ACT scores do not predict college success

As a high school student, I bet you have heard of or started experiencing the rigors of the ACT. This test is meant to determine your academic abilities and judge if you are a good fit for a university.

But does it really get a good gauge of you as a student? When applying to colleges they require two main things; your GPA and your ACT scores. A high school GPA shows the pathway you took over a range of 4 years. Admission officers can see your grit and your ability to maintain high grades over a long period of time.

I personally think the ACT does not show any of this. The ACT is one test that you can retake as many times as you want. People get tutored and have the option to submit a superior score. By doing this students are not showing their true intelligence. This is more of just “cheating the system”. If colleges wanted a true showing of IQ they should not look at ACT scores because they are not legitimate. Some students can get lucky with answers or even go with someone to cheat off of. In Nassau County, New York, there were 20 former students who had been arrested in an exam scam. Prosecutors said that five test-takers used fake school IDs to take ACT for 15 students, who paid between $500 and $3,600 for the privilege.

The ACT also does not show what you are like as a person. Someone who is lazy and slacks off could score a 30 whereas another student that is hardworking and diligent could receive a 25. It has no way of showing what you are like as a learner. It does a very poor job of predicting the college performance of a student.

The ACT test makers have admitted in the past years that high school grades predict first-year college grades better than ACT scores do. Adding the ACT to the high school records does not significantly improve predictions. A recent study at the Chicago State University confirmed this. The exam over-predicted the performance of the class graduating in 2008, which had the highest average ACT score among the classes in the research study yet the poorest academic performance over four years at the university. This accurately shows how the ACT does not properly show the work ethic and preparedness of a student in long term.

Basically, I believe that the ACT should be taken out of college requirements. It has a very inaccurate judgment of an individual. Colleges should focus more on getting to know the student, looking at their longtime high school grades and if they were involved in a club or sport.