Every so often, the ACT makes changes to its structure. The good news is that these changes usually occur a little bit at a time (unlike the complete overhauling of the SAT in 2016!).
The less good news is that these changes occur much more frequently…and they tend to not be publicized nearly as much. Thus, if you’re not actively informing yourself about the changes (or working with a tutor who takes care of it for you), you might miss that the essay prompt has changed, or that there’s one less Science passage than there was last year, or that there’s now a double passage in the Reading section. Lucky for you, I'm the kind of tutor who makes sure to keep myself, and you, informed!
The latest and greatest is that the ACT has changed its timing policy for students entitled to National Extended Time. The new policies do NOT affect regular time students at all, but for Extended Time test takers, these changes might make the difference between opting for the ACT or the SAT instead! So let me break the changes down for you.
In the past, National Extended Time students would simply be given 5 hours to complete the ACT. They got to budget that time however they wanted—only 35 minutes on English but double the time on Reading and Science? No problem! They also got to take as many breaks as they needed. The only rule was that once they completed a section, they couldn’t go back to it.
Now, however, the self-regulating is over. Instead, the ACT is creating a timeline for National Extended Time students to follow. This significantly changes the test-taking strategy for these students! In some cases, they might even mean that it would make sense to choose the SAT instead.
Here’s the new ACT timeline for students with National Extended Time:
· English Section: 70 minutes (compared to 45 minutes for regular time)
· Math Section: 90 minutes (compared to 60 minutes for regular time)
· Break: 15 minutes
· Reading Section: 55 minutes (compared to 35 minutes for regular time)
· Science Section: 55 minutes (compared to 35 minutes for regular time)
If you’re taking the optional Essay, your ACT timeline will look like this:
· English Section: 70 minutes (compared to 45 minutes for regular time)
· Math Section: 90 minutes (compared to 60 minutes for regular time)
· Break: 15 minutes
· Reading Section: 55 minutes (compared to 35 minutes for regular time)
· Science Section: 55 minutes (compared to 35 minutes for regular time)
· Break: 5 minutes
· Essay: 60 minutes (compared to 40 minutes for regular time)
Please note that this goes into effect for the September 2018 test. (That means any ACT dates you haven't registered for yet will be working on this new timing system!)
For Extended Time students whose timing needs are relatively even, this change shouldn't affect outcomes too much. But many students have different timing needs in different subjects. The old timing rules allowed you to spend all your extra time on the subject that required the most time if you wanted to. These rules make that impossible.
Hopefully the new time limits still work to your advantage. But if they don’t, and you think you may need to consider switching tests to the SAT, I am happy to evaluate your best course of action in an Ace the Test: Game Plan!
