What a year this year! Let’s review the current school year (aka A Year In Test Prep Hell) thus far:
–ACT introduces a new essay and provides a total of two (2) sample prompts. The official ACT prep book (“The Real ACT Prep Guide”) continues to contain the outdated essay prompts and instructions.
–College Board releases official practice tests for the new SAT. We were originally promised eight (8) full-length, official practice tests. We get four (4).
–The Redesigned PSAT happens. Students attempting to prep must rely on the four (4) practice SAT tests available plus one (1) official PSAT. Students come out of the test reporting that the Reading/English was generally what they expected, and that the Math was especially difficult.
–PSAT scores come out. They are on a 320-1520 point scale that makes sense to exactly two (2) people: College Board President David Coleman and his mother.
–The January SAT—the last of its kind—is administered, and test prep professionals everywhere are surprised by the depth of their mourning… mourning not so much for a test itself but for a test that is (for the most part) competently administered.
Which brings us up to the present! This week the ACT released a “new” edition of “The Real ACT Prep Guide.” Here are the differences between this edition and the previous one:
–There’s a new publisher.
–There’s a new cover.
–It’s thicker.
Besides that? Nada. The rest of the entire book is exactly the same as before. Just a reminder as to why that is significant. The ACT has included a new essay section since September. It is now February. Their official textbook contains information that is explicitly misleading. It tells students that the essay is a 30 minute persuasive essay when it is a 40 minute analytical task. Will students survive this misinformation? Sure they will. But I think it’s worth calling out the lack of reliable support that students have received this school year. Standardized tests are hard enough. Students don’t need incompetent guidance from the test makers themselves compounding that challenge.
