All high school students know that the ACT is an extremely important test when it comes to college applications. The ACT has gained popularity in the past 66 years since it was first introduced. While some colleges take both ACT and SAT scores into consideration, the vast majority of post-secondary schools only use the ACT to determine their admissions.
The ACT was first introduced in November of 1959 by a professor at the University of Iowa. Officially, the ACT is said to evaluate “college readiness” in high school students. By this standard, it is by no means an easy test. According to ACT.com, only 3% of students in the U.S. in 2024 got a perfect score. Most colleges prefer a composite score of 21 or higher for student acceptance, while Ivy Leagues tend to accept nothing lower than a 32.
Although it is a difficult test, an acceptable score is achievable with adequate preparation. Schools do their best to prepare their students for testing, whether that means providing practice tests, timed assignments, or organizing study groups. With these resources, students can get quite a bit of practice before their scheduled test date (February 26th, 2025). One would assume that the current Juniors feel prepared for the test, but every student that I asked said otherwise.
I asked as many juniors as I could to share how prepared they felt about the ACT on a scale from one to ten, with one being not at all prepared and ten being extremely prepared. The average rating students gave was a 6.5, which is very concerning. I also asked people on the lower end of the scale for their opinions on how their teachers could better prepare them for the test. Dover High junior Grace Barnhart claimed that “More classes than just Language Arts should talk to us about [the test].” Another junior, Kacy Ireland, said that she “needs more math practice.” A similar opinion was given by Junior Kelsey Kazelman, who stated that teachers should “start preparing us more than two weeks before the test.” It seems that the general consensus is that more preparation is needed before students gain the confidence they need to take the test.
According to Niche.com, Dover High School students’ average composite score on the ACT is a 25. Although an ACT preparation class is offered at Dover, it is only available during zero period. This makes it more difficult to take if students have schedule conflicts, limited transportation options, or simply do not want to wake up an hour earlier each morning. Although scores have gradually increased over time, there is always room for improvement when it comes to preparing students for the ACT, college, and the future.
