ACT tests out online exams

CEDAR RAPIDS - ACT, Inc. permitted some students this spring to take its college preparatory test online as part of an effort that could allow students flexibility with the exam, an ACT official said this week.

Between 6,500 and 7,000 students nationwide took the test online this spring, said Paul Weeks, a senior vice president for client relations. Most of those students were in states or school districts that require all students to take the ACT, Weeks said, but about 2,000 took the ACT online on a Saturday-morning national test date, as most students do.

About 4,000 students took the ACT online in April 2014, Weeks said.

Weeks said ACT is starting with small groups of online tests to ensure scores remain representative of students' abilities and to address questions about security and technological readiness. The content and multiple-choice format of the test is the same online as in the paper-and-pencil version, he said.

But eventually, Weeks said, online testing could allow students to take one section of the test at a time, rather than the entire test at once.

Doing so would allow more students access to the test, Weeks said. And it could save time for students who want to retake just one section to improve their scores.

'The promise of online testing is increased access,” he said. 'We don't have to limit ourselves to Saturday mornings any longer.”

Weeks said ACT does not release the names of any districts where students have taken the test online 'for data privacy reasons.” Representatives of several testing sites in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City said they did not know if students had taken the ACT online there or that no students had.

The number of students taking the ACT online likely will be around 50,000, Weeks said.

'Online testing is here to stay,” he said.