Colleges Find Many Uses for Test Information

September 21, 1999

IOWA CITY, Iowa—While most colleges use entrance exams, many use them for more purposes than simply admitting students. And those additional uses improve students' chances for success, admissions officials say.

Hundreds of institutions responding to ACT's annual survey of colleges and universities report that they use ACT Assessment information to place students in courses appropriate to their skill levels. Many others award college credit or exempt students from particular courses on the basis of ACT scores.

At Kansas State University, for example, academic advisors use scores from the ACT mathematics test to place more than 3,000 freshmen a year in math classes of varying levels of difficulty. "It's important to make sure students are on the right path as they begin their college career," says Larry Moeder, director of admissions and student financial assistance at K-State. "The first year can make or break a student; it can be defeating to be put in the wrong classes. We use ACT information to place students across the board in the appropriate advanced or remedial classes."

Moeder says an entrance exam like the ACT also helps the institution as well as the student: "It saves us testing time since the information is already available from the ACT."

"Universities are showing the value of testing information," says Don Carstensen, ACT vice president for educational services. "ACT test scores represent a student's preparedness for college work, both by subject matter and overall. Academic advisors are using those data, along with high school grades and discussions with the student, to help the student get the right start."

Florida State University, with 5,000 freshmen, grants academic credit for, or exemption from, math and English courses on the basis of ACT scores. According to John Barnhill, director of admissions, Florida State records indicated that students with certain ACT math and English scores were capable of performing at higher levels than were required for the courses they initially enrolled in. That mastery continued once those students began earning credit or exemptions and entering the higher-level classes immediately.

"It's a benefit for everyone to use the information this way" says Barnhill. "The student is more accurately placed in more challenging and interesting courses from the beginning. And it benefits the faculty because they are able to teach more challenging courses and don't have to offer as many basic courses."

Florida State also uses information from ACT English, reading and math tests to determine whether students need remedial work in those areas.

Ohio State University has used ACT scores to make placement decisions much longer than it has used the test data as admissions criteria.

"ACT scores give us another measure of a student's potential," says Gail Stephenoff, associate director of enrollment management at Ohio State. "We've been very successful in using the information for placement decisions."

Ohio State officials direct students to different math placement tests according to their ACT scores. Students with higher scores can earn math credit through the Ohio State placement exam. Students' ACT English scores determine whether they have to provide a writing sample or can enroll directly in freshman composition. The long-term benefit, according to Stephenoff, is that "students are placed appropriately in courses that are challenging but not above their heads."

The ACT Assessment, taken more than 1.8 million times a year by students interested in attending college, is accepted or preferred by more colleges and universities than any other entrance exam.

ACT, Inc. is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides educational and workforce development services to students and their parents, to high schools and colleges, to professional associations and government agencies and to business and industry.