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ACT has announced the first wave of July cancellations for U.S. students. Although the latest test center closures will affect a good number of students, the initial numbers look overall more promising than the June numbers did at the same point ahead of that exam.
ACT has emailed students whose tests have been cancelled, and a list of U.S. test center closures can be found here. Note: this list does not include sites remaining open while reducing their capacity, which means it's possible you may lose your seat even if your test center is not on the list.
Although ACT does not provide a similar list of international test center closures, international students should also expect to be notified of any cancellations by email.
An encouraging sign for students hoping their exams will move forward is that 84% of July test centers are currently estimated to remain open—a far higher percentage than the 33% that planned to remain open after the first wave of June cancellations.
A few state-by-state points of comparison:
Keep in mind that many test centers have had to reduce their capacities due to social distancing guidelines, so they may have had fewer seats available from the get-go and/or displaced a number of students originally registered for the July exam. In cases in which test centers needed to reduce capacity, ACT has prioritized 12th-grade students and 11th-grade students before looking at the order in which students registered for the exam.
Test centers moving forward with the July exam will likely follow similar guidelines as those that administered the June exam, based on the coronavirus-related safety requirements and recommendations released by ACT. Here's what students can expect on test day, keeping in mind that each test center may follow a slightly different protocol according to local guidelines.
Test center requirements and recommendations
At a minimum, test centers are required to be disinfected prior to testing and must make hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes available on test day. ACT’s guidelines also recommend the following:
Student requirements and recommendations
Even though ACT is not providing masks or gloves to staff or test-takers, students are encouraged to bring their own masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer, all of which may be subject to inspection.
At check-in, students will be asked to temporarily remove their masks for facial identification. Students will also answer a series of health and wellness questions as part of the check-in process. If a student answers “yes” to any of the following, they won’t be permitted to sit for the exam:
For more details, check out ACT’s FAQs here.
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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