@Mwfan1921 I’m talking about families that can pay for expensive test prep. Any kid that scores in the upper 20s/30s on a baseline try just needs practice and possibly a small amount of specific how-to.
Still, the number of 36 composites is about 3700 out of almost 2 million test takers? How differentiating does the top score really need to be? How much does it really matter if a student is in the top 0.2% of test takers vs the top 0.5%?
PLEASE note that my comment isn’t a disagreement that it is possible or even easy to improve an ACT score with practice, and especially for families with financial means, paid prep – and that kids from disadvantaged situations don’t have this luxury.
From the ACT National Profile Reports - Total number of 36 Composite Scores
2015 - 1,598
2016 - 2,235
2017 - 2,760
2018 - 3,741
Fairly significant increase in total number 36C scores every year (though still a tiny percentage of overall test takers). I don’t believe the 2019 report is out yet, but if trends hold, the total number of 36C scores should exceed 4,000 by a significant amount. What’s the reason for this? More and better test prep is the only thing I can think of, but perhaps there are other reasons as well.
I agree even with the increase the number of perfect scores on both the ACT and SAT is small compared to the number of test takers. The average ACT score is 21 and the average SAT score is 1060 so calling either of these test easy for the majority is a reach. I think we sometimes get caught up in the CC prodox and loose touch with the reality for the average college kid.
There have been a significant number of students taking the ACT so the numbers above are only meaningful when included with number of test takers and expressed as a %.
^see post#33
This why more and more schools are going test optional. Now more should go test-discouraged, except in unusual cases (home school, very small HS, GED etc.) Every top college in the country, as well as all the Ohio State campuses, know Walnut Hills. They know these “perfect score” kids are going to succeed in college before they see a single test score - from their grades, rigor, LORs and essays (and years of data on how Walnut Hills kids perform in their schools.) Standardized tests for these kids is a waste of time and money - they should be out fishing or volunteering at a hospital or bagging groceries on a Sat morning, not wasting their time and money on ACT/SAT.