Talk:ACT (test)

Needs revision
"Don't forget that they curve your score so if you get a 34 expect to get a 32 or a 26. It has happened." This line seems to contain some valuable information, but it is quite poorly presented. --Torrify92, 23 Feb 2009

Answers on p2p network?
Who put in that several students found answers to the ACT on a p2p network? A statement of that magnitutde definately needs a source being cited along with it. Unless someone can find out where that info came from, I think it should be removed --Ichiroska

Incorrect Article Title
The official title of the ACT is the "ACT Assessment". It may be noted that a google search on "ACT Examination" within ACT.com or ACTStudent.com turns up only 3 results, while "ACT Assessment" turns up 644. A search of the whole Internet shows this article as the first result out of 37,000 for "ACT Examination". Comparatively, ACT.org is the top result out of 222,000 for "ACT Assessment".

BTW, does anyone have anything solid that suggests that the test was ever called "American College Test"? ACT says that the company itself used to be called The American College Testing Program, Inc., but doesn't mention other names for the assessment itself. This information does sound verifiable, but would somebody please provide a source to confirm it? --Jack 17:51, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

The official name of the test was quietly changed from "ACT Assessment" to "The ACT" sometime in the last year or so. It was never called "The American College Test." --Zoofroot 05:16, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Separate Article for ACT
American College Testing (the company that administers the ACT Assessment) has no article on WikiPedia.com. ACT actually administers more than one Assessment-- while the ACT Assessment, of course, is by far the most popular. For practical purposes, ACT is the common name of the assessment, but also refers to the company itself. --Jack 18:01, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

SAT Slam
The SAT focuses on deception and tricks to fool students? This may be true, but I'm pretty sure it's not NPOV. Furthermore, can we say for sure that the ability to spot tricks is not a good (or acceptable) measure of intelligence or ability or whatever college entrance exams are supposed to test nowadays?

Paullusmagnus 12:57, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Major Changes
I am currently in the process of revamping this article and any suggestions would be helpful. --TAOW

Minor statistical inconsistency, but the article states anything above and including a 31 is the in 99th percentile, whereas when I got a 31 in late 2005, it was the 98th percentile.

The cumulative percentages given on score reports are based on the most recent three full academic years of scores, while the ones in the national press release are based on the most recent graduating class and only count the highest score for each student that tested more than once. Both ranks change yearly. --Zoofroot 05:33, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

There seems to be a big discrepancy between the way the SAT makes information about its scores in a given state or school district available to the public and the way the ACT does not do so with any great speed or accessibility. This may contribute to the political push in favor of the ACT in some states, including North Carolina where this is happening at both the local and legislative levels. Something the article should consider addressing. Ftjrwrites (talk) 18:08, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

Analogies
Note that the analogies will be removed from the SAT in March. The reference here should probably be changed soon.

The SAT does try to trick students, but this isn't a secret and stating such shouldn't violate NPOV for the reason mentioned above: the ability to identify a "trap" is an acceptable measure of academic aptitude. On both Math and Verbal sections, as the question number increases the questions not only become more difficult but "tricky" because obstensibly obvious (but wrong) answers are given as choices. Additionally, on the Math section, the wrong answers are chosen by assuming common mistakes, wheras the ACT is more likely to randomly generate incorrect answers. In this way the SAT's mode of deception is patterned and thus is more fact than opinion. Of course, this is an article on the ACT. And while we're on the subject, the SAT long favored students with highly developed verbal skills because of the vocab necessary for a high score. The ACT, because it had trig, favored strong math students. The new versions of each tests have moderated these advantages (ie, removal of analogies on SAT and inclusion of higher level math problems), but they still exist. Jordan
 * Hmm, pretty interesting stuff.

On the "trick" issue, the problem that makes it not NPOV is the choice of words like "trick." Logically, when constructing multiple choice tests, including options that may seem attractive but are incorrect would be an important part of good test. A test that does not attempt to lure participants into the wrong answer is a less effective test. "Trick" isn't inaccurate, but it's unnecessarily pejorative. An objective discussion and comparison of the two tests might note that the ACT's quality may be questioned because it's incorrect choices are not compelling enough to entice test takers. Ftjrwrites (talk) 18:21, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

chocolateluvr88
This article previously had that the ACT includes algebra 2 and trigonemtry, which aren't included on the SATs. But, the new SATs do include algebra 2, so I eliminated that from the sentence.

