ACT Philosophies for the Modern Era of College Admissions
Is the ACT Still Worth Mastering in 2025?
Why understanding the ACT’s role in admissions—and how to strategically prepare—can open doors to scholarships, top colleges, and long-term opportunities.
The ACT continues to play a significant role in college admissions and merit scholarship decisions, even as standardized testing evolves. Below are guiding philosophies to help students and families understand the test’s role, prepare wisely, and make informed choices.
ACT Philosophies
1) The ACT is a decent test of skills and knowledge. It is not a great predictor of success after college and is a dubious predictor of in-college success, but since competitive four-year colleges have made it a significant factor in their admissions decisions and merit scholarship awards, it makes sense for students seeking admission to highly regarded colleges to prepare for the ACT.
1A) ACT prep should not replace any efficacious part of a high school curriculum or wholesome extracurricular activities.
2) The ACT is a good standard to help in college admissions decisions, given disparities in high school quality and students’ choice of courses.
3) Competitive colleges overweight the ACT because other measures, like GPA, moral character, and school competitiveness, are difficult to compare.
4) Overweighting the ACT gives an excellent opportunity to high school students who lack strong grades or are at less highly regarded schools.
5) Overweighting the ACT means students with good grades and at good high schools have to protect them with a solid ACT score.
6) The ACT is not a measure of fixed knowledge, skills, or "intelligence." (Ask any of our ACT students who have raised their scores 4–6 points after two months' preparation.)
7) The ACT is coachable. Almost everyone improves with training. The question is how much.
8) To be blunt, but real: almost anyone seeking a competitive college who doesn't attempt to master the ACT is unwisely sacrificing long-term fulfillment for short-term frivolity. We say this owing to the number of adults who rue their not trying harder in high school, and to trends that elite colleges carry MORE punch in hiring and grad school decisions than ever.
9) Though we try to make it otherwise, mastering the ACT is not particularly fun.
10) We don't drag out the learning. A few intensive weeks with us, or once a week for a full semester, is all, if you do it right. Consider it a part-time summer job, or consider it an extra honors course for a semester. Test prep has become one of the responsibilities of the college-bound teenager.
10A) We don't drag out class time either. A semi-militaristic attitude towards promptness and missed classes helps everyone. We offer extra help, and encourage parents to prompt students to use the Help Line.
11) The best time to study for the ACT is when the student has the most free time, often in the summer.
12) All other things being equal, the best time to study is early – the summer before junior year if you have had some trigonometry, junior fall, or junior winter. The early summer following junior year is not bad if you have taken your SAT IIs by then. Holding a great ACT score before junior spring makes college visits and college decision-making easier.
13) High school success does not automatically translate to ACT success.
13A) Even for good students, the ACT English can be difficult because it demands scrutiny of grammar that is typically not done in high school.
13B) Even for good students, the ACT Math is difficult because it asks familiar concepts in unfamiliar ways.
13C) Even for good students, the ACT Reading is challenging because it requires speed and reading skills that many students have never developed.
13D) Even for good students, the ACT Science Reasoning is challenging due to its newness and time constraints.
13E) Even for good students, the ACT Essay can be difficult because it asks for impromptu opinion-based essays, with a severe time constraint (40 min for ACT).
14) The ACT is not a socio-economically biased test. It does test things related to American culture, but that is the culture familiar to almost every American high school student. Although the ACT may be unfair to recent immigrants, colleges tend to assess immigrant applicants by other standards anyway.
15) Highly-ranked colleges are inappropriate for some students. We want every child who might find it appropriate to have all options open. The U.S. News Survey has a highly flawed methodology, but since it is the most widely recognized ranking, students seeking competitive colleges should still consult it.
16) Highly ranked colleges merit your consideration BECAUSE JOB RECRUITERS and GRAD SCHOOLS value that high ranking. Regardless of the training students receive at top-ranked colleges, the imprimatur of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, UChicago, Duke, Rice, Stanford, and Caltech carries significant weight in the market for their first job, graduate school, and perhaps even for promotions thereafter. Ask recruiters who unabashedly state that they have discrepant thresholds for interviewing candidates based on their school. Ask Nicholas Lehmann, who said in a PBS Frontline interview, "a good school puts you in the way of more opportunity."
17) For students willing and able to prepare for the ACT/SAT and do their college search early, applying Early Decision is sensible so long as there is no need to shop among financial offers. According to The Early Admissions Game published in 2003 by two Kennedy School Professors and a Wesleyan University economist, at some schools the effects of applying E.D. (early decision, which is binding) give an applicant a 34.8 percent boost, which corresponds to a 100+-point [on a 1600 scale] SAT advantage. Anecdotal evidence shows that among E.D. schools where the admissions offices are not “need blind” (i.e. they do take need into account), E.D. applicants who will be paying in full have a better chance. When a non-need-blind college takes a high number of non-needy students, it has more money to give to needy applicants in the next round of offers.
18) The PSAT is worth preparing for if the student needs a strong score for self-esteem, has a decent shot at National Merit semi-finalist recognition, or would be greatly aided by a minority recruitment program. Otherwise, the PSAT is a useless test: colleges do not see your scores, and it is not a great reflector of the SAT. It is significantly shorter, with fewer hard math questions, and has an indirect score calibration to the SAT. We recommend that most students target their prep time to the ACT/SAT and not be concerned about the PSAT. If, in early September, you are testing well enough in practice to have a realistic shot at being a National Merit Finalist, then we push hard on it. The PLAN mimics the ACT somewhat, but like the PSAT, it is not seen by colleges and is not a good ENOUGH test to be considered good practice. The best practice for the ACT is to take the ACT itself.
19) Plan to take the ACT at least twice following study. All colleges take the better score. Approximately 50% of competitive colleges engage in cherry-picking. This is called superscoring and is advantageous to students. Superscoring means the college chooses to use the BEST English, BEST Math, BEST Reading, and BEST Science from multiple dates. A student taking three tests almost certainly has a better chance of getting into colleges that superscore.
Superscoring Example:
| Test Date | English | Math | Reading | Science | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb | 20 | 27 | 25 | 20 | 92 |
| Apr | 24 | 24 | 26 | 22 | 96 |
| Jun | 23 | 25 | 24 | 24 | 96 |
Superscored Result = 101 (25 composite)
Best Regular Result = 96 (24 composite)
The combined scores of 27 in Math in February, 24 in English and Reading in April, and 24 in Science in June give a Superscored total of 101. The single best “regular result” is June (96 total). That early 27 Math is NEVER used without superscoring.
20) The overemphasis of the ACT in admissions decisions has caused anxiety and pressure. The best way to alleviate that anxiety is by being a well-prepared student.
Final Takeaways
The ACT is not the ultimate measure of intelligence or success, but it remains a significant factor in college admissions and scholarship decisions. Students who approach it strategically—by preparing effectively, testing more than once, and understanding how superscoring works—can greatly expand their college opportunities. The test may not be fun, but it’s one of the best investments students can make in securing long-term educational and career opportunities.
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