An Update on the Changes to ACT Extended Timing

Several weeks ago, we broke the news that the ACT will be changing the way it handles extended time testing for students with accommodations. On May 21st, the ACT published an official press release to its Newsroom & Blog page with a detailed explanation of the upcoming changes.

Currently, the ACT’s extended time format works in one of two ways: National Extended Time and Special Testing Extended Time.

National Testing Extended Time is a self-paced time-and-a-half, administered on the same test day and at the same testing locations as standard time testing. Students with National Extended Time work through the test at their own pace, letting the proctor know when they have finished each section. They spend as much or as little time on each section as they need, so long as it fits into the 5-hour time block they are given (6-hour block if they choose to take the essay).

Special Testing Extended Time is anything more than time-and-a-half, usually split over several days. This upcoming change only affect National Extended Time.

Starting in September 2018, the ACT will no longer administer the self-paced extended time test. Instead, the National Extended Time test will have a designated amount of time per section, The proctor will give students 5-minute warnings and then move them on to the next section of the test together. Here’s what the timing system will look like in September:
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The June and July ACTs will feature the current National Extended Time format, which allows for self-pacing.

Why the change?

According to the ACT, the change was motivated by “careful study and consideration.” The goal is to make the ACT align with both the industry standards (the SAT’s extended time test is not self-paced), as well as to respond to administrator and student feedback. This feedback, claims the ACT, indicates that self-pacing does more harm than good for students taking the ACT with extended time:

Self-pacing on the extended-time test is intended to provide flexibility to students with disabilities, but examinee feedback suggests that it can have the reverse effect, requiring an additional demand beyond what is required of those testing with standard time or other types of accommodations. Self-pacing may also negatively impact some students with disabilities who require structure and pacing to achieve maximum performance.

ACT Chief Commercial Officer Suzana Delanghe predicts that “[t]he new rules will increase fairness for all examinees by better enabling some students to demonstrate their academic achievement without negatively impacting others.”

Whatever the ACT’s motivations, the effects of this change are clear and massive. In the self-paced timing system, students with extended time for a reading disability could plan to take regular time on some sections, leaving even more than time-and-a-half for the sections that are more drastically impacted by their disability, such as Reading or Science.  

While the ACT states that this new, structured timing will benefit students who “require structure and pacing,” it may also harm students with attentional deficits. As our founder, Jed Applerouth, notes, “Under the new policy, students who finish a particular section in less than the allotted time will have what amounts to a forced waiting period before starting the next section. This approach increases the attentional demands on students who are receiving an accommodation for ADHD.”

Certainly, students who plan to take the ACT with extended time must prep differently for the July test than they do for September. Students who know they qualify for accommodations may be well served to consider a July test date, rather than a September, particularly if it’s the last test they plan to take.