In order to attend an American university, high school students must take one of two college entrance exams-one being Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), and the other being American College Testing (ACT). Colleges weigh both the same when evaluating applicants, but the large emphasis is placed upon the numbers. Just like Grade Point Averages (GPAs), in order to have a moderate chance of being accepted to a certain college, students must meet particular score ranges provided by the school.

Each test has four distinct sections. The SAT has reading, writing and grammar, math without calculators, and math with calculators. On the other hand, ACT contains writing, math, reading, and science sections. Not only that, but the two tests also have different scales for scores: the SAT is out of 1600, while the ACT is out of 36.

With around four hours to complete either of the exams, high school students mainly decided on which test to take depending on their so-called “strong suits”. However, on October 8, 2019, ACT released a set of sudden changes they will be implementing in the 2020-2021 school year. Now, students are able to take the individual sections separately, rather than being forced to take it all at once. On top of that, they also are able to decide for themselves whether to take the test online as a CBT test or traditionally on paper.

After the announcement, high school students all over the world cheered at the new changes on social media, praising ACT for their decisions. But, is it really as beneficial as students believe?

No. Rather, it is detrimental.

Currently, without the new, additional privileges, students still are struggling to compete with one another in the college process, trying to get into prestigious universities. When being placed in the applicant pool of an IVY League school or those in the top 25, every student has similar scores, all in the top 1%. 34, 35, 36s are not unique; in fact, they are extremely common. However, with these new changes, even more, students will obtain these scores. This not only increases the extremity of the competitive atmosphere but also pushes students to self-deprecate over not getting the “perfect score” of a 36.

These test changes are also adding privileges to those already privileged. In simpler terms, the wealthy will now be able to take these individual sections continuously until the desired score is obtained, paying the expensive fees above $20. The students from lower-income families would not have the same privilege, which will eventually lead to a greater gap between the educational opportunities of the rich and the poor.

Some may argue against this claim, advocating that taking a single section rather than the whole exam will result in less stress. However, it will lead to the opposite effect.

By being able to take one section at a time, students will develop paranoia, believing that they will be competitive if they improve the “one” part of the composite score. So, rather than spending time on improving other aspects of their application, such as extracurriculars, Advanced Placement (AP) scores, and more, all attention will be geared to improving the score of one section.

Now the questions high school students most likely are curious about: are all of the new ACT changes harmful? Should I then take the SAT?

Definitely not. If you are able to obtain a desirable score with the new testing next September, or even before, it will only benefit you not harm you. Colleges will evaluate your application holistically. Whether you take the ACT or the SAT, it will be considered in an identical way, so if you have already taken the ACT and achieved a score that you wanted, there is absolutely no reason to take the SAT. However, if you have taken no standardized testing so far, it might be helpful to try to take the SAT rather than the ACT, if you want to stop your application from being surrounded by countless inflated ACT scores.

The effect these changes will have in the future will be unpredictable, but revolutionary. Now, will SAT follow ACT’s path? We must wait to see.

<Daniel Kang/ Arnold O. Beckman HS 11th Grade>