ACT – Admissions Blog

Register NOW: Test sites are in short supply for August SAT

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

When the College Board first announced the addition of an August test date for the SAT beginning this summer, cheers went up among those who had lobbied for adjusting the test schedule to accommodate the reality of earlier application deadlines. ACT added a September test several years ago, which turned out to be enormously popular among students with time to prep over the summer who wanted one last try before going the early admissions route. And the College Board finally saw the wisdom of doing the same.

But enthusiasm for the August test date wasn’t universally shared, particularly among test site administrators in school districts starting late in August or after Labor Day. They could easily see how difficult it would be to open buildings and find staff willing to end summer vacations early to proctor one more test.

And it appears they were right. A quick comparison of test site availability for the August 26 SAT as compared with the October 7 SAT shows that so far the College Board has come up a little short in finding seats for the test.

For example, the College Board ordinarily offers up to about 40 sites that are considered a reasonable distance (under 40 miles) from my Virginia zip code. For August, there are only 12 locations, and they do not include the high schools closest to my home which have been popular sites in the past. Instead of traveling 3.6 miles to take the test, my nearest site is about double the distance away–admittedly not too much of a hardship as long as seats remain open. But I certainly would not want to have to travel to some of the further locations suggested by the College Board, which would take me 35 miles from home and across the Washington Beltway!

Using information provided by the College Board, it appears that about 1,970 sites in the U.S. (including D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) will be administering the SAT and SAT Subject tests on August 26. On October 7, however, almost 3,440 sites will be giving the test.

In Virginia, there will be 134 test locations for October and 84 in August. Pennsylvania will open 231 sites in October, but only 87 in August. In New York, it’s 263 locations for October, and 53 in August. Massachusetts has 140 test sites in October and 37 in August. And in New Jersey, students will have 203 locations from which to choose in October, but only 69 in August.

Note that the number of available test sites offered doesn’t necessarily correlate with or predict the number of seats available. In this area, it appears that the larger sites will be open for business in August, while some of the smaller sites have opted out.

The August date is also replacing the relatively unpopular January test, which will no longer be given. And it’s possible that sites simply don’t want to add another working Saturday to their calendars.

But given the convenience of the new August test relative to making decisions about application strategies—binding Early Decision vs. nonbinding Early Action vs. Regular Decision–and ensuring timely delivery of scores, it seems entirely possible that the new date could be very popular–possibly more popular than October.

“We’re seeing a great degree of interest for the August test in all of our markets, coast to coast. Students have so many academic demands as juniors. APs wrap in May, then final exams, and then the early application deadlines hit in Mid-October to November. August stands out as an excellent time to take an SAT, fully prepared, with minimal academic distractions,” explained Jed Applerouth, founder and CEO of Applerouth Tutoring. “I’m personally a huge fan of summer testing. Ideally students will be able to take these college assessments entirely on their own schedule. The summer, not surprisingly, is one of the most spacious times for many students, affording them the time to focus, prepare, and go in with the greatest chance of success.”

In other words, if I lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania or Virginia, I would be registering NOW and not later!

ACT is countering with a summer test of their own. In 2018, the ACT will be adding a July test date to the standardized test calendar.

Top schools continue to see more ACT scores

Posted on March 30, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

Despite whatever feelings he has about the ACT, Georgetown’s admissions dean Charles Deacon concedes that the highly-selective university saw an increased number of students taking and submitting ACT scores this year. According to The Hoya, Georgetown’s student-run newspaper, the number of students submitting ACT scores was about even with those submitting SAT scores among this fall’s early applicants.

And this is a relatively new phenomenon.

For more than a half century, the ACT ran a distant second to the SAT in the high-stakes college admissions race. It was the “We Try Harder,” entrance exam—popular in the Midwest and the South but hardly worthy of notice on either coast.

But that all changed several years ago, as the ACT pulled ahead of the SAT in terms of test-taking popularity. And since then, the ACT has continued to widen the gap.

It’s not that the College Board is hurting for customers. In fact, more test-takers completed the new SAT from March through June of 2016 than took the old SAT during the same period in 2015, according to a report published by the College Board last fall.

