The world of standardized testing is confusing.  This is especially the case for high school students.  Should I take the ACT or SAT or both?  What are the differences?  When should I take my first test?  The answers to those questions could fill three blog posts.  For this post, I will focus on what an ACT score can mean for specific populations of high school students.

High Achieving Students

For this group, it is fairly simple:  good scores equal good news.  These students need scores in the 80th and 90th percentile to earn the two levels of Bright Futures in Florida.  This year, students need a 26/29 on the ACT or a 1170/1290 on the SAT.  For next year, students need a 25/29 on the ACT or a 1200/1330 on the SAT.  Why the changes?  That is a different post!  Naturally, high achieving students also need good scores to get into selective colleges.

Struggling Students

In order to graduate from a public high school in Florida, students need 24 credits in the right courses, a 2.0 grade point average, and a passing score on both the grade 10 FSA ELA test and the Algebra I EOC.   Every year, there are students who have the credits and the grade point average, but do not graduate because they have not passed one or both of these “graduation” tests.  Both the ACT and SAT can be used as concordant scores for these tests.  That is, if you do well enough on the ACT or SAT, you “pass” the grade 10 FSA ELA or the Algebra I EOC.  Concordant scores are also in the midst of a change related to when the student started high school.

Super High Achieving Students

Would you believe me if I told that students with near-perfect or perfect scores on the ACT or SAT get waitlisted or denied at prestigious colleges in America?  I don’t want to believe it, but it is true!  There are more truly outstanding students than there is room in the freshman classes of the perceived top forty schools in our country.  These students may not need help with test prep, but they often need help with managing expectations and finding a college that fits them well. 

Students Headed to Santa Fe College (or any state college)

Santa Fe College uses ACT and SAT scores to place students in classes.  If a student has not earned a “college-ready” score, Santa Fe College encourages students to take “college prep” classes.  These courses don’t count toward the requirement in that subject (the math prep courses don’t count for math credit) and sometimes don’t count for college credit at all.   

Santa Fe needs to see a 17 on the English section of the ACT to put a student in College English.  Students need a 19 on the Math section to take College Algebra.  Both tests publish “college ready” scores.  On the ACT, the college ready scores are 18 for English, 22 for Math, 22 for Reading, and 23 for Science.   There are good high school students with impressive grade points averages who do not have college ready scores on all four sections of the ACT. 

Student-Athletes

There is a sliding scale for student-athletes to be eligible to play a Division I sport as a college freshman.  As the student’s core grade point average falls, the ACT or SAT requirement increases.  For example, a student-athlete with a core grade point average of 3.0 needs a 13 on the ACT or a 690 on the SAT.  A student with a core grade point average of 2.3 needs a 19 on the ACT or a 900 on the SAT. 

There are slightly different requirements for Division II.  Student-athletes at Division III schools use their ACT or SAT scores to earn academic money at their school of choice as there are no athletic scholarships on the Division III level.

Individual Situations

There are some scholarships or programs that have specific test score requirements.  Honors requirements vary from school to school.  There are athletic teams at prestigious schools that will only have one or two students who score below a very high ACT or SAT score. 

There is a reasonable ACT or SAT goal for every high school student.  Student First Educational Consulting can help you identify these goals and help your student work towards them.