree.
I was just coming here to ponder what this means for the future of entrance testing and which class will be the unlucky ones to suffer from the ACT ramping up difficulty in the coming years in response to the soaring number of perfect scores. After the Walnut Hills High School story, another school in the same city, Sycamore High School, boasted another school record class of perfect scores, including students not even having finished their sophomore year yet.
Note that it is easier to get a maximum score of 36 on the ACT than the maximum score of 1600 on the SAT, because the ACT score scale is coarser grained (each ACT score has concordance with four SAT scores) and the composite is an average that does not require all parts to be 36 to get a 36 composite (unlike the SAT that requires maximum score of 800 on each part to get 1600 total).
However you can make mistakes on each part of the SAT and still get an 800.
Unfortunately, that has not been true for math and writing for all of the new test forms given since June 2018 (with the exception of test forms that were major reuses from prior to June 2018). -1 math has ranged from 790 to 770 on all of them. -1 writing could set you back 20 pts, -2 40 pts. For reading, I’m less sure; for most I’ve seen, -1 = 790.
(College Board intentionally and substantially altered the difficulty level for the test forms for this past school year that were first given in June 2018, as measured by the question difficulty on the SAS, numbers of hard, medium, and easy questions, e.g. around half the number of hard math questions. It will be interesting to see what scales they cook up for the coming school year, when the June 2019 scores come out in July. CB gives rare forms to small portions of testers in June and uses that data to help determine scoring scales for those forms, which will then be used throughout the coming school year. As an aside, it’s hard to see how such a change wouldn’t impact the quality of their equating process.)
I know it will never happen because of the $ involved for testing companies, but we should go back to one and done on these tests.
“Unfortunately, that has not been true for math and writing for all of the new test forms given since June 2018 (with the exception of test forms that were major reuses from prior to June 2018). -1 math has ranged from 790 to 770 on all of them. -1 writing could set you back 20 pts, -2 40 pts. For reading, I’m less sure; for most I’ve seen, -1 = 790.”
Which means the test is too easy and they will heavily penalize for a stupid mistake. I think all these tests should be harder so there can be some real differentiation at the top.
Yeah. Our school had a whole bunch of 36s this year. I’m guessing it’s close to 20. I tutor standardized tests and there’s not doubt that the ACT material is easier. It’s all about how fast a student can answer the questions and still ge them correct. Way less time per question on the ACT. Our S19 just preferred the SAT. He could get all of the questions right on the ACT but didn’t want to practice going faster which he would have needed to do to get to that 36. Went with SAT instead. We know quite a few 1550+ kids but no one who got a 1600.
Silly goal. Students should spend time on more meaningful endeavors.
“Silly goal. Students should spend time on more meaningful endeavors.”
Getting a high test score may be a meaningful endeavor for students depending on financial aid and/or scholarships linked to such scores.
D will be going to Test Optional college. Not going to spend the $$$ on prep. Not going to force her into countless hours of tutors. She’s only a kid once, letting her enjoy it. There will be a school out there for her and she will find a job.
Not quite silly if the student is aiming for a college that increases scholarship money for a 36 ACT (versus 35 ACT).
https://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php
As @ucbalumnus pointed out, a “perfect” 36 ACT doesn’t require a 36 on all sections. Is there any publicly available date that shows true 36’s compared to 1600’s? If not, the comparison is apples and oranges.
Difficulty of each test is a matter of opinion. Math is half of SAT but only 1/4 of ACT, for example.
Math on the ACT is very straighforward. The wording on SAT Math can be tricky. One needs to be a good reader to do well on the Math SAT.
The reading passages on the SAT are absolutely harder. They almost always involve original texts and classic literature and ACT passages have neither.
The science section on the ACT is just reading graphs very quickly. It doesn’t test science. The SAT always had a science reading section in the reading section of the test.
I don’t think it’s a matter of opinion that the SAT material is more difficult than the ACT material.
I agree that with unlimited time the general consensus is that the SAT is more difficult. The difficulty on the ACT is that you are under much more time pressure. That’s why they appeal to different kids.
If it was objectively easier to get a good score on the ACT then the SAT would quickly go out of favor.
@dadof4kids I wonder about that too. I think that, in some parts of the country, the SAT is the test that historically kids take. Also, here in Illinois, our state struck a deal with the CB and all kids have to take the SAT during a March sitting at school in order to graduate. It’s a free test. We took the ACT up until two years ago. Many families still don’t understand that a student can take either test and colleges don’t care which one. With our school offering a free (and mandatory) SAT, some kids have chosen it as the test they will study for even if they might be better at the ACT.
Also, I found with our son’s friends, that the stellar math kids almost always take the SAT. As mentioned above, Math is one half of the test and they don’t have to deal with the goofy science section that seriously tests nothing but how fast one can move.
I honestly do not like the ACT and what it tests. Why is it important to move so quickly?
Since timing is the great differentiator between the ACT and SAT I wonder about the numbers of perfect scorers that had extended time. The ACT is more straightforward and without the timing stress it really is a pretty basic assessment. The validity of the exam is tied to the pace and timing. Once that is altered, there is no way to compare scores between those under the intense time pressure and those who are not. We will likely continue to see more and more perfect scores as more people take advantage of the system to give their child the edge they need to fulfill their full potential. Unlikely the public or the universities will ever know if extended time was used since it is not reported anywhere. This is a much easier fraud of the system than paying for a private testing coach to change all your answers or flying across the world to take a test that you have already seen (both documented frauds that people widely agree are wrong).
Gotta say, as a test prep tutor for both tests, it’s my opinion that the SAT has recently become even more difficult, especially in reading, while the ACT remains much easier. What DOES make the ACT difficult: The ridiculous time constraint. The science section of the ACT is, frankly, nothing to do with science and is all but useless. IMO, the SAT is the superior test if a college cares about…something…they are trying to measure, but even then, it’s very artificial and I have had brilliant students who can’t get a high score on it. The ACT is just a speed test and measures nothing other than reading speed, and math skill. Both are fun to tutor though.
I completely agree with @homerdog about the two tests, and something is going to give. I suspect that colleges will do a number of things.
-The most selective colleges will go back to expressing a preference for the SAT.
-The most selective colleges will ask for graded course work as part of the application, which is already happening.
-The ACT is going to become more difficult. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ACT undergoes a big redesign very soon. ACT accuses a ton of kids of cheating. I don’t know why though, because it’s such an easy test to game, and I’m amazed they can’t see that.
-More colleges will go test optional, which has been happening for a long time.
@homerdog same situation here, but the opposite. School requires the ACT in April, and historically that’s the test everyone always took. Lots of kids and parents still think you need ACT for Midwest schools and SAT for schools on the coasts.
My D21 is still deciding which route to go. She is slightly leaning towards taking the SAT so it overlaps studying for the PSAT. Although I’m not sure if she can get high enough for that to matter anyway. She took that completely cold last fall, and did the same with the PreACT last month. She is supposed to get the PreACT score Friday, so I guess we will compare and see if that gives us an indication of which she will do better at.
I think there is value in working quickly, that’s the way college tests (and most of real life) works. Both tests are flawed. But it’s still the easiest way to quickly compare kids from different schools