Should International Students Take the ACT?

By Katy Hopkins. Learn more about the increasingly popular pre-college test. When it comes to preparing to apply to U.S. colleges, many international students take the SAT, a standardized test that gauges college readiness. But the SAT is not the only option prospective college students have. Another test, the ACT, is accepted by all U.S. colleges as well. The ACT surveys knowledge learned, whereas the SAT focuses in part on critical thinking and reasoning. And it's an increasingly popular test choice: For the first time last year, more graduating seniors in the United States had taken the ACT than the SAT.
While the number of international students choosing the ACT is rising, students from abroad still represent a much smaller portion of testers than their domestic peers, says Jon Erickson, president of ACT's education division. Despite having more than 400 testing centers worldwide, the organization hasn't traditionally focused its marketing efforts abroad, he says. More...