ACT Gateway and Device Readiness Cutoff Dates
Remember when we were talking about getting ready for the Enhanced ACT? Well, the Enhanced ACT is now the official ACT everywhere, so let’s make sure we’re ready! One of the defining features of the Enhanced ACT is that national test administrations can be taken either on paper or on digital device. Consider three important factors when determining how to take your ACT: First and foremost, the ACT is a native paper test. All things being equal, test takers should register to take the test on paper (and prep accordingly). Access to digital testing will vary by region and will likely be limited in traditional SAT-dominant states like New York. As ACT continues to refine its Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) processes, digital test takers should pay close attention to ongoing alerts about ACT Gateway and Device Readiness Cutoff Dates. What is ACT Gateway? ACT Gateway is the ACT equivalent…
The Perils of SAT Non-Submittal
No, this is not a post about test optional policies or the all-important relative advantages and risks of submitting scores in your college application. SAT non-submittal also describes a very real albeit exceedingly rare incident to look out for on test day. Once time is up on an official SAT or PSAT, test answers are automatically submitted and test takers will see the Congratulations screen with confetti: However, if students are not connected or they close their laptop, their answers won’t be submitted automatically. Luckily, their answers will be saved on their device and can still be submitted, as long as the appropriate steps are taken. If the student sees the dreaded Answer Submission Incomplete screen or an internet connection error message when their testing time ends, they should communicate with their proctors and try the following steps from the SAT Suite of Assessments Technical Troubleshooting Guide in order: 1.…
2025 ACT Enhancements–First Looks
In over 50 years of competition for the hearts and minds of colleges and college applicants, the SAT and ACT have both gone through a lot of changes. College Board has always favored dramatic test revisions, the most recent of which was the unveiling of a fully digital, section adaptive SAT in 2023. ACT, on the other hand, has put stock in stability, tweaking small elements over time but never swaying far from the core concept of its inception… until now. ACT CEO Janet Godwin recently announced that The ACT Test Is Evolving. I’ve been aware of the different aspects of the exam being evaluated through a long period of internal review and digital pilots and appreciate the broad strokes of a new ACT: Fewer Items and Less Speed Maybe ACT doesn’t need 75 questions in 45 minutes to evaluate a test taker’s English proficiency. The new ACT will include…
Meet The Digital SAT: MATH
Until 2015, the SAT was considered the test for students with strong reading ability, while the ACT catered to those with more of a math focus. The last revision, however, reversed the calculus by creating a math-forward assessment that emphasized more advanced topics, graphical literacy, and no-calculator math than ever. The revision was also intended to align the SAT with the Common Core philosophy of testing fewer topics in greater depth than prior assessments. To be fair, College Board ran from the politically unpalatable Common Core curriculum alignment not long after launch and never made good on the promise of fewer math topics anyway; on the contrary, the more recent version of the test required knowledge of more concepts and formulas than ever. Interestingly, the digital SAT appears, at least in its earliest days, to be making a more earnest commitment to mathematical depth rather than breadth: Interestingly, the content…
Meet The Digital SAT: READING AND WRITING
While the digital deployment and multistage adaptive aspects of the new SAT and PSAT certainly draw attention as the biggest changes to these tests, one other revision deserves just as much attention. The SAT has always tested reading, and the digital SAT continues to refine just what aspects of reading matter most in the current educational environment. As usual, this portion of the test looks very different from its most immediate predecessor. Gone is the emphasis on long reading passages, linked evidence questions, and the dreaded historical documents. To be fair, most test takers won’t be sorry to see those elements go. What does the digital SAT offer instead? Expect questions evaluating many of the same fundamental reading skills in some new ways: Questions focusing on the enduring themes of thesis, structure, and both close and inferential reading will be attached to reading passages of roughly 100 words each. Each…
Meet The Digital SAT: SCORING
The computer-based administration of the new digital SAT and PSAT may appear to be the most significant transformation to these enduring exams. However, many schools that use the SAT or ACT as state tests have been administering computer versions of the paper test for years. CBT SATs and ACTs have been the norm in some parts of the world for years. The dSAT won’t be like those tests. The digital SAT represents a massive departure from the way the test has historically been scored. No longer will every question from the easiest to the most challenging be worth the same single raw score point. Instead, the dSAT is a section adaptive test. Adaptive tests often entail complex scoring algorithms, but the concept behind them is simple. In an adaptive test, performance on one question or section determines the difficulty and corresponding score weight of upcoming questions or sections. The digital…