On April 9, freshmen and sophomores at Parkway North took the the practice ACT while the juniors took the actual ACT and seniors had a field day. The ACT is a college readiness test that contains up to four sections including English, math, reading and science. There is an optional fifth section of writing that some colleges require. These tests are offered seven times a year in the United States.
“I made sure to answer every question on the test but there were several I had to guess on due to lack of time that I had either skipped over or I just hadn’t gotten to the question,” junior Alex Beck said.
There is no official prerequisite for the ACT, although test takers are assumed to understand English well. The ACT is 2 hours and 55 minutes long with 45 minutes used for each section. Colleges use the ACT for admissions, class placement, and scholarship purposes.
Scholarship organizations use it to determine if applicants are eligible to receive money. High schools use test scores to determine if students are learning what they need to be college-ready. School districts use test scores to determine if their schools are measuring up to other schools in the state and nation.
“On a scale of 1-10, it was a 7. It’s pretty hard, but I feel like it’s a group thing as when you’d get into a group it’d be easy,” junior Dakota Tritinger said.
School & district staff use test scores to determine if content is missing from the curriculum. In Parkway, students take the ACT during the school day for free. This is an opportunity for all students to be exposed to the test and receive a score. From there, if students wish to improve their scores, they can sign up for a Saturday national test date and take the ACT again but it will cost them a $68 fee. Underclassmen take the practice ACT so they can become familiar with the format, types of questions, and timing of the real ACT they take junior year.
“I think [the hardest part of the ACT] was the timing of things in the reading and science portions, as I think my comprehension was a little bit slow,” Tritinger said.
College counselor Katie Meyer and resource teacher Amy Born and assistant principal Dr. Rhonda Page coordinate the ACT day. This year, Parkway students could take the WorkKeys Exam instead of the ACT. The WorkKeys is an exam that measures workplace readiness. It has a similar format and sections but different types of questions.
