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Understanding the ACTA Brief Overview
Chris O’Sullivan, Manager of Practice TestingCompass Education Group
Rise of the ACT
SAT takers up 15% since 2005ACT takers up 62% since 2005
1995 2000 2005 2010 20150
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
SATACT
Thou
sand
s of S
tude
nts
Test Prep Trends at Compass
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 20200%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
SATACT
See pages 4-5 of Compass Guide
SAT or ACTRequired≈1,450
Subject Tests ≈35
ACT in lieu ofSubject Tests ≈12Test Optional/Flexible ≈50
Test Requirements
What Could a Higher Score Mean for Me?
Low/Mid 20’s
• UC Santa Cruz
• Syracuse• Howard• Arizona State• Chapman• USF• Boulder
High 20’s - 30
• 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
The Competitive Landscape
1 11 16 21 26 31 36
50
th
perc
en
tile
95
th
perc
en
tile
80
th
perc
en
tile
99.9
th
perc
en
tile
ACT
The Bell Curve
ACT Scoring: Relative Standing
Cumulative Percentiles
12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 360
20
40
60
80
100
4
17
36
56
74
87
9599 99
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
ACT English: Grammar and Rhetorical Skills
Questions 1 and 2:
“When I close my eyes I see them. They pop up through the leaves, emerge fromunder fallen logs, and sprout next to tree stumps. Even indoors, I think I spot themout 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.”
1. A. all my free time B. appropriate vacation time slots C. every moment of my leisure time D. whatever time I can set aside
2. F. NO CHANGE G. about, imaginary creatures but H. about, imaginary creatures, but J. about imaginary creatures, but,
41%6%23%30%
11%78%5%6%
ACT English: Grammar and Rhetorical Skills
Which of the following alternatives tothe underlined portion would be LEASTAcceptable?
ACT English Difficulty Distribution
See page 43 of Compass Guide
Data reflects performance of several thousand ACT takers on 11 different tests.
Math
ACT Math: Structure & Pacing
Structure:• 60 questions in 60
minutes• Content breakdown
• 23% Pre-Algebra• 17% Elementary
Algebra• 15% Intermediate
Algebra• 15% Coordinate
Geometry• 23% Plane Geometry• 7% Trigonometry
Pacing Concerns:• 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
ACT Math Difficulty Distribution
See Compass Guide page 45
Reading
ACT Reading: Structure & Pacing
Structure:• 40 questions in 35
minutes• 4 passages:
• Fiction• Social Science• Humanities• Natural Science
• 10 questions per passage
Pacing Concerns:• 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
ACT ReadingDifficulty Distribution
See Compass Guide page 46
Science
ACT Science: Structure & Pacing
Structure:• 40 questions in 35
minutes• 6-7 passages• 5-8 questions per
passage• 3 passage types
• Data Representation• Research Summaries• Conflicting
Viewpoints
Pacing Concerns:• 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
Decision Making: Pacing on the ACTACT Science: Structure &
Pacing
Decision Making: Pacing on the ACTACT Science: Structure &
Pacing
ACT ScienceDifficulty Distribution
See page 47 of Compass Guide
The Essay
The ACT Essay(Debuted September 2015)
Issue: PrivacyTechnology 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.
Features 40 minutes; Optional*
Analysis of
perspectives
Scored in 4 areas: Ideas & Analysis
Development and
Support
Organization
Language Use
Perspective One
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.
Perspective Two
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.
Perspective Three
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.
Resources and More
www.compassprep.com/compass-guide
(415) 464-8600
Understanding the ACT
Questions?