Coronavirus and the effects on standardized testing

The ACT has rescheduled its April 4 test date to June 13 due to coronavirus.

Photo courtesy of Nina Simon '21

The ACT has rescheduled its April 4 test date to June 13 due to coronavirus.

Tara Cole '21, Social Media Manager

Along with many other cancellations for high school students, the ACT test offered on April 4 has been canceled due to the global Coronavirus pandemic.

According to algebra and precalculus teacher, Elizabeth Bornoty, the cancellation of such tests has created higher stress levels in many students.

“For juniors who are applying to colleges in the fall, the cancellation of one of these tests is a big deal since there is less time to take the test before college applications are due,” Bornoty said.

World history and english teacher, Jeffrey Juzkiewicz believes that the absence of students coming to school for the rest of the year will have an effect on students who plan to take the test.

“Students are losing out on the valuable in-person instruction that they would receive in all their classes,“ Juzkiewicz said. “Many classes help students in preparation for these tests through warmups, readings, etc.“

Juzkiewicz believes that the uncertainty of when future test dates will take place is another factor affecting students’ preparations.

According to act.org, “ The safety of students and test center staff is ACT’s top priority. ACT has rescheduled its April 4 national test date to June 13 across the U.S. in response to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). “

The website also assured that all students registered for the April 4 test received an email from ACT informing them of the postponement and instructions for free rescheduling to June 13 or a future national test date.

Natalie Gormely ’21 believes that universities should definitely take into consideration that students’ ACT scores could’ve been affected by this break from school.

“Colleges shouldn’t judge an applicant based on their ACT score too much because there will be lots of kids who probably would’ve taken the test more times if they could’ve and received a higher score, “ Gormely said. “If we aren’t allowed to take it as many times as we want to get our goal score, colleges should not consider them as much. “

Even though school is not open for the rest of the year, Juzkiewicz said that there are many ways students can still prepare for these types of tests.