美国所有四年制大学都开始接受ACT成绩

The ACT is a "more straightforward test," Johnson says, but he adds, "the way the College Board stumbled did more to elevate the ACT than the ACT ever could have done of its own accord."

ACT officials prefer to credit their own efforts. "I think our customer service and the quality of our program has been a bigger driver," says ACT vice president Jon Erickson.

Harvey Mudd's new policy won't change much for the ACT, he says, but it was "especially satisfying because it was the last college in the country."

"There's still a perception that (some) schools won't take the ACT," he says. "Maybe this will help finish that perception off.

IN CONCORDANCE: ACT'S COMPOSITE SCORE, SAT'S NEW 2400 SCALE

By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY March 19, 2007

When college admissions officials compare ACT and SAT scores, they typically convert them to a single measurement using a concordance table that the two testing companies agree on. Top scores have until recently been 36 for the ACT, 1600 for the SAT.

With changes to the SAT's scoring scale and test, admissions officials have asked companies to revisit the issue.

The ACT hasn't changed. But in addition to English, math, reading and science sections, it offers an optional writing essay. The SAT now has three, instead of two, required sections, each worth 800 points: math, critical reading and writing, and grammar. A new concordance table, still under development, will allow comparisons between the ACT composite score and the SAT's new 2400-point scale.

For now, researchers generally agree that the SAT's critical reading and math scores, worth 1600 points, are comparable to the ACT's composite score.

As for the writing scores, the Princeton Review test-prep company estimates that just over half of selective colleges are not yet considering the essays in admissions; they are studying scores to determine their predictive value. Eventually, if a college requires the writing section, ACT will provide the writing score, worth 2 to 12 points, in addition to a 36-point score based on the writing and English portions.

Erin Stockdill of the Princeton Review suggests not making too much of concordance tables. They may help colleges compare large numbers of students but don't necessarily predict how well a particular student will fare on one test or the other, she says. Though similar in some ways, they measure different abilities. "It comes down to which test you're better at."