--chocolateluvr88 11:08, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

ACT SAT Conversion Chart
I just added a conversion chart from the College Board site, but I could use some help putting it into table form. Captain Jackson 05:01, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

Out of 36 or 37
I just reverted an edit changing the maximum score for 36 to 37. I reverted it since it seems that the online information here says it is out of 36. Does anyone with more information illuminate? --Hansnesse 00:07, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

I took the ACT in 2001. The highest score is indeed 36. Jade Peat 02:20, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

disambiguation
could we do a disambiguation page? ACT is also the acronym for Arlington Coalition on Transportation let me know what you think...Anlace 03:36, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
 * The what? I'm just being facetious. My opinion is that the acronym sounds fairly general and should probably link to a disambig near the top, as pages are wont to do, betimes. - DaoKaioshin (talk) 01:03, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Not the most notable ACT
I challenge the fact you have redirected ACT to this article, I question if this is by the most notable usagage of the acronym. If not then the redirect should be to the disambiguation page or the most notable term. --Martyman- (talk) 02:31, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

You actually have to go through two ACT disambiguation pages to get to the article.

Name Change
"ACT received its current name following a name change in 1997." What was it called before? I'm assuming that the author was referring to the organization, and not the test, but it isn't clear from the article.

How quaint
I believe the phrase "how quaint" should be removed; it is used as a sarcastic knock at the NCAA.

graph has no scale
The graph (Actgraph.jpg) has no scale indicated along the left side. There are 10 horizontal lines, so perhaps it represents a scale from 0 to 100. But this should be specifically defined. Scott Crevier 20:28, 11 July 2006 (UTC)
 * The graph is a density curve. Therefore the area under the curve should equal one.  In order for it to be one, the top of the y-axis should be about .1 (or 10%).  I'm not sure if this is implied or should be stated.  Perhaps a second opinion here? --  &gt;|&lt;  sha blog  talk  / cont  16:25, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

ACT on p2p network
My friend told me he aquired information from Kazaa on the ACT. He got the answers and ended up with a 30 on the ACT with no help.

-I dont' think this is really probable. There are about 20 different test booklets, all different questions, of the same ACT test. When you take it, you are required to fill in a circle on your answer sheet saying which booklet you tested from. To guarantee a high score on the ACT by cheating, you'd have to match the answers you found with the booklet you're given, which is memorizing a little under 300 ABCDE sequences. To entirely ENSURE that you could do this no matter what booklet you are given, you would have to memorize thousands of ABCDE sequences. If you have the memory to do that, you don't need to download answers from the internet.


 * Or the test proctor can just hand out test booklets with the answers written on them. That's what they did at American River College when the Black Chalks test happened.  It's an easy way to discredit the tester.  If answers were seen written on the test booklet after the testing session, then the student's test could be discredited.  An easy answer for this is to tell the proctor immediately after finding the alterations, but that could go wrong, too.  An example of that is the federal 300-C clerical tests, which used the same tactics to interfere with an applicant's test.  The federal government has since discontinued the 300-C tests, maybe ACT should consider discontinuing theirs, also.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.212.157.30 (talk) 15:48, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

Guessing penalty
"The ACT (unlike the SAT) does not take points off for wrong answers..." It could be my "old timers" disease setting in, but my recollection of the ACT policy on guessing answers is just the opposite of this statement; you are/(were) penalized for guessing answers on the ACT and not so on the SAT. I remember distinctly NOT guessing answers on problems that I could not solve on the ACT and I ended up being one of those fortunate few in 1975? who scored a perfect 36. One of my peers who was actually a better student than I did guess at an answer (that ended up being incorrect) and scored a 35. (Yes, we were both exceptional mathematics students). Maybe there was a change at some time, but I remember this quite distinctly.

Tony

I don't know how things were back in the day, but this is how it has been for at least the last decade: On the ACT, an incorrect answer is treated the same as one you leave blank. On the SAT, if a correct answer is worth 1 point and a blank answer is worth 0, then an incorrect answer is worth -.25.

The ACT changed significantly in 1989; for example, the score ranges for each subtest and maybe the composite were different. --Zoofroot 05:39, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Percentiles
Just did some recent changes, hopefully they're for the better. I added a percentiles chart, and altered the format section. This: http://www.act.org/news/data/06/pdf/National2006.pdf is an absolutely excellent source of raw data directly from ACT itself. I suggest you reference that source before changing any data, of course data can be skewed to do some 'amazing' things, so I did not want to delve to deeply and do any reinterpretation and create data overload. Huerndy 19:10, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

SAT-ACT conversion
The article sates that there is no "official" conversion method for the two tests, but i was able to find one from the College Board: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/ra/sat/satACT_concordance.pdf.

