MCHS students will be taking the Practice ACT next Wednesday.

Illinois has made the switch from the SAT to the ACT as of this year, and students will be taking the preliminary tests digitally.

Seniors will not be in attendance, and freshmen, sophomores and juniors will be in attendance to take the P-ACT.

Students without accommodations will be released at 10:45, but students with testing accommodations will be released at 11:45.

Test rooms and assignments havde been released in student emails, with most kids going to their AIMs for testing. Students in Connections Crew may have different room assignments.

This year is the first one in a while that MCHS will have students taking the ACT rather than the SAT, and there are some significant differences.

“In my professional opinion, the biggest difference between the SAT and ACT is test breakdown,” says College and Career Coordinator, Gina Adams. “The SAT is 2 parts focused on EBRW (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) and Math. The ACT has 4 separate parts: English, Math, Reading, Science.”

The big switch to the ACT was announced last year, but many Juniors have spent a lot of time preparing for the SAT, so they’ll have to focus more on science for their studying.

Students also have the option to take the SAT in addition to the ACT if they are more confident in how they’ll do for one or the other.

“I would highly encourage any college-bound Juniors to sign up for and take the SAT through College-Board as well,” says Adams. “Juniors have been preparing for the SAT for a couple of years and they may be more confident with the format of the SAT.”

This allows for college-bound students to submit whichever score is better in their applications, especially with these tests becoming a requirement again after the pandemic. The option allows more opportunities for students who choose to take both.

Students should make sure to bring their charged chromebooks for testing on Wednesday, and the rest should be a breeze.