But the number of high school graduates taking the ACT soared to a record 2.1 million students—nearly 64 percent of graduating seniors. From 2012-2016, the number of ACT test-taking high school grads increased by 25.5 percent, while the estimated overall number of graduates has increased by only 1.3 percent, leaving the College Board with something serious to think about.

In all fairness, a significant percent of the growth experienced by the ACT is a direct result of the adoption of the ACT for statewide assessment. For the graduating class of 2016, the ACT was administered to all public school graduates in 20 states. These students were pretty much required to take the ACT—like it or not.

But the good news for the ACT doesn’t end there. Not surprisingly, the number of tests submitted for admissions purposes shows a similar trend. Colleges are definitely seeing way more ACT scores than they did a decade ago. And it appears that many more students are taking both tests and submitting both sets of scores for consideration by colleges, particularly uber-selective institutions.

According to the New York Times, there appears to be a real “shift in the behavior of top high school students,” as many more choose to work toward high scores on both tests. And that’s okay with top colleges.

“I don’t know all the pieces of why this is happening, but I think more students are trying to make sure they’ve done everything they can,” said Janet Rapelye, dean of admissions at Princeton University, in an interview with the Times. “And for us, more information is always better. If students choose one or the other, that’s fine, because both tests have value. But if they submit both, that generally gives us a little more information.”

And applicants are getting the message. Those with top scores on both tests want colleges to have the benefit of knowing they did well on both. On the flipside, those who did significantly better on one test or the other tend to only submit the better set of scores—depending on the specific rules of the particular college or university.

It will be interesting to see how this trend evolves as “new” or redesigned SAT test results make their appearance among this year’s admissions decisions, particularly as the SAT has transformed itself into yet another curriculum-based test and blurred its differences with the ACT.

Regardless, based on test-submission patterns easily tracked for colleges posting Common Data Set information, the College Board has a very real challenge making up for ground lost to the ACT.

Here is a sample of test-submission statistics for the freshman class entering in 2005 as compared to the classes entering in fall 2016 (note that yearly totals exceeding 100% indicate colleges considered both the SAT and the ACT for some students):

Amherst College
2005 SAT: 87% vs. 2005 ACT: 13%
2016 SAT: 52% (53% in 2015)vs. 2016 ACT: 51% (49% in 2015)

Auburn University
2005 SAT: 31% vs. 2005 ACT: 69%
2016 SAT: 12% (14%) vs. 2016 ACT: 87% (85%)

Carnegie Mellon University
2005 SAT: 98% vs. 2005 ACT: 17%
2016 SAT: 78% (84%) vs. 2015 ACT: 41% (37%)

Case Western Reserve
2005 SAT: 89% vs. 2005 ACT: 58%
2016 SAT: 50% (57%) vs. 2016 ACT: 66% (62%)

College of William and Mary
2005 SAT: 97% vs. 2005 ACT: 3%
2016 SAT: 77% (80%) vs. 2016 ACT: 44% (44%)

Cornell University
2005 SAT: 98% vs. 2005 ACT: 18%
2016 SAT: 69% (75%) vs. 2016 ACT: 51% (45%)

Dartmouth University
2005 SAT: 89% vs. 2005 ACT: 11%
2016 SAT: 53% (59%) vs. 2016 ACT: 47% (41%)

Georgetown University*
2005 SAT: 95% vs. 2005 ACT: 7%
2015 SAT: 78% (84% in 2014)vs. 2015 ACT: 47% (40% in 2014)

Lehigh University
2005 SAT: 98% vs. 2005 ACT: 2%
2016 SAT: 58% (63%) vs. 2016 ACT: 42% (37%)

Princeton University
2005 SAT: 100% vs. 2005 ACT: N/A
2016 SAT: 73% (80%) vs. 2016 ACT: 45% (36%)

Stanford University
2005 SAT: 97% vs. 2005 ACT: 23%
2016 SAT: 77% (80%) vs. 2016 ACT: 51% (51%)

Swarthmore College
2005 SAT: 99% vs. 2005 ACT: 14.9%
2016 SAT: 67.5% (73%) vs. 2016 ACT: 48.7% (46%)

University of Michigan
2005 SAT: 55% vs. 2005 ACT: 66%
2016 SAT: 26% (27%) vs. 2016 ACT 82 (83%)

