The ACT is a staple of many students’ paths to college. The ACT was meant to evaluate students based on four primary subjects: Math, English, Reading, and Science. This score is a key factor in telling colleges how smart you are, and whether you would be a good fit for their program. With it being focused on working quickly and efficiently, the ACT is a good test on whether students can stay focused, as well as general content knowledge. The math section prioritized working quickly, with only one minute per question. The English section required great understanding of the English language and grammar as a whole. The Reading section contained long passages, with a significant degree of focus being needed to actually comprehend what you are reading as you read it. Finally, the Science section just included many different tests and graphs, not actually needing much scientific knowledge, just chart comprehension. It tested students well in every area colleges were looking for. However, over the last 2 years, the ACT has started implementing a new kind of ACT: The Enhanced ACT. This new test had less questions, longer times in the sections, shorter passages, and, most surprisingly, an optional Science test. They stated it was to “modernize” the test and make it less fatiguing. Did they, though, make it too easy? I have taken both the “legacy” ACT and the new enhanced ACT, and will provide insight into how both tests went and what it is like to take them.
The legacy ACT, as it is called now, was very demanding. It took a lot of time to finish, requiring absolute focus at all times. I personally scored a 30 on it in 8th grade. My best individual score, a 34 in reading, was one I was very surprised about. I never have felt confident on the reading sections, but somehow ended up scoring the best on them. They make you feel like you are completely lost, with no real answers. The questions feel subjective, with a lot of questions about how the author was thinking. Having to go back and reread over and over again different sections feels very tedious, and, with more time, it would be easier to actually take your time while reading and understand what the passages are saying. My next highest was a tie for Math, English, and Science with 29. Math is difficult to do for me, as the main subjects tested on the ACT are ones I took many years ago. I never had a problem with time in the math section. It mostly is pretty easy with a few more difficult questions, but nothing a calculator cannot do. The science section is a bit redundant in my eyes, as you do not actually use any science. It is all about interpreting charts and looking at data. It is a useful thing to know, but labeling it as “science” is incorrect. My lowest score, a 29 in English, was also surprising to me. I felt I knew quite a bit about grammar and structure, but I may have just been overconfident. This section was not that bad, as it is first, so your brain is the freshest. All in all, the legacy ACT accomplishes what it set out to do – test students’ knowledge under pressure.
On the enhanced ACT, I scored a 35. My best score was a 36 in English. The enhanced ACT introduced new “tone” questions, where, as an overview of the article, you had to decide the author’s tone. I knew coming out of the test room that I had either scored a 35 or 36 on English, and the only unknown was if I got the tone questions right. It did not seem that different compared to the legacy ACT besides that, but it definitely was a shorter test, which helped with lessening mental fatigue. My next highest score was a tie between reading and science with a 35. Reading is a very weird section, as you are never sure how well you are doing. Compared to math and English with real rules, reading is vastly different. I have never felt confident leaving a reading section, and somehow I always end up scoring well. The enhanced ACT again provided one less passage than normal, which was nice. Now it was 6 passages with 6 questions per passage. The Science part, which did not contribute to my composite score, felt easy. Just looking at and understanding charts has never really been difficult, and it was the same as the old ACT besides being optional. Should it be optional is up to opinion, as graph comprehension is an important skill, but it is not really science. My lowest score was in Math, a 33. Despite feeling strongest in school at Math, it was my lowest score. This is purely because of the type of math being tested. There was not a huge difference between the Enhanced and the Legacy for this section, aside from the lesser amount of questions. All in all, the enhanced ACT provided a similar experience to the legacy ACT, with shorter tests leading to a lessened degree of metal fatigue.
