The dreadful day for many juniors is soon to be here. While the seniors are off of school and the freshman and sophomores take the shorter pretests, the juniors have to take the long and miserable standardized test. 

This might be a surprise to some readers, but that test will not be the SAT. This year it is different. This year all juniors will be required by the state to take the ACT on April 11.

While many people have heard of the ACT (officially called the American College Testing standardized test) and some have even taken one, LT has recently offered a free SAT (officially called the Scholastic Aptitude Test) in April of every year. Every student was required to take it by state law. Students could decide if they wanted to take the ACT as well, but would have to pay for it and most likely take it on a Saturday at a different high school. The ACT was always optional. Until now. The state of Illinois has ultimately decided to switch that mandatory test to the ACT. Students are still able to take the SAT, it just isn’t required and will cost money.

The ACT and SAT do differ. The biggest difference being that the ACT has a science section while the SAT does not. In total, the ACT has four sections: 75 English questions in 45 minutes, 80 math questions in 60 minutes, 40 reading questions in 35 minutes, and 40 science questions within 30 minutes, getting a break after the first two sections. In addition to those four sections, there is also an essay portion. Normally, this part is optional but during the test at the school, it is required. The SAT also has four sections but only two different subjects: math and reading/writing. During the SAT, it is required to  take two reading/writing sections and then two math sections. The math sections are each 35 minutes long and the reading sections are each 32 minutes long, with a short break in between. 

The state of Illinois used to require the ACT years ago, but it switched to the SAT. This year, they are switching back due to the price. 

Test scores, including both the SAT and ACT, will start becoming required for more and more colleges. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, most colleges required applicants to submit either an SAT or ACT score. However, after the pandemic, most colleges switched to these standardized test scores being optional. But even this decision is subject to change next year. This is because the students graduating in 2026 are the first class to not have any high school years be affected by the pandemic.  

Thus, LT juniors will once again be subjected to a long and miserable standardized test on April 11, only this time it will be different than their predecessors and they will have to submit it to most colleges.