Could this be considered an "offical" chart? I added it to the article, but did not note it as such. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.164.65.186 (talk) 23:08, 31 December 2006 (UTC).

Historical comparison of ACT scores?
Unlike today, when I took the ACT in 1986 the maximum possible scores for each of the tests were:

English: 33 Social Studies: 34 Science: 35 Math: 36

Thus, a perfect score on all of the individual tests did not result in a composite score of 36. Does anyone know whether the maximum score at that time was 34 or 35 (depends on rounding, I suppose) or when all of the tests were changed to a maximum of 36? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.211.163.209 (talk) 00:50, 1 May 2007 (UTC).

This is just not true. It has historically had 36 in all four domains as the maximum score, as well as the aggregate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.68.116.144 (talk) 03:40, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

The score number on ACT has gone up and down over the years. When I re-took it in '90 the max was 30. When I took it in '73 the max was 36. Previously, this article contained a chart for converting older different max point versions with the current version. What was the source of that info? I can't find it. I would like to see if a way could be found to re-incorporate in the current version of this article.75.49.237.183 (talk) 20:45, 30 July 2009 (UTC)devildave

Histogram
I am thinking that the graph "Average distribution of ACT scores" should be later in the article where score is talked about. If no one objects in seven days this will be done. Zginder 12:00, 7 June 2007 (UTC) I moved it.Zginder 20:55, 13 June 2007 (UTC) That is not accurate. The four sections were different before Oct 1989. I still have my score sheet from 1980. The maximum was 35 and each section had a different maximum. The ACT folks have verified this for me at the archives section of their company.– — … ‘ “ ’ ” ° ″ ′ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § 192.91.172.36 (talk) 17:49, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

That is not accurate. The four sections were different before Oct 1989. I still have my score sheet from 1980. The maximum was 35 and each section had a different maximum. The ACT folks have verified this for me at the archives section of their company.– — … ‘ “ ’ ” ° ″ ′ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § 192.91.172.36 (talk) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.91.172.36 (talk) 17:50, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

That is not accurate. The four sections were different before Oct 1989. I still have my score sheet from 1980. The maximum was 35 and each section had a different maximum. The ACT folks have verified this for me at the archives section of their company.– — … ‘ “ ’ ” ° ″ ′ ≈ ≠ ≤ ≥ ± − × ÷ ← → · § 192.91.172.36 (talk) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.91.172.36 (talk) 17:52, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Accuracy of Score conversions
On May 5, 2007, user:71.136.45.125 (whose only contributions are this edit) added inserted the following bolded sentence:


 * Although there is no official conversion chart, the College Board, who administers the SAT, released an unofficial chart based on results from 103,525 test takers who took both tests between October 1994 and December 1996 (in earlier years, ACT scores were deleted after a certain time period at some community colleges or they were just never reported to ACT in Iowa. Therefor, these statistics are not entirely valid) here. Several colleges have also issued their own. The following is based on the University of California's conversion chart.

Now, to me this seems to be unreferenced WP:OR, but my knowledge of the history of this test is anything but comprehensive. Can any other editor vouch for its credibility, or more importantly, find a source? (In the interim I have put a verify source tag on it.) --YbborTalk 16:08, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
 * As there has been no discussion for three days, I have decided to be bold and remove the content pending further discussion. --YbborTalk 13:37, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Coordination of article improvement
To coordinate the improvement of the article and to address the issues brought forward during the peer review, I am making this section of discussion for the list of things to do and the comments on them etc. Zginder 22:24, 10 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Expansion of sections
 * I am adding a section about each of the five tests. Zginder 23:05, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Each test now has a section although they all need expanding. Zginder 12:24, 11 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Write a Criticism section


 * Write a better lead


 * Reduce redundancies


 * Provide additional citations.


