Understanding the ACT A Brief Overview Chris OSullivan
Understanding the ACT A Brief Overview Chris O’Sullivan, Manager of Practice Testing Compass Education Group
Rise of the ACT 2, 000 Thousands of Students 1, 800 1, 600 1, 400 1, 200 1, 000 SAT 800 ACT 600 400 200 0 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 SAT takers up 15% since 2005 ACT takers up 62% since 2005
Test Prep Trends at Compass 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% SAT 50% ACT 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Test Requirements ACT in lieu of Subject Tests ≈12 Test Optional/Flexible ≈50 Subject Tests ≈35 SAT or ACT Required ≈1, 450 See pages 4 -5 of Compass Guide
What Could a Higher Score Mean for Me? The Competitive Landscape Low/Mid 20’s High 20’s - 30 • UC Santa Cruz • Syracuse • Howard • Arizona State • Chapman • USF • Boulder • Cal Poly San Luis Obispo • Boston University • Bucknell • UNC Chapel Hill • U of Michigan • Scripps 30+ • • • Berkeley Johns Hopkins Reed Cal Tech Notre Dame Tufts
1 11 16 21 99. 9 th percentile 26 95 th percentile 80 th percentile 50 th percentile The Bell Curve ACT 31 36
ACT Scoring: Relative Standing Cumulative Percentiles ACT Composite Score
The New Landscape
The ACT
ACT English: Structure & Pacing Structure: • 75 questions in 45 minutes • Question content split roughly 50/50 • Usage and Mechanics • Rhetorical Skills • Top 10 error types account for 80% of the questions Pacing Concerns: • Average of 36 seconds per question • Difficulty level of questions is random • Best strategy is to work at an even pace and guess (as necessary) as you go
ACTACT English: Grammar and Rhetorical Skills English: Grammar Rhetorical Skills Questions 1 and 2: “When I close my eyes I see them. They pop up through the leaves, emerge from under fallen logs, and sprout next to tree stumps. Even indoors, I think I spot them out of the corner of my eye. Basically, I spend every free moment in search of them. I’m not talking about imaginary creatures but about deliciously real more mushrooms. ” Which of the following alternatives to the underlined portion would be LEAST Acceptable? 1. A. B. C. D. all my free time appropriate vacation time slots every moment of my leisure time whatever time I can set aside 11% 78% 5% 6% 2. F. NO CHANGE G. about, imaginary creatures but H. about, imaginary creatures, but J. about imaginary creatures, but, 41% 6% 23% 30%
ACT English Difficulty Distribution Data reflects performance of several thousand ACT takers on 11 different tests. See page 43 of Compass Guide
Math
ACT Math: Structure & Pacing Structure: Pacing Concerns: • 60 questions in 60 minutes • Content breakdown • Average 1 minute per question* • Difficulty escalates steadily throughout • Problems at the end are much harder but worth same points • Rushing and cherry-picking can be dangerous • • • 23% Pre-Algebra 17% Elementary Algebra 15% Intermediate Algebra 15% Coordinate Geometry 23% Plane Geometry 7% Trigonometry
ACT Math Difficulty Distribution See Compass Guide page 45
Reading
ACT Reading: Structure & Pacing Structure: Pacing Concerns: • 40 questions in 35 minutes • 4 passages: • Average of 8 minutes and 4 seconds per passage • Difficulty level of questions within passages is random • All four passages are of roughly equal difficulty • Critical to allocate time evenly across all passages • • Fiction Social Science Humanities Natural Science • 10 questions per passage
ACT Reading Difficulty Distribution See Compass Guide page 46
Science
ACT Science: Structure & Pacing Structure: Pacing Concerns: • 40 questions in 35 minutes • 6 -7 passages • 5 -8 questions per passage • 3 passage types • Average 5 -6 minutes per passage* • Difficulty escalates within passages and from earlier to later passages • Time management can be very tricky • Cherry-picking can be effective if done correctly • Data Representation • Research Summaries • Conflicting Viewpoints
Decision Making: Pacing on the ACT& ACT Science: Structure Pacing
Decision Making: Pacing on the ACT& ACT Science: Structure Pacing
ACT Science Difficulty Distribution See page 47 of Compass Guide
The Essay
The ACT Essay (Debuted September 2015) Issue: Privacy Technology is changing our ideas about privacy. Our social media posts help us connect to friends, families, and people across the globe, but they also supply a steady stream of information to advertisers and, potentially, to governments, employers, and law enforcement agencies. Smartphone apps track our locations, buying habits, and Internet searches; that data can be both used to improve services and sold to companies to better target marketing. We’re increasingly willing to share our opinions, images, and relationships online and to turn to the Internet to run searches on others. As sharing our lives with a global audience increasingly becomes the norm, it’s important to consider how our connected lifestyle is changing the value we place upon privacy. Perspective One Perspective Two Perspective Three Social media and smartphone apps help us navigate the world and our relationships with greater knowledge and insight. The only people who should be worried about losing privacy are those who have something to hide. When we lose our sense of private lives, we lose part of ourselves. Being on public display hinders introspection and a sense of our independent identities. When nothing is private, nothing is personal. Our desire for privacy is often rooted in embarrassment about common human issues like illness. Letting go of old ideas about privacy would break down barriers and help create a more open and empathetic society. Features ü 40 minutes; Optional* ü Analysis of perspectives ü Scored in 4 areas: ü Ideas & Analysis ü Development and Support ü Organization ü Language Use
Resources and More
Understanding the ACT
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