What You Need to Know About the New Pre-ACT

While the SAT has had an official pre-test for decades (the well-known PSAT/NMSQT), the ACT is just now getting into the younger-grades testing game. Starting in the fall of 2016 the ACT will offer a brand new exam, known simply as the Pre-ACT, designed specifically to help high school sophomores gauge where they’re at in terms of college-readiness and to assist them in setting goals for the upcoming years.

What is the Pre-ACT

At heart, the Pre-ACT is a 10th grade dry-run for the standard ACT. The new test will feature questions similar to those found on the ACT and will be scored on the familiar 36 point scale. Paper-based, multiple-choice, and comprised of English, math, reading, and science sections (no writing section), the pre-ACT is being touted as “a way to give students high-stakes practice in a low-stakes environment.”

How are the Pre-ACT and ACT Different?

While the ACT is typically administered on specific dates by proctors in specific locations, the Pre-ACT is being made available to schools, states, and districts to administer at any point during the school year between September 1 and June 1.
The Pre-ACT is also significantly shorter than the standard ACT. While the ACT is designed to last 2 hours and 55 minutes (add an extra forty minutes to that if you include the writing section) the new Pre-ACT clocks in at 1 hour and 55 minutes. Although the new test can be taken in less time than the typical ACT, it isn’t intended to be any easier. The questions are reformatted from old ACT tests and are intended to accurately predict how students would do if they took the ACT today.

How are the PSAT and Pre-ACT Different?

While both the PSAT and Pre-ACT are meant to prepare students to subsequently take their namesake counterpart tests, they are far from identical The most important difference is that the PSAT also acts as a qualifier for the National Merit Scholarship Competition. Although students can opt to share their Pre-ACT score information with colleges and scholarship agencies, there aren’t any awards linked directly to the test itself.

How are the PSAT and Pre-ACT Different?

The Pre-ACT also includes a career interests section that is unique to the test. Based on answers given in the ACT Interest Inventory, the score report includes information for the student about college and career options that may be a good fit.

Finally, the Pre-ACT edges out the PSAT in terms of cost and speed of results. Perhaps in an acknowledgement of how competitive the standardized testing market has become, the Pre-ACT is being made available for $12 per student, making it $3 cheaper than the $15 PSAT. Report turnaround is also expected to be faster for the new test, which is promising results within two weeks, compared to six weeks for the PSAT.


Should You Take the Pre-ACT?

By combining a realistic testing environment with high quality questions, the Pre-ACT is a great option for anyone looking to affordably establish a test performance baseline early in high school. Between the score itself and the results of the interest inventory, it will also likely be a useful tool for students and administrators looking to select appropriate courses and set prioritized study goals to make the most out of the next few years. However, because of the PSAT’s unique role in the National Merit Scholarship Competition, if students decide to only take one of these tests they would be wise to choose the PSAT, even if down the road they ultimately plan to focus on the ACT over the SAT.