American College Testing Program
 |
|
| Type | Paper-based standardized test |
|---|---|
| Developer / administrator | ACT, Inc. |
| Knowledge / skills tested | English, math, reading, science, writing (optional). |
| Purpose | Undergraduate admissions (mostly in the US and Canadian universities or colleges). |
| Year started | 1959 |
| Duration |
English: 45 minutes, Math: 60 minutes, Reading: 35 minutes, Science: 35 minutes, Optional writing test: 40 minutes. Total: 3 hours and 35 minutes (excluding breaks). |
| Score / grade range | Composite score: 1 to 36, Subscore (for each of the four subject areas): 1 to 36. (All in 1-point increments.) |
| Offered | US and Canada: 6 times a year. Other countries: 5 times a year. |
| Countries / regions | Worldwide |
| Languages | English |
| Annual number of test takers |
 Over 2.03 million high school graduates in the class of 2017 |
| Prerequisites / eligibility criteria | No official prerequisite. Intended for high school students. Fluency in English assumed. |
| Fee | Without writing: US$46.00. With writing: US$62.50. Outside the US or Canada: US$47.50 in addition to above. (Fee waivers are available for 11th or 12th grade students who are US citizens or testing in the US or US territories, and have demonstrated financial need.) |
| Scores / grades used by | Colleges or universities offering undergraduate programs (mostly in the US and Canada). |
| Website | www |
The ACT (/eɪ siː tiː/; originally an abbreviation of American College Testing) is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States. It was first introduced in November 1959 by University of Iowa professor Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). It is currently administered by ACT, a nonprofit organization of the same name.
The ACT originally consisted of four tests: English, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Natural Sciences. In 1989 however, the Social Studies test was changed into a Reading section (which included a social sciences subsection) and the Natural Sciences test was renamed the Science Reasoning test, with more emphasis on problem-solving skills as opposed to memorizing scientific facts. In February 2005, an optional Writing test was added to the ACT, mirroring changes to the SAT that took place in March of the same year. In 2013, ACT announced that students would be able to take the ACT by computer starting in the spring of 2015; however, by the fall of 2017, computer-based ACT tests were available only for school-day testing at limited school districts in the US, with greater availability not expected until at least the fall of 2018.
The ACT has seen a gradual increase in the number of test takers since its inception, and in 2011 the ACT surpassed the SAT for the first time in total test takers; that year, 1,666,017 students took the ACT and 1,664,479 students took the SAT. All four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. accept the ACT, but different institutions place different emphases on standardized tests such as the ACT, compared to other factors including class rank, GPA, and extracurricular activities.
...
Wikipedia