ACT readies ‘PreACT’ for fall 2016

ACT Inc. announced this week  that it has added a new test to its lineup: the PreACT, a multiple-choice test designed to prepare 10th grade students for the company's college-entrance exam.

The PreACT, which will be available in the fall of 2016, is a paper-based, multiple-choice test in the same four subjects that appear on the ACT: English/language arts, math, reading, and science. It will not include a writing section. On the ACT college-entrance exam, the writing section is optional.

PreACT is shorter and with fewer questions than the ACT. The format and 1-36 scoring scale will be the same as the ACT in order to give students some idea what the test is like while suggesting how well they might do the following year on a complete ACT. Unlike the PSAT, there will be no “national” test dates.

Similar to ACT reports, PreACT score reports will offer a broad view of students’ college and career readiness, identifying academic strengths and areas for improvement. The PreACT is not a replacement for the ACT Aspire, which is administered by schools and states that want to assess and track student readiness from elementary school to high school.

For more information about college entrance and academic tutoring in Philadelphia and its suburbs, please contact Key Academics at 610-940-1625.

Why Reading Matters

The ability to read at a sophisticated level opens the doors to elite education and professions. That journey begins with parents who encourage children to read for entertainment.

Students who read books for fun once a day score significantly higher on reading tests. Neurological studies show that learning to read changes the brain's circuitry. Brain scans also confirm that reading a book is more cognitively enriching than reading online.

The kind of reading that best relates to higher academic performance is frequent novel reading, which predicts better grades in English class and higher overall grade point averages. The SAT and ACT tests are more reading intensive than ever, as well.

In addition, nearly 90 percent of employers rate reading comprehension as very important for workers with bachelor's degrees. Department of Education statistics also show that those who score higher on reading tests tend to earn higher incomes.

So, how often does your student visit the library?