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Across the U.S., July ACT cancellations continued until the eleventh hour. Like we've seen ahead of other exams in recent months, students reported last-minute changes and cancellations in the days leading up to the July 18 exam.
ACT's website showed that the percentage of test centers estimated to remain open had dropped to 81% as of 9:00PM Eastern time the night before the test. (This followed an initial decrease to 84% after the first round of cancellations at the end of last month.) Overall, a significantly higher percentage of test centers have remained open in July—compared to fewer than 33% of test centers that remained open in June—but the additional closures still affect students across the country.
Here are the details, including what to do next if your test was cancelled.
Although ACT initially emailed students who were affected by test center changes and cancellations at the end of June, some students have reported learning about last-minute changes through other means this week. In some cases, students first discovered their tests were cancelled or moved to other locations by checking their admission tickets, calling their test centers, or checking the ACT website. (Note that when checking the list of cancelled sites on ACT's website, the list does not include sites remaining open while reducing their capacities, which means a student could lose their seat even if their test center is not on the list.)
Some locations in the U.S. were affected by last-minute changes to a greater extent than others.
It's important to keep in mind that these numbers reflect only full closures; they do not reflect changes to test centers' capacities as fewer or more seats may have become available. In cases in which test centers needed to further reduce capacity, ACT prioritized 12th-grade students and 11th-grade students before looking at the order in which students registered for the exam.
Many students have come to expect the unexpected this year, but it can still be challenging and disappointing to face repeated delays and last-minute disruptions of your testing plans.
Remind yourself that the hard work you've put into your ACT prep will pay off when you sit for your exam. The effort and time you've spent prepping for each test date will put you in a great position to have a strong performance when your test finally moves forward, even if you end up testing later in the year than you'd anticipated.
Here are some steps you can take and things you can keep in mind as you consider what to do next.
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.
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