Illinois Will Now Require Students To Take The SAT Instead Of The ACT

By Kate Shepherd in News on Dec 21, 2015 5:03PM

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Illinois high school juniors will no longer have to take the notorious ACT college entrance exam. But they're not off the standardized testing hook—the SAT exam will now be required for 11th graders in the state.

The ACT is understandably not happy with the state's decision. They've started a formal protest with state procurement officials claiming "that the College Board did not disclose current or pending litigation as well as inconsistent, biased or arbitrary scoring in the evaluation of the proposals", according to the Tribune.

It could derail the state's new three-year, $14.3 million contract with the College Board.

The SAT won the competitive state contract because of higher scores and lower costs in the evaluation plus the College Board's proposal was $1.37 million less than the ACT.

"We are delighted that, with this win, more Illinois students will benefit not only from an assessment that provides more information than ever before about a student's readiness but directly links to resources that offer distinct opportunities to students such as free, personalized online test practice," the College Board said in a statement.

Because of the uncertainty, some districts, Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, will continue to administer the ACT this spring. But they are looking forward to the SAT and its free resources such as free test preparation in the future, district spokeswoman Jennifer Delgado told the Tribune.

Taking the ACT test was required for all Illinois 11th graders until the spring of 2015 and new law requiring students to take some college entrance exam, not necessarily the ACT, took effect over the summer.

The ACT has been overwhelmingly popular in Illinois and the Midwest. In Illinois, 157,047 students from the class of 2015 took the exam and fewer than 6,000 took the SAT.