As you may have heard, the ACT is switching to an all electronic format for international testing in 2018-2019. This is to help prevent cheating and allow ACT to send out instant updates to tests if it becomes apparent that certain questions are being leaked at test centers early in the time zones where the test is being offered.

This change has meant that many international schools will no longer be offering the test on campus (there are stringent requirements about monitor size, hard wired computers, etc., that international schools with a preference for 1:1 laptops rather than desktops can’t accommodate). In most countries, this is having the result that ACT is contracting with testing centers to offer the test.

I, with many other international counselors was hesitant to recommend the ACT to students looking to test in the coming school year because of fear that there wouldn’t be enough seats in the local testing centers (our city has 2 centers, and typically only 11 seats in the room for testing)

However, ACT is going to offer the test 4 times at each testing location over each weekend that the test will be offered: Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday morning and afternoon. This could potentially increase the availabilty and make the number of spots for each testing weekend roughly equivalent to the previous offering.

I am not 100% sure if the number of available seats will be the same in any particular city, or, if, in fact, there will be a test center as convenient to you as the previous offering at your international school was, but I am slightly less nervous about the possibility of taking the ACT internationally this year.

I wouldn’t put much effort into studying for it until we see confirmation of which sites will be able to offer the test (estimated to be announced August 1), but if you were going to take both SAT and ACT, it looks like that may still be possible internationally in 2018-2019. Of course, if you’re planning to be in the US this fall anyway, you can still sign up for a paper or electronic test at any of the testing sites where it will be offered domestically and avoid any international test center concerns.