ACT Inc. will offer a new multiple-choice examination for 10th graders this fall, the Iowa-based organization announced on Tuesday. The new practice test, the PreACT, was designed to help students prepare for the ACT exam, and will test students in the same sections as the ACT: English, mathematics, reading, and scien
ce. But it will not include a writing or essay section.
Last year, College Board, the maker of the SAT announced changes to their test that mimic the ACT. Now, ACT Inc. is producing a product to rival the PSAT, which students typically take in October of junior year. Recently ACT Inc. phased out an older test, called Plan, that was most often taken by high-school sophomores, to make way for a new suite of aligned assessments for Grades 3 through 10. Yet there was also market demand for a stand-alone test that would simulate the experience of taking the ACT, predict students’ performance on it, and give them “similar kinds of feedback,” said Edward R. Colby, a spokesman for the organization.
Like the ACT, the new, paper-based PreACT test will be scored on a 1-to-36 scale. Students will have about two hours to complete the questions, which will come from retired ACT exams. Schools, districts, and states will be charged $12 for each test taker.
The ACT Inc is claiming that the “new PreACT empowers students, parents, and educators with this valuable data even sooner, providing:
- Early indication of progress to help guide action plans.
- Fast reporting so teachers and students can quickly start turning PreACT data into action.
- Easy, flexible, and affordable administration that gives students high-stakes practice in a low-stakes environment.”
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