{"id":693,"date":"2015-04-30t09:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-30t09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/act\/?p=693"},"modified":"2015-07-30t18:57:58","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30t18:57:58","slug":"the-act-a-history-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/","title":{"rendered":"the act: a history lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"

all you magooshers are becoming familiar with how to conquer the act: its format, its timing, its array of questions. but how much do you know about the origins of the act- or what it even stands for? time for a pop quiz!
\n <\/p>\n

the origin of the act<\/h2>\n

prior to 1959, the sat<\/a> (the scholastic aptitude test) served as the united states\u2019s only national, standardized college entrance exam. as more students decided to pursue higher education, however, and universities responded to the demand by opening up more seats, the need for another measurement system emerged. say hello to the american college testing program (or a-c-t for short.) <\/p>\n

fun fact: in 1996, the act acronym became an official name for both the test and the company behind it, meaning it no longer \u201cstood\u201d for anything. so if you didn\u2019t know what act meant, you were actually technically right, because today, it means nothing!<\/em><\/p>\n

originally, the act was designed to assess college-bound students\u2019 specific knowledge of english, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning. this multiple choice-based test is known for testing a student\u2019s ability to recall formulas and fundamentals from these subjects and also for interpreting graphs. it would consist of four 35-40 minutes long. sound pretty familiar? that\u2019s because it is. unlike the sat, which has undergone many formatting, grading and timing changes over the years, the act has remained largely the same, a trait that has made it more attractive to modern test-takers. the only big change occurred in 2005 with the addition of the writing (essay) section that you have come to know so well.<\/p>\n

in 2015, you magooshers are in good company: more students than ever are choosing the act over the sat. all the more reason to take advantage of the growing pool of resources at your studying disposal, and to make magoosh a \u201cgo to\u201d for valuable tips and information. study on!
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

all you magooshers are becoming familiar with how to conquer the act: its format, its timing, its array of questions. but how much do you know about the origins of the act- or what it even stands for? time for a pop quiz!   the origin of the act prior to 1959, the sat (the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[3],"ppma_author":[24907],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nthe act: a history lesson - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"the act: a history lesson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"all you magooshers are becoming familiar with how to conquer the act: its format, its timing, its array of questions. but how much do you know about the origins of the act- or what it even stands for? time for a pop quiz!   the origin of the act prior to 1959, the sat (the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-30t09:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-30t18:57:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"susanna langholm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"susanna langholm\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"susanna langholm\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/578200edf41067c2e2ea8ee6bdbd5fed\"},\"headline\":\"the act: a history lesson\",\"datepublished\":\"2015-04-30t09:00:56+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2015-07-30t18:57:58+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/\"},\"wordcount\":322,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"about the act\"],\"articlesection\":[\"act\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/the-act-a-history-lesson\/\",\"name\":\"the act: a history lesson - 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