A,C,T not as easy as 1,2,3

Michael Jackson and his brothers (The Jackson 5) once equated three letters of the alphabet to be as easy as one two three, or as simple as do re mi. In reality, not all three letters grouped together demonstrate ease and simplicity-one of them being the dreaded combination of A, C, and T.

This past Tuesday, students from the class of 2021 went into classrooms bright and early for the standardized ACT test. In a race against time, students rush through sections of english, math, reading and science all in about 4 hours.

Due to the pandemic, most were supposed to take this test in late March, but districts across the country and ACT moved the national test date to the fall.

“I’m really glad that we finally got to take our free ACT this fall so that I can send my scores to colleges in a timely manner,” Tess Owens, senior said. “The test company (ACT) has had a lot of technical difficulties over the summer with testing, so hopefully they’re back on track at this point,” Owens said. 

To many, those technical “difficulties” would be an understatement. Sally Green, junior, had a firsthand experience of this. 

“When I was going to take my July ACT at Park Hill, they changed my location to Fort Osage without telling me. They sent a confirmation email that it would be at Park Hill two days prior, and did this to about 20 other students along with myself,” Green said. No refund was given, and many of these relocated students were seniors missing a prime summer opportunity to get their score up before college application opened.

Luckily, the ACTs have been much more successful and efficient. As students await their scores, the nerves instill and suspense grows. The scores can make or break scholarships, college acceptances, and potential futures.