Beginning with the September 8th ACT test date, the ACT test will include a 20-minute, experimental section, located after the Science Test and before the Writing Test (i.e., essay.) Previously, only students who took the ACT without the optional Writing Test were given this section. This change lengthens the ACT without the Writing Test from 2 hours and 55 minutes to 3 hours and 15 minutes. And, it lengthens the ACT with the Writing Test from 3 hours and 35 minutes to 3 hours and 55 minutes. To our knowledge, the SAT will continue its current policy of only administering an experimental section to students who have opted out of the optional essay component.

Of course, the nice thing about the experimental section is that it doesn’t count toward a student’s score. The downside is that it is additional effort (i.e., mental fatigue) before students are asked to write the essay. On theexperimental section, students may receive similar questions to those answered in the previous English, Mathematics, Reading, or Science sections (most likely scenario), or students may receive an entirely new type of question format (less likely scenario). Regardless, it’s important to remember that these questions do not count!

As a reminder, the ACT and College Board administer experimental sections for several reasons: to ensure individual questions aren’t “broken” (i.e., ensure a question’s difficulty hasn’t changed); to gauge the difficulty level of new test questions to be incorporated into future exams; to check that tests aren’t incrementally getting easier or harder as years pass.

If you have any questions about this change in policy, please contact our President and Founder Scott Moser at (303) 819-4328 or via email at scott@mosereducational.com. We pride ourselves on being an educational resource to the community, so we encourage you to contact us at any time for free advice specific to your student’s situation.