ACT updates written test
Improvements add breadth
September 25, 2015
The ACT made changes to the written portion of the test with a goal of expanding the breadth of the subject matter covered in the assessment.
According to the ACT, the need to further enhance high school students’ writing skills prior to their entry into secondary education drives many of the changes.Â
The changes took effect beginning with the test Sept. 12.
Edward Colby, the senior director of media and and public relations at the ACT, said he sees the changes as aimed at better testing students on skills that are pertinent to their futures.
“(The changes) allow students to more fully demonstrate the writing skills and abilities they will need in college and the workforce,” Colby said.Â
Senior Juliya Laucher, who has taken the written portion of the ACT in the past, said she believes these changes may help to improve areas where the test had previously been lacking.
“I said all that I needed to say in three sentences when I took the test and I think making it broader might help others,” Laucher said.
According to counselor Andy Wilkes, the changes will also help students to better understand the test their taking.
“The changes should mean the score will make more sense to students,” Wilkes said.
The addition of an evaluative component to the test is among the most substantive of the changes. This requires students to evaluate three different perspectives in addition to taking a position regarding the issue provided, as had previously been the case.
“The writer is (now) asked to evaluate and analyze the given perspectives,” Colby said.Â
Colby said the scoring of the writing section will not change, and it will continue to not factor into the composite score.
