Breaking down the September new ACT

The paper version of the new ACT has arrived! September marked the first administration of the paper version of the exam in the U.S.  What was the student experience like? Read on for the inside scoop.  Note, though, that there were multiple versions of the exam, in paper and digital format, so not every student had the same testing experience. However, here’s what we heard from test takers about each subject.

Format

The digital format of the ACT rolled out nationwide in April of this year, and is not so very new anymore. However, the September administration in the U.S. was the first one in which students could choose to take either the digital or the paper exam in the new format. Feedback from students suggests that many found taking the digital exam as easy as taking the paper exam.

English

Overall, students saw the same types of questions as usual, but not in the same ratio as usual.

• There were significantly more content-related questions than grammar and punctuation questions.
• This test contained more verb questions than has been typical on the classic ACT.
• Diction and tone questions appeared more frequently on this test than they have on previous exams.

Math

There were just a few things of note on the math section.

• For most students, pacing remained tight in this section.
• As is typical, questions appeared in order from more foundational to more advanced content. However, questions involving more advanced content were not always harder or more time-consuming to solve, as long as students understood the necessary concepts and formulas.
• There were more questions than usual that required several intermediate steps, especially questions related to geometry and systems of equations.
• One question involving summation notation appeared on this exam, which is historically unusual for the ACT.

Reading

Student feedback on this section varied widely in terms of the difficulty of the section, but the Reading experience was largely consistent with what students saw in administrations of the digital exam earlier this year.

• Passages that were reported to appear on this exam all used modern-day writing conventions, so some students may have found them easier to understand than passages that appeared in classic ACTs.
• The passages did not follow the typical passage order of fiction, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences.  One test taker reported seeing a passage about a narrator sharing a personal story first, one on a scientific topic second, a research study third, and a paired passage about the arts last. 
• The questions seem to have included the typical mix of main idea, purpose, and specific details questions.
• The test included three non-standard questions about a stacked bar chart that were equivalent to some easy Science questions requiring locating a value, trends, and just a bit of math (finding the percent of a specific segment).

Science

The now-optional Science on this test was consistent with what students have reported seeing on previous administrations of the new ACT.

• A number of students reported that this section was harder than usual, and that they found themselves rushing towards the end. This may have been due to the fact that several of the questions required some reading of experiment procedures, and there were a few inverse trend questions that students may have struggled to understand.  
• Figures in the Science section were reportedly also more difficult than usual to decipher, and involved more data bridging, simultaneous plots of several variables, and multiple trials.
• This test included more outside knowledge questions than was typical on the classic ACT, although the new ACT has consistently included more questions like these.

The September administration was consistent with previous administrations of the new ACT. Fortunately, there were fewer reports of technical glitches in the U.S. during this test than in the last one, although many reported that score releases were slightly delayed.

The recommendations above are general suggestions. If you have specific questions, reach out to our experts here. We’re happy to help in any way we can.

About ArborBridge

ArborBridge is the global leader in innovative, digital, one-on-one tutoring. With nearly a decade of experience teaching students online, ArborBridge supports students of all kinds: homeschoolers, AP students, test preppers, and more. Our tutors specialize in creating personalized plans and in providing compassionate support for students and families.