A timed ACT is a bad ACT.
I’ve made a post about the ACT before, as some of you may know. Today, I have another post to share with you. In my ACT Prep class, our teacher assigned us to do a practice test of the English portion of the ACT. However, instead of the 45 minutes that is required in the actual ACT, our teacher gave us unlimited time to do it. With this unlimited time, I managed to score a 35. A 35 is one question away from a perfect score. It’s more than I could have possibly hoped for. However, under the time restrictions set by the ACT, I only scored a 27. This is a drastic improvement that has everything to do with the amount of time I was given to finish the test. There are four tests that comprise the ACT - English, Reading, Math, and Science Reasoning. On every single one of these tests, I had at least 20 questions left, probably more on the Math and Science Reasoning, by the time that the teacher called the five-minute-warning. A timed ACT does not give all students an opportunity to succeed. What about students who suffer from test anxiety? Students with ADHD or extreme distractability? Students who suffer from maladaptive daydreaming? Students who don’t read quickly? Students with poor time management skills and not enough time to remedy them before the test? Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder or learning disabilities? Or even the average student who just takes a bit longer on tests? Most standardized testing leaves out at least one group of students who serve as the exception to the “standardized” rule. But for one standardized test to leave out such large groups of students who are directly negatively impacted by its rules is not something that is at all helpful to America’s education system and the general and academic welfare of the students it caters to. If I can score a 35 without being timed but a 27 with being timed, that should stand as a statement in itself. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and I’ll say it for the rest of my life: THE ACT SHOULD NOT BE TIMED.
