Equating the ACT

According to ACT’s website, the October and February test dates are equating dates.

“Regarding the October and February test dates only: Scores from these test dates are available within 3-8 weeks. During these test dates, ACT performs equating activities in order to ensure that scores reported have a constant meaning across all test forms.”

What does that mean to “equate”?

The ACT looks at a small random sample of test takers in the country and how many questions they get right/wrong in each section. They want a certain percentage to get each score, maybe half of a percent to get a perfect ACT English score, half of a percent to get a perfect ACT Math score, etc. Now some tests are harder than others, so maybe this particular sitting has a question so hard that nobody gets all 75 questions correct. They still want somebody in that small sample to get a perfect 36, so now they move the curve down to be a -1 still gets you a 36. Then maybe they want another .5 percent of students to get a 35, but nobody else got -2 questions correct - the next best student maybe missed 3 questions. They would then put the curve down to be a -3 is a 35. So 74-75 questions correct is a 36, 73 questions is a 35. If there weren’t enough students, they’ll increase a band, and if there were too many students than they wanted in a particular band, they may skip a score (e.g. -1 is a 36, -2 is a 35, but -3 is a 33).

On its face, many complain that this test or that test had a harder curve. However, this is the best way ACT has found to make sure that test scores are consistent within the margin of error (+-1 point) on every sitting. And in my experience with this test over the last decade+, ACT has been remarkably consistent. We do see changes from year to year in difficulties, but they are minor and happen gradually over time. The beauty of this process too is that when they do in fact introduce a much harder test, the scale makes up for it. So we’ve seen tests get significantly harder some years with little impact on scores.

Does this mean my test will be harder if I take it in October or February?

Not necessarily. It could be harder or easier. All it means is it’s a brand new test and they’re going to make sure the scores are fair.

Have you heard anything about this past October’s test?

We have heard from some that it was harder and from others it was easier. If I use my knowledge of what’s been going on with the scores in the last 5 years, it seems likely that the hard questions were indeed harder than prior tests, but the middle pack was possibly easier. So a high achieving student might have really felt this test was a lot harder because they were more stumped on certain hard or trick questions, but all of the easy questions still felt easy, so overall a harder test for them to really ace. On the other hand, a student aiming for a 24 or 27 might have really benefitted from the medium difficulty questions getting a little easier, and wouldn’t have really noticed that the very hard questions got a bit harder, because they weren’t trying to get all of those ones right anyway, so overall an easier test for them to achieve their score.

Of course this is all just speculation at this point, so we’ll know more soon.

Will my scores really take 3-8 weeks to come back?

Maybe, but most likely not. Most likely, the scores are going to post sometime during the day on Tuesday November 8th. They are released in batches, so while your friend might get theirs at 8am, you might have to wait until 3pm. And some unlucky folks will actually have to wait the 8 weeks. ACT generally is an under-promise, over-deliver type of organization, so they like to say it will take at least that long in case the worst is true. They also caught a lot of flak a few years before the pandemic for taking too long to push out the October test scores: they had a new reporting system that same test date and it overloaded them. As you may know, October is the last test date for Early Decision deadlines at many schools, so seniors were understandably worried and frustrated. My best guess is that ACT will never again make that mistake, at least not for the October date! But if they do, it will be 8 weeks at the absolute latest.