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

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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?