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Below are some thoughts on topics that students and parents often ask. Before making a decision you should consult various resources (teachers, tutors, guidance counselors, college counselors, college admissions offices, etc.) as appropriate. The topics and my opinions about them are generic, and may not apply very well to your specific situation.

The real news from ACT

Many people are excited by the news announced by the ACT regarding changes they are making to how the test is delivered and new score reporting. Below, we discuss the relevance of this news to the high school classes of 2021 versus 2022 and beyond. But the big news is

ACT NOW THINKS THAT SUPER-SCORING IS GOOD!

People following the ACT know that for decades the ACT has told admissions offices not to super-score the ACT (super-scoring is when colleges combine the best scores together even though these scores are from sections of ACTs taken on different dates). Now ACT is recommending the opposite, and offering to calculate super-scores that students could send to the colleges! This has implications for all high school students from the class of 2021 and beyond.

The real news is that it is reasonable to expect more and more colleges to decide to super-score the ACT. For students who cannot get best results on a particular ACT date and therefore wish to send ACT scores from different test dates, this means they can apply to a broader range of colleges. How much broader is anybody’s guess, but my guess is the list will get MUCH broader. Why? Because super-scoring will enable colleges to report higher average ACT scores and thereby improve their rankings.

For the class of 2021, this means a bigger selection of colleges that super-score. It also means that for seniors who want to take another crack at the ACT in order to improve their superscore, they could take a computer-delivered version of one or more sections of the ACT without taking an entire full length test. The “catch” is that we do not know how many sites will be certified to offer a computer-delivered ACT. Another “catch” is that many colleges may not agree to consider scores from computer-delivered tests.

The lucky ones are high school students in the class of 2022 and beyond. They will have many many opportunities to build ACT super scores. Also, I predict that by then the College Board will come up with some alternatives in SAT testing in order to remain competitive with the ACT in the standardized testing race.

Richard Corn