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
2005 SAT: 99% vs. 2005 ACT: 22%
2016 SAT: 71% (76%) vs. 2016 ACT: 78% (74%)

University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh campus)
2005 SAT: 99% vs. 2005 ACT: 20%
2015 SAT: 80% (85%) vs. 2015 ACT: 50% (47%)

University of Virginia
2005 SAT: 99% vs. 2005 ACT: 14%
2015 SAT: 77% (82%) vs. 2015 ACT: 50% (44%)

Vanderbilt University
2005 SAT: 89% vs. 2005 ACT: 53%
2015 SAT: 37.6% (41%) vs. 2015 ACT: 67.2% (63%)

Virginia Commonwealth University
2005 SAT: 95% vs. 2005 ACT: 15%
2015 SAT: 81.1% (87.4%) vs. 2015 ACT: 26.4% (26.9%)

Washington and Lee University
2005 SAT: 80% vs. 2005 ACT: 18%
2015 SAT: 37% (46%) vs. 2015 ACT: 63% (53%)

Wesleyan University
2005 SAT: 94% vs. 2005 ACT: 18%
2015 SAT: 58% (61%) vs. 2015 ACT: 41% (38%)

*The most recent Common Data Set posted online is 2015-16

ACT announces July test date for 2018

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Nancy Griesemer

Starting in 2018, ACT will begin offering students the opportunity to take the ACT test in July, increasing the number of national ACT test dates from six to seven.

“Students, educators and colleges have told us they would like to see an extra test date prior to early admission and application deadlines, and we have listened,” said ACT Chief Commercial Officer Suzana Delanghe. “This additional test date will allow students to focus on their coursework while they are in school and prepare for the ACT test during the summer.”

The last big change to the ACT calendar came in 2009, with the addition of a September test, introduced as part of a company-wide 50th anniversary celebration. Since then, the early fall test has become enormously popular among students hoping to improve scores with one last try before submitting early applications starting in mid-October. In fact, the September test became one more advantage the ACT had over the SAT in the increasingly-heated standardized test wars—a competition ACT is winning hands-down.

Eventually, the College Board was forced to concede the early fall scheduling advantage and countered by announcing an August SAT, set to roll out this year. And with the elimination of the January SAT in 2018, college entrance exams will become a year-round activity covering 11 out of 12 months.

Both organizations are presumably scrambling to find an adequate number of sites for the new tests. Although the August SAT is projected to be particularly popular with results easily available in time to finalize early application strategies, seats could be limited by high schools not happy about the timing of the test and declining to participate. To date, test sites have not been announced for the August 26, 2017 SAT.

ACT knows finding sites for the July test will require a slightly different strategy. While the majority of current ACT test centers are located in high schools, ACT advises that most July ACT test centers will “likely be located on two- and four-year college and university campuses,” as high schools typically are closed or operate with very limited staff in the summer months.

While adjusting their calendars and looking for new venues for test administration, both ACT and the College Board are also experimenting with computerized testing. ACT is slightly ahead in this race as well. Juniors and seniors in high schools around the country have already taken the new, automated version of the ACT—a computer-adaptive test (CAT) in which questions delivered to test-takers vary based on responses to previous items. This fall, the CAT version of the ACT will be administered in all overseas ACT test centers.

The College Board has also administered a computerized SAT on small samples of students over the years and has been working on a plan to “digitalize” the SAT under David Coleman’s leadership. The project has encountered a number of setbacks and remains on the drawing board with Coleman announcing last October “new hires to handle its digital project.”

Beyond accommodating early applications, new summer tests like the one announced by ACT and the possible use of college campuses for their administration may actually be paving the way for transition to greater use of the CAT format at sites already well equipped for this purpose. Stay tuned while both companies look for a way to make this happen, as computerized college admissions tests can’t come soon enough for improved security and ease in scoring.

In the meantime, registration for the August 26 SAT* should open later in the spring. Registration for the new July ACT test date will open in early 2018. Information on test locations will be available during registration for either test.

*2/22/17 The College Board website, which originally indicated that SAT Subject Tests would not be offered on August 26, has been corrected. Students will be able to register for and take SAT Subject Tests on the August test date.