Saturday, September 13, marked the fourth ACT standardized tests out of the six offered this year. The test, offered at such schools as Collierville High and MUS, saw many juniors and seniors from St. George’s and other neighboring schools.

The ACT has recently received new writers who have been attempting to make the ACT include more common core material.

The test has seen many new changes in recent years as a result of these new writers. These unannounced changes can throw a curveball in students testing attempts, as many students were preparing for the old test, yet received this newer test.

“The Act regularly rewrites the test to reflect changing norms and standards; however, this last change has been especially difficult for students,” said ACT tutor Tanya Joyner. “Sadly even students who make straight A’s at some of the best schools found this new test especially difficult.”

The Reading test, which contains 4 passages (Prose Fiction, Humanities, Social Science, and Natural Science), has displayed a new format for its Humanities passage in that the section is sometimes divided into two smaller passages from two different authors, and comparisons asked to be drawn. This new format is similar to the SAT’s Reading test.

Some students found the math portion of the ACT to be more difficult than in previous years as well.

“The last 15 questions on the math portion were different than anything I’ve ever seen before,” said St. George’s senior Taylor Owens, “You had to actually think it through.”

Despite its changes, the ACT persists, along with the SAT, as a frequently required standardized test for college admission. The next two tests offered by the ACT are October 25 and December 13, with application deadlines being September 19 and November 7 respectively.