 * Citing secondary sources

Source of ACT scores
I can not find the source used for the score precentile chart. This chart is edited often, but I can not tell when it is vandalism because the source is not cited. Zginder(talk) (Contrib) 03:58, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Essay Writing Prompts
In the article, in the table of times and questions, it says for the writing portion of the test that there is one prompt. I believe that there were two (or possibly more) that you were given a choice between, but I am unsure. Just another guy trying to be a Chemical Engineer, Nanobiotechnologist, and Mathematician (talk) 08:09, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
 * From http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/descriptions/writingdescript.html : "The test consists of one writing prompt that will define an issue and describe two points of view on that issue. You are asked to respond to a question about your position on the issue described in the writing prompt. In doing so, you may adopt one or the other of the perspectives described in the prompt, or you may present a different point of view on the issue." So it seems only one prompt (which is how I remember it), but of course, there's more than one position available to you. --YbborTalk 13:08, 25 February 2008 (UTC)
 * There is only one prompt per test. Zginder(talk) (Contrib) 13:26, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

University of California's conversion chart
This conversion chart either has changed or is flawed. They do not use the composite instead, "[T]he University multiplies the sum of your converted math, reading and science scores by two-thirds, then adds the converted English/writing score." the article is misleading. Zginder(talk) (Contrib) 15:45, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

"In February 2005, an optional writing test was added to the ACT, mirroring changes to the SAT later that year."
Maybe there was talk of adding a writing test to the SAT, and ACT beat them to it. In this situation you can't really be sure... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.161.249.115 (talk) 07:09, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Proposed reworking of ACT & Disambig pages
I've given some rationale for changing the way we currently use the ACT page (currently disambig), and was hoping to get some consensus for change, so I was hoping regular editors of this page might comment at talk:ACT.--YbborTalk 11:32, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

English/Writing Combined Subscore
The following sentences "If a student were to score poorly on the writing section, then the score would be reduced from 25 to 23 at the most. A two point demerit is the maximum allowed for a writing penalty." are incorrect. I personally had my subscore reduced by 4, from a 36 English subscore to a 32 combined English/writing subscore, by doing poorly on the essay section at the end of the exam. I would have simply removed this section of the article, but I was not sure if there was a good way to do that given the structural context of the section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hyphessobrycon (talk • contribs) 04:14, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

COMPASS
My school doesn't use ACT, they use COMPASS (which is provided by the ACT group) Should there be a mention about it as well? —Preceding unsigned comment added by KyprosNighthawk (talk • contribs) 20:35, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

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Graph doesn't match data
The first table in the section ACT (test) gives cumulative percentile scores. By subtracting each from its predecessor, the non-cumulative scores are revealed to be as follows:

There is significant rounding error, since this is based on a graph that rounds to a single percentage point. Nonetheless, this makes it clear that the most common scores are 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, and these scores are approximately equally common. So a frequency graph should be a bell curve whose top is relatively level from 19 to 23.

This is radically different from what is shown in the graph, which has a very sharp peak at 20. According to this graph -- whatever the vertical scale might be -- a score of 20 is almost twice as common as a score of 23.

One of these is wrong!

Finally, the table says that "the percentile of students at or below" the ACT score of 36 is 99.96%. In other words, 0.04% of ACT takers scored higher than 36. This is impossible. &mdash; Lawrence King ( talk ) 21:05, 20 July 2017 (UTC)


 * This section needs to be updated and corrected, perhaps using more recent data such as that found here. Erjwiki (talk) 16:16, 21 July 2017 (UTC)


 * I've updated the chart; the percentile numbers should be consistent now. The graph is out of date and should be updated as well. Sometime soon, hopefully! Erjwiki (talk) 22:05, 18 November 2017 (UTC)

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Out of date info
The lede says:


 * . In 2013, ACT announced that students would be able to take the ACT by computer starting in the spring of 2015. The test will continue to be offered in the paper format for schools that are not ready to transition to computer testing.

This is massively out of date. 2015 is in the past. If this actually occurred in Spring 2015, it needs to be written in the past tense; if it did not happen, then this should be removed (or at least, removed from the lede). &mdash; Lawrence King ( talk ) 21:26, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

Proposed Removal of "Use by high IQ societies" section
This section is really quite useless and irrelevant. It was probably added by members of those societies for self-promotion. I propose removing it in its entirety. ΣΨ (talk) 08:58, 14 December 2019 (UTC)

Data Not Available
Just in case anyone was wondering (and in regards to the update template at the top of the article), normally I would update data here such as number of test takers, average scores in 2019 in each of the test sections, the state-by-state ACT vs SAT map, etc. But for unknown reasons ACT, Inc. has not made public the data for the class of 2019. So far, only this report has been made available. I've contacted several media outlets but there doesn't seem to be much interest in figuring out why. Weird. Erjwiki (talk) 19:44, 20 April 2020 (UTC)