@mdcmom, glad you are getting it all worked out!
I would think that in the college setting if they use the computer for other things than note taking then they will face the consequences when it is test time.
Wait. I guess I only skimmed the article. Did they already put those changes into the ACTs that have been officially given?
@2muchquan …I didn’t read every line, but it looked like the changes were being gradually phased in to the test and it started this spring.
@2muchquan – it is official – you are the funniest person (non-professional comedian) I have never met!! And very compassionate and down to earth, stress diffusing-- keep the jokes coming too. We hope once your DD succeeds we can read her humorous essay! As DS’18 is facing the ACT in Sept/Oct - I love the SACT!! SACT- Go – let’s send the Ad Coms on that mission.
@2muchquan - One reason I believe that the article is probably correct is the fact that ACT screwed up the scoring of the writing section of their test for many kids starting last September. Now they are changing the way they report score the writing section back to the old way…ugh.
I am glad I do not have a 11th grader this next year. I think right now that both the SAT and the ACT people are incompetent.
re: changes to the ACT- It is interesting to see this in writing outside of online chatter. My D took her first ACT in June but her friends all seemed to think that June was significantly more challenging in math and not as clear cut in science as the tests that they had taken before.
D was really surprised at a few of the math questions - they were much more challenging than she had studied. She was lucky some were topics just covered in her classes (calc/physics/economics) although she had not seen any similar in the practice books or released exams. While she had some exposure to the problems and knew how to attack them, she felt that they each took well over a minute to complete - she was happy with how she budgeted her time. She said there was 1 that she had to completely guess on - no idea at all. This was a huge topic of conversation at her school when they went in for finals the Monday after the ACT test. While they were not supposed to talk about it, after the final they were all a buzz about a few of the final math problems. All of the kids seemed kind of shell shocked over a few of the questions - and some of these kids (not my D!) are math geniuses.
D had nothing to compare it to, but her classmates all felt that the science was much, much more challenging (nuanced) than the tests the previous ACTs they had taken. They felt that on the surface it appeared quite easy but after discussing some of the problems they realized that there were several problems that were not quite as straight forward as initially thought. Online there does seem to be a lot of chatter about surprisingly low science subscores and that matched the first hand experience of several of Ds friends who had higher scores on earlier tests. Thankfully she is finished with all of these tests - but it does worry me for my younger ones.
Interesting. Scores were slightly lower for D17 in the April test, compared to her other sitting in October. I thought she would have crushed it in April, but chalked it up to it being a state/district-run test, and not the regular Saturday national version. Funny, because the ONLY section she improved on was Science, which was significantly higher (3-4 points?). It all worked out for schools that superscore, I guess. I didn’t even want her to take the April test, and I guess my concerns were warranted! Wow. That sucks.
@CA1543 Thanks. I never grew up. I think I partied too much in college. I will interject as needed 
I am developing @RightCoaster’s frame of mind. It will all turn out OK. Lots of kids are smarter than mine. Like, a lot! It’s aaaaalllll OK! Your kids all rock!
We (along with high school counselors) advised son to completely bypass the SAT because of the new format, new changes, and utter confusion. Now that ACT is changing (for the worse), maybe its time to switch back to the SAT. Or maybe take both. Dang.
@STEM2017 …for real! D has become an ACT only kid but we did recently have a friend who made a 30 on the ACT but on the new ACT the mom says he made the equivalent of a 34. Hmmm
@carachel2 So are you saying your friend did better on the new format? If so, that would make me feel a little better.
@stem2017 - If your son hasn’t taken either yet than I would have him take both in the fall. It can’t hurt. DS13 and DS17 took both. Both of them had slightly better ACT’s but it could have easily gone the other way and since you are talking about a senior not a junior you only have so many retests if the score isn’t where you want it to be.
I wish UA would hurrying up and decide on the merit scholarships for next year! The wait is killing me.
QOTD: When a school is asking for a personal statement, are all schools looking for the same thing? Is this a generic term. One school on our list asks for a short essay and a personal statement. I don’t know what the prompts are since we can’t log in yet, but it seems like some people also call the essay in the CA a ‘personal statement’. I thought a personal statement was more something that describes you, and what you are looking for in a school and how you will contribute to that school. Like you would find at the top of a resume. Why don’t they just say they want 2 essays. 
@2muchquan I think personal statements are more information-based…your academic and career goals, etc. Not much creativity necessary. The Ole Miss Honors College personal statement prompt is…
Please provide a short personal statement (no more than 250 words) describing your educational aspirations and future career goals. Please address any challenges that you have faced.
Fairly straight forward.
I guess my question is, if a school wants a “personal statement”, then you still have to wait for the “prompt”? It’s not generic enough that you can use it wherever a school wants a personal statement.
Grrr, just call it another essay.
@STEM2017 I wonder about that challenges part. DS17 has ADD and he wrote about it. DH said Nope you are not going to mention it… So we are back a square one for that essay.
@MichiganGeorgia Yes, the challenges part does throw a bit of a wrench into it. I have mixed feelings about your ADD dilemma. Your DS17 has certainly overcome an incredible challenge and wants to express it - bravo to him! But your DH is probably correct in wanting to avoid the subject as colleges don’t necessarily want to deal with it. Sad but true.
@MichiganGeorgia and @STEM2017 I don’t think it’s so much that colleges don’t want to deal with ADD/ADHD or any other learning disability, I fear more that there is an inherent bias that believes if a student mentions it, it is may be viewed as an excuse or rationale for grades or test scores that should be factored in. And, whether that is true or not, colleges definitely don’t want to hear that.
I also suspect, sadly, at this point it is a bit cliche. The essay should show what the student brings to the school, why the school might find them unique and with it being relatively common it may not help the stand out in an essay no matter what amazing qualities it shows that they were able to overcome the LD and achieve success. I do actually think there are likely ways to incorporate it into an essay, without the essay itself being about the LD but it is a fine line.
Still though, challenges faced in that context is difficult to know how best to address. One of our applications has 6 short answer essays (100 words) and one of which I could see many kids addressing their LD in.
Dealing with adversity: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to address this challenge. Include whether you turned to anyone in facing that challenge, the role that person played, and what you learned about yourself.
I will likely counsel S away from his ADHD for this one. Not sure that is where he will go but he might.
I swear I am so tempted to upgrade that essay organizer just to see what is hidden in supplemental questions but am not going to allow myself to go there!
@2muchquan, your top SACT score is 11 isn’t it? (This one’s better, it goes to eleven)
I call dibs on SACT-Prep courses.
In the pretest, I will automatically score you as 5 on the pretest so that you can go to real test and thank me for the improvement
@MichiganGeorgia I agree with your husband. As for challenges, students need to be very careful in what they disclose.
“Challenges” is like the “strengths and weakness” question on a job interview…
Strengths: I am a hard worker
Weakness: I work too hard