ETS, a large private educational testing and assessment organization has acquired ACT. ACT was most recently owned by a PE firm.
It will be interesting to see what ETS does with ACT, as that test has been losing market share. And ACT doesn’t have as many other sources of revenue as CollegeBoard does.
Big picture, (IMO) it’s good that ACT will live on, if for no other reasons than offering a choice to students and competition to CB.
Thoughts/insights @lindagaf @heavyweightcollege?
How competitive is the testing market when ETS is a test administrator who does test administration for various tests? About a quarter of its work is contracted from CB.
This is the same company that “owns” the TOEFL and the GRE?
Yes, although there was this earlier in the year 
I believe the only things ETS still collaborates with CB is AP and CLEP testing. (ETS used to have a large role in development and administration of SAT but CB took that over.) Obviously I don’t know what will happen with the AP/CLEP collaboration now that ETS owns ACT, not sure CB will care or not.
Putting on my competition law hat, I note duopolies are not known for great price competition, but they can still result in more consumer choice when it comes to other qualities in differentiated product markets.
So, like, if you see it as good for kids to have a choice of formats, then it is good for there to be two major alternatives.
I agree. It’s hard to imagine they will just leave it as it is-- a big mess, frankly. But then I clicked on the link to the homepage for ETS and it says “harnessing AI to blah blah blah…” So I really have to wonder. Are they going to use the ACT as some kind of crash test dummy for completely AI driven tests? (Going down the rabbit hole…)
SAT and ACT have been an effective duopoly for a while.
What seems to be different now is that the two testing companies are much closer in terms of business linkage and cooperation than before, so it is possible that they could act in a less competitive manner.
Note that the testing market is also one where the choosers (e.g. colleges) are not the same as the payers (e.g. test takers).
Strangely, I know both CEO’s (not well) and they are both talented.
Somewhat surprised antitrust did not get in the way. That may be never-ending and be the reason both tests remain, although I do not fully understand the laws these days.
From a pure business angle, they could just make the ACT easier and more students would take it and they’d make more money. It’s crass but everyone says education is a business.
ETS won’t make any changes to the ACT Test at least not for 2026-27 since the rollout of the new “enhanced ACT” happened just last year. What ETS will likely do next is discontinue the traditional paper-testing option to reduce cost. They did this with the GRE subject tests & have done this with other exams they administer. Eventually, the ACT could transform or consolidate into just two sections: Reading and Math or perhaps English/Reading and Math with some Scientific Context questions mixed in. Two 50-60 minute sections. The optional essay would remain, likely shortened to 30 minutes, and the optional science discontinued if the Math is preserved w/o any science mixed in, and likely also shortened to 30 minutes. The ACT maximum score would still be 36 but the reading and math maximum scores would be 18, whole number scores only which could be rounded of subsection score averages. No rounding like 35.5 equaling a 36 composite for the final score. This newly transformed ACT would not be comparable to the previous ACT. I’m quite sure that ETS would love to sell 2,000,000 ACT exams per year again (like back in 2016 & 2017). How to attract more test-takers - either reduce testing time or price or both - that simple! Students won’t want to spend time on four grueling hours of ACT or SAT as in the past. They don’t waste time on SAT subject tests anymore. They rather spend that time taking AP exams which can lead to some college credit, students that wouldn’t have taken these courses or exams in the past, blocked by gatekeeping.
I thought those were discontinued.
Yes, SAT subject tests were discontinued in 2021: What were SAT Subject Tests? - College Board Blog
why? No school out there requires it…does anyone take it? is there a purpose to that one?
Given how few schools are requiring science AND it isn’t part of composite score anymore, I think science is going to get dumped too..,
More sections mean more question types to create and test – sounds expensive. I predict it looks more like SAT with just R/W and Math, but stick with the different format of easier, quicker-paced questions.
Maybe they use more AI..maybe quicker turnaround scores (instant?) as an advantage?
ETS would still offer the optional essay if they were to maintain the Reading and Math test content as is and discontinue ACT English. If the SAT offers “Reading and Writing” and assuming they will continue doing so, ETS would need to offer something comparable. The essay does appeal to a certain type of student who likes timed writing assignments, which could provide an advantage in gaining college admission, the ultimate goal of taking such tests.
I think it would be interesting if the text of the essay section was directly sent to colleges for them to review. In a world where students’ writing is increasingly AI-assisted (or AI-”assisted”), the opportunity to have a direct look at a student’s writing without AI might be valuable.
I am curious where that is true? is this a regional thing? every college admissions and testing advice I have ever seen says not to take the writing portion as no school asks for it or looks at it.
I think 1 (2?) schools nationwide require it.
I am not doubting it is true for a segment, but what segment is this that takes writing portion? What schools care right now? Is it southern state schools? midwest state schools?
The school where I work does not pull the ACT writing section into the app the AOs see, even if the student took it.
I don’t think ACT makes this public, but for example, Illinois requires juniors to take the ACT test with writing (school day, graduation requirement.) Not sure about other ACT states.
This resource shows state testing requirements, but I would verify any info on it:
Interesting! It doesn’t answer who LOOKS at the score and cares about it (which is really, in the end, what matters!) though possibly this implies IL state schools do…
I have spoken to a number high-end college counselors in various capacities over the years personally,(my own kids schools have former AOs as CCs) and sat on a ton of testing webinars (of various sorts) and not once have they recommended taking the writing portion of the ACT, not even with a nuance that I can recall (if you are a good writer, or if you are applying to ABC)….there may have been one that didn’t apply to me so I spaced, but it must have been pretty specific. (My kids are good writers).
That is really what I am curious about!