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Health & Fitness

THE A.R.M.S. RACE - SAT vs. ACT

The A.R.M.S. race, the battle between the two competing Assessment Reading, Math, and Science tests – SAT vs. ACT.

Okay, both don’t test science and we clumped English assessment into Reading, but it makes the acronym, A.R.M.S., work soooo much better and it stresses the point we’re going to make oh so much stronger. At goCAMPUSing, we think in the heat of the SAT and ACT battle to win the hearts and souls of colleges that the average high school student may just end up being collateral damage.

This ARMS race is becoming more critical, because for the first time, in 2011, the number of ACT tests administered, (1,666,017) surpassed, if even if just by a couple of thousand, the number of SATs given (1,664,479). I’m almost positive this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the folks at CollegeBoard, who own the SAT.

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So, why do we suggest that high school students might become collateral damage in the fight for assessment/achievement/aptitude testing? Because BOTH the SAT and ACT are being tweaked, re-worked, adjusted, and revamped in various degrees for the 2015 testing cycle. AND if you think high school students taking SATs and ACTs aren’t freaked out enough, after taking practice test after practice test, as well as being tutored on how to take these tests – imagine how they, and everybody, including parents, teachers, college counselors, and test prep companies are going to react to the changes WITHOUT having enough time to adjust to the new tests?

Okay, to be totally honest, goCAMPUSing doesn’t have inside or firsthand knowledge, but rumor and rumblings in the industry are that some of the changes may be:

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  • The SAT writing section will no longer allow the test taker to draw evidence to support their argument themselves. Although many test takers simply make up facts to support their point, (which can demonstrate extreme creativity), the 2015 SAT test are rumored to give a set of facts that the test taker must use to support their arguments in their essay.
  • The SAT vocabulary will be different, many say easier and more true-to-life. Instead of how the vocabulary words are currently tested, the proposed 2015 SAT will have the words used in a sentence (This is more like how people use words anyway – so this change should make it easier to identify the meaning of a word).
  • The ACT is rumored to become INTERACTIVE. Yup, we’ve heard rumblings that the ACT may go digital and interactive – which means computerized. Wow! How the American College Testing people are going to do this is a major head scratcher and will have to be a serious developmental and operational undertaking. Besides, figuring out how to make the test interactive, the question arises of how schools/students without access to a computer, let alone a fast broadband internet service, could take the ACT. The ACT might offer two tests: 1. the good old fashioned ACT paper test and 2. An interactive ACT for the computer. But to be honest, wouldn’t it be nice to have the results as soon as the test is over, instead of waiting weeks and stressing to see the scores? And goCAMPUSing thinks most colleges would like getting and having the information electronically. After all, it is the wave of everything these days.

There are other rumblings and noises going on in the industry, but this goCAMPUSing G-Blog is meant to just give high schools, parents, school counselors, college advisors, and yes...college bound high school students a HEADS UP...that changes are a coming!

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