ACT Enhancement Content Rebalancing
When writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr observed that the more things change, the more they stay the same, he couldn’t possibly have been thinking of the Enhanced ACT. After all, his famous quote–“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” in its original French–dates back to 1849. But the revised ACT that will be going national in September 2025 bears a strong resemblance to the current (now called the legacy) version. That said, the enhancements to this popular assessment go deeper than just alterations to tweaks to the numbers of items and time per section. ACT has thoughtfully retained the Reporting Categories that provides subscores for each section, confirming that the next test is built on a strong and familiar foundation. The only real change from a content perspective is the distribution of items in each Reporting Category. ACT recently released a very helpful Comparison of the Legacy and Enhanced ACT®…
Do SAT & ACT Subscores Matter?
When test scores come back, making sense of it all can be overwhelming. Composite scores, section scores, percentiles—it’s a lot to decipher, and people taking the SAT or ACT for the first time are often surprised by subscores. These tests are broken down into sections, but the sections break down even further into different types of questions. Subscores measure how well you did on each of these types, and they show up on score reports in a couple of different ways: for the SAT, they’re listed at the bottom of the first page, and for the ACT (which calls them Reporting Categories), they’re listed under Detailed Results. The SAT measures seven different subscores: Command of Evidence Words in Context Expression of Ideas Standard English Conventions Heart of Algebra Problem Solving and Data Analysis Passport to Advanced Math On the ACT, each section measures three Reporting Categories. In English: Production of…
What ACT Reporting Categories Tell Us About Science
While most standardized tests break section scores into smaller subscores, ACT aligns its flagship college entrance exam along Reporting Categories that serve the same general function of sorting content into discrete categories. College admissions officers show no interest whatsoever in student achievement in specific ACT Reporting Categories, but that doesn’t mean these categories have no value. On the contrary, the blueprint by which the test is designed tells us a great deal about the knowledge, skills, and strategies each section of the ACT rewards. For example, delving into the ACT Science Reporting Categories reveals a shocking truth about the test: its primary purpose is not to evaluate science knowledge. Instead, certain core skills are valued much more than discrete facts and figures. The three ACT Science Reporting Categories each focus on a specific competency area in the understanding and practice of scientific inquiry: Interpretation of Data The ACT Science Test…
What ACT Reporting Categories Tell Us About Reading
While most people focus on the big numbers on the ACT score report–section scores and Composite–there’s more to learn by digging deeper. ACT included three reporting categories each for English, reading, and science, as well as eight reporting categories for mathematics. These subscores provide more granular insight into test performance by sorting test questions into smaller categories that can be used to evaluate relative strength in specific subject areas. Why don’t we spend much time on ACT Reporting Categories? Basically, these subscores are worthless from an admissions perspective; colleges don’t care about them. However, Reporting Categories have value in terms of identifying key skills test takers should master for ACT success. In this, ACT Reading Reporting Categories can be particularly helpful. The ACT Reporting Category Interpretation Guide provides valuable insight into all of the subscores on the test. The Reading Reporting Categories fall into three large proficiencies: KEY IDEAS AND…
ACT Reporting Categories: READING & SCIENCE
ACT Reading subscores have been, at least until this year, useless. Reviewing the old English or Math subscores would at least point out areas of weakness a student could improve on. But ACT used to break down performance on the Reading test based on passage content rather than question type. Knowing you were stronger in, answering questions on say, Arts and Literature than Social Studies and Sciences provided very little in the way of actionable feedback. Today, the maker of what is very much a reading test shows a better understanding of what aspects of reading performance to expand upon: Key Ideas and Details More than half (55-60%) of the 40 Reading questions test a student’s ability to read texts closely to determine central ideas and themes, understand relationships, and draw logical inferences and conclusions. All standardized reading tests challenge the core skills of understanding the purpose of a passage…
ACT Reporting Categories: MATH
Once known as the college entrance exam of choice for strong math students, the ACT has always demanded both broad and deep mastery of math concepts learned from grade school to high school. The SAT may currently hold the crown for the test best suited for math whizzes, but ACT Math is tough and getting tougher. Understanding the new ACT Mathematics Reporting Category provides useful insights into the test maker’s assessment goals for this part of the test. Preparing for Higher Math Of the 60 questions on the ACT Math test, roughly 36 (57-60%) of them evaluate what is considered high school math, spanning the point where students learn to use algebra as a general way of expressing and solving equations to advanced topics in Algebra 2 and Trigonometry: Number & Quantity (7–10%) Students must demonstrate knowledge of real and complex number systems, integers and rational exponents, and vectors and…