As of September 2020, the American College Test (ACT) will have a new policy in place that will allow students who take the ACT to retake certain sections without retaking the entire exam to improve their overall score. The goal of these new guidelines is to improve the overall scores for students taking the ACT.
“I think this is a positive step towards allowing students to improve their scores,” counselor Caroline Hoj said. “We know that test-taking is something so many students struggle with.”
Students will be allowed to have a total of twelve section retakes to possibly better their score. “It will allow students to be able to focus on just the one section they are struggling with,” Hoj said. “They can focus their time on just one subject or section rather than studying for the entire exam.”
Counselors hope that having the ability to retake separate sections will also take some of the pressure off of students who do not score as well as they would have hoped.
“There is so much pressure to do well and that pressure can impede a student’s ability to perform their best,” Hoj said. “By allowing students to retake one section at a time, hopefully that will ease some pressure for students so they can let their knowledge shine instead of feeling anxious or overwhelmed with performing well.”
According to senior Elizabeth Meehan, the pressure of taking the ACT stems from getting a score that makes students eligible to get into a prestigious college.
“It definitely adds a lot more pressure and stress when you have to take all of the test at the same time, instead of being able to study for certain sections,” Meehan said.
Having more opportunities to redo sections of the test would have given past students more chances to get a higher score.
“I would have loved to have this policy my year because it would have given me the chance to get my score much higher,” Meehan said.
