After months of buildup from ACT, the first administration of the new, shorter digital ACT finally happened. So how did it go? Was it a breeze or more challenging than ever? Here’s the scoop on the April digital ACT.
Registration Issues
Seat shortages have plagued ACT administrations in many regions over the last year. It’s not surprising, then, that they continued to cause problems for the April ACT as well—especially now that students taking the new exam need both a seat and a testing device. A number of students reported that even though they had signed up for the new digital ACT without the optional science section, they were automatically switched to the paper ACT, which includes science, only days before the exam. Others reported that they were switched from the digital exam to a paper one, and then were later switched back again.
Technical Glitches
Test takers generally seem to have been able to complete their digital exams, though delays caused by technical glitches, such as students’ laptops not working, the proctor’s app repeatedly freezing, or long waits when switching between sections, were frequently reported. Additionally, the zoom-in function did not work on many devices—a problem that students also reported with early administrations of the computer-based ACT first offered internationally in 2018.
Digital ACT Content
What about the actual test content? There were at least three different versions of the digital exam, so keep in mind that not every student had the same testing experience. However, here’s what we found for each subject.
English
Overall, the English section did not present students with any big surprises.
- Many students reported that the majority of the questions they saw were rhetorical skills questions testing concepts such as word choice, tone, transition words, and purpose, and that grammar questions were minimal. However, there is evidence that this was not the case for all testers, as some reported seeing a more typically grammar-heavy English test.
- Most felt that English was easier than usual, even though rhetorical skills questions are generally more difficult to easily and objectively identify as right or wrong than grammar questions.
- The English test structure conformed to the structure of the released practice exam: two passages of five questions each and four passages of ten questions each.
Math
Math was by far the section that students found most atypical. Here’s what they experienced.
- Students reported that the math section on this test felt significantly harder than typical ACT math sections on paper exams.
- Questions did not follow the usual progression of easy-medium-hard throughout the section. Very difficult questions appeared as early as question 10, and one or two easy questions appeared after question 40.
- Unfortunately, some students were unaware that the built-in calculator on the digital ACT is not a Desmos calculator and therefore had not brought their own graphing calculators. They found the online calculator provided somewhat clunky. Students: don’t forget to bring your own calculator!
- The test included more than the usual number of questions dealing with advanced concepts. These concepts included probability, trig, complex numbers, inverse functions, linear regression, vectors, expected value, logarithms, and geometric sequences. While these topics have all appeared on past papers, most of them have tended to appear only once per test (or not at all).
- While students had more time per question on this exam than on the classic paper exam, most still reported having timing issues because there were very few easy questions and a large proportion of difficult questions.
- Many students remarked that the questions had unusual setups or unconventional and confusing phrasing. Students did not report seeing any multi-question sets.
- A very limited number of test takers reported that math seemed easier than usual, which may be due to the different versions of the test that were used.
Reading
There were limited changes to the reading section.
- Most students reported that reading felt easier than usual.
- The passages did not follow the typical passage order of fiction, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. Some passage types did not appear at all.
- At least one of the passages had been reused from a previous paper ACT.
- Passages were only perhaps a sentence or two shorter than classic ACT passages.
- Students saw nine questions per passage.
Science
Science was the least commented upon multiple-choice section of the test—perhaps because it was optional on this test, and many students chose not to take it!
- Most students felt that this section was fairly easy.
- This section did include some questions that required outside knowledge—as is usually the case.
- Pacing was still tight for some students.
The Takeaway
Given the technical glitches reported, as well as the last-minute switch to the paper exam that some students experienced on the first administration of the new digital ACT, we recommend sticking with the paper exam through July. Starting in September, all students sitting for a weekend administration will be taking the new ACT, either in digital or paper format. Until then, though, take the classic paper exam if you can.
We are here to guide you through the changes in the test prep landscape this year and every year! Contact us for more information and to discuss your child’s best plan.
