<p>Please parents and guidance counselors, do not use this study as a reason to suggest to graduating HS seniors that they are not college-ready. Major is important. Selectivity of the college is important.</p>
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Yes.
[Big Data on Campus
By MARC PARRY
New York Times
July 18, 2012](<a href=“Colleges Awakening to the Opportunities of Data Mining - The New York Times”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/education/edlife/colleges-awakening-to-the-opportunities-of-data-mining.html</a>)
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<p>The article explains that many psychology majors have to switch because they flunk experimental design.</p>
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<p>Oh my. Those aren’t very high.</p>
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<p>If you got exactly those scores you’d be at the national average for composite, however, students will generally exceed those scores in some categories and fail those scores in others, and still end up with relatively high composite scores.</p>
<p>Is it possible that younger kids started to take ACT classes before they are fully prepared for them?</p>
<p>Speaking as an ACT tutor, the only part of the ACT that you need to be “prepared for” though a high school course is math. Also in my experience, a high-ability student who starts working with me sophomore summer before taking Trigonometry can learn enough trig to get a 30 on math in less than an hour. (They do need good algebra and geometry prep, of course; there’s no quick-and-dirty trick for teaching those.) The algebra and geometry my students get in accelerated 7th and 8th grade math at good private schools is plenty to get them into the 20s.</p>
<p>As for English, Reading, and Science, I find that those are mostly application of skills that students absorbed, or didn’t absorb, throughout their lives, not from high school.</p>
<p>Did anyone notice that ACT Inc. is now including in its senior class report all students “whose scores are college reportable.” I’m not sure how that differs from 2012 and before, but the result is an increase of more than a 130,000 students in the class of 2013 taking the ACT. (The increase from 2012 to 2013 was about 40,000.)</p>
<p>This is a bit of revenge against the College Board, who pulled the same trick in 2011 when it started including seniors taking the test after March of their graduation year. But that only increased the number of SAT takers by about a factor of two more than the trending rate. I’m not sure how ACT found so many more test takers.</p>
<p>Edit: Hmmm, it looks like at least some of this is due to including extended time test takers.</p>
<p>The 26% figure is fairly useless. Many students will do well in some sections and not others. A student with 3 28s and a 22 would be deemed unready for college, even if the one low score was in the subject of least importance to their future major and career (not saying any subject is entirely unimportant, but they clearly bear different weight for different people). It’s not surprising that so many people “fail” the science portion because it’s not something that is prepared for in science classes or SAT prep courses (which are far more popular than ACT prep courses). The science section really measures how well one can analyze graphs and statistics, understand how experiments are set up, and skim through long, dense descriptions without wasting time.</p>
<p>If only 36% met the science benchmark, you only need 10% more (that is to say, 28% of those who met the science benchmark) to not reach the benchmark in another subject for 74% to not be college ready in every subject. That overall figure misleading makes it seem that 3/4 of students entering college are going to fail classes all over the place, which just isn’t true.</p>
<p>“It’s not surprising that so many people “fail” the science portion because it’s not something that is prepared for in science classes or SAT prep courses (which are far more popular than ACT prep courses). The science section really measures how well one can analyze graphs and statistics, understand how experiments are set up, and skim through long, dense descriptions without wasting time.”</p>
<p>And you consider the ability to understand the scientific method, understand statistics, and the ability to read graphs as a less than vital aspects of being well-rounded and informed individuals who have a grasp of the way our world and universe work?</p>
<p>According to this, my fiance didn’t meet the benchmarks in two subjects. Still managed to graduate from a top 100 U with a 3.4ish gpa. Go figure.</p>
<p>The level of academic skill for some college students these days is abysmal. I think the value of the degree itself is lower as a result. I suspect that students with no chance whatsoever of graduating, are accepted so the school gets the federal grants; and the students leave with debt and no degree.</p>
<p>Great article on the college loan problem, which is tangentially related to the topic: [The</a> College-Loan Scandal: Matt Taibbi on the Ripping Off of Young America | Politics News | Rolling Stone](<a href=“http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815]The”>The College-Loan Scandal: Matt Taibbi on the Ripping Off of Young America – Rolling Stone)</p>
<p>My now 9th grader took the ACT in 7th grade his composite was a 23. However there is no way he was then or is now ready for college. The only reason his composite was ok was because his reading and english were so high. His math and science were low . But based on the composite he was supposedly college ready?? give me a break. The ACT is just a test. Trying to base whether a student is going to succeed in college based on a composite of at least a 21 is nuts.</p>
<p>@artie, understanding of science is extremely important, but the science portion of the exam tests an odd assortment of things and is also the section most students fail to finish in the allotted time. Does reading and analyzing scientific literature (or what is passed off as such) slowly make a person unprepared for higher level thinking? I don’t think so.</p>
<p>Personally, I found the science section to be the easiest of them all and aced it with no problem, but clearly most high schoolers struggle with it. I don’t think it’s because they’re not capable of that sort of thought, but because they have not had much contact with the type of questions presented. I don’t think the science section of the ACT really measures a person’s capacity to understand science.</p>
<p>Blah, blah, blah. As with the AP post one has to look into the numbers and not accept the basic math of the stats as given fact. E.G. Does anyone know if stats in question include multiple test taking attempts? But the biggest problem is that there is too much reliance on the opinion of the College Board. Why is the tail wagging the dog?</p>
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<p>The ACT is not a College Board product/service.</p>
<p>This is frightening. The ACT seems very easy. I feel as though it would be difficult to get anything below at 27</p>
<p>Science section is more of a graph reading section.</p>
<p>My oldest daughter didn’t place into college level math according to screening at the community college, yet within ten yrs she had a STEM degree from Reed College and a grad degree ( she worked for several years inbetween)</p>
<p>Just more propaganda from Op.</p>