Should the ACT expand?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I have no real preference for SAT vs the ACT but I have thoughts: </p>

<p>The ACT should develop an AP test rival. I know there is IB, but that is a tad different. Offer more courses, and take the potential profit from the AP tests.Maybe even buy the IB program and ensure it is more widespread?</p>

<p>The ACT should try to rival the college board and provide subject tests as well maybe more advanced? instead of math1 and math2, maybe have an Algebra/trig/geom and a Calculus tests? I mean I think students who take Math 2 are in higher level math course so it would be a better test of their skills.The SAT subject tests are fairly limited yet broad too. For example, the Physics is very broad in its topics, but the SAT IIs don’t offer a more focused variant.</p>

<p>Should the ACT change its scale?36 is a small number so differences seem little. For example, a 36 is considered a 2390 on the SAT but a 35 is considered a 2330? That’s a huge delta, but it seems insignificant if on the 36 scale. Ill display this in an example: if you were supposed to get $36 in change, but you got $35, you might not be pissed. But, if you were supposed to get $2390 in change but you got $2330 in change, you would be upset and demand the extra $60. Also, the SAT can provide better clarity: if you got a 780 on one section, basically a 35, you would easily see that you missed one and on average each question is 20pts for the 700-800 point range(based on the standard deviation and testing curves obviously). But the difference in the ACT is not so simple. If you got 39 out of 40 on the ACT science, you would get a 34-35, but if you missed 4, you would get a 29!(This is based on an actual curve result in the red book)this giant delta would only bemuse the score recipient.</p>

<p>Anyway, this is pretty much the early morning ramblings of a teenager(Saved this as a draft from 4 AM lol) .Tell me what you think.</p>

2

<p>I don’t like the ACT score scale either.
I think it should be out of 100, AT LEAST.</p>

3

<p>@fernand yup, its antiquated and is difficult to gauge ones’ performance.</p>

4

<p>Eh, I like the ACT scale, and I think in most ACT-heavy high schools and communities, it really is quite natural to gauge the difference - even if it may seem small. Trust me, a 30 and a 32 are worlds apart, as are a 32 and a 34.</p>

<p>As far as having an “AP rival” it’s really my gut reaction to say, ugh, no. That’s just more tests to take (because you KNOW there’ll be people taking IB/AP/“AP rival”, and colleges still barely recognize IB credit sufficiently (and rarely ever SL), so I doubt credit would be received for a good a while after rolling it out. </p>

<p>“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, right?</p>

5

<p>I’d like an ACT style Subject Test. The punishment for missing a question just messes with my head and makes me hesitant to put in an answer unless I am 100% certain all the way no doubt on a question, which ends up with me wasting time pondering if I should risk the penalty or not. </p>

6

<p>I like it how it is.</p>