For the past 40 years, there has been a February ACT in every state except New York. Sure, New York students have 5 ACT exams and 7 SAT exams (and none are harder/easier than any other) to choose from when planning out their testing schedule, which may seem like quite a few options. But when your scores don’t come back as high as you expected, or when you realize that there is no test during the time you have available to prepare, finding a test date that fits your schedule can just feel like one more stressor.
Why was New York left out of the February ACT action? The official answer from ACT is that it’s because of New York’s Admissions Testing Law, passed in 1979. This law requires test makers to disclose or release certain tests after they are administered. Of course, the College Board has been able to offer the SAT 7 times a year without having problems with this law, but apparently ACT was being held to a different standard. Strange.
Now a new state senate bill, which was signed into law on November 5th, allows for an exemption to the 1979 law, which means there will be an ACT offered in New York on February 9th, 2019.
Obviously, significantly fewer test centers will offer this exam compared to any of the other 5, more established ACT exams. But some schools will be hosting this upcoming February ACT in the Long Island area, and securing a seat should not be too much of a challenge. After all, very few students and parents are even aware of this new testing date—unless they read this blog! I would recommend registering for this exam as soon as you can.The registration deadline is January 11th (about a week before the start of our 4-week ACT program, which leads up to the new February exam).
For those who want to crush their next test trivia night, the last time the College Board added an exam date was back in 2017, when they introduced the August SAT. This was a huge boon for students, as it marked the first time they could take an SAT exam without schoolwork keeping their stress levels up and their sleep levels down. However, this was not really an additional testing date, as the College Board eliminated the January SAT at the same time. The new February ACT is a genuine addition, giving us more options and flexibility as we develop your test-taking strategy.
Now we can only hope that this new change will motivate ACT to add a July ACT date. It would be wonderful to have a summer ACT option!
