Indians outdo US students in American College Testing

Indian students perform better than their US peers in the American College Testing (ACT) test. ACT is one of the only two tests that students take for demonstrating their college readiness; the other being SAT from the college board.

In an interaction with DH, Simmy Ziv-el, ACT, vice-president, global business development, said: “There is a drastic improvement in Indians’ performance in the ACT test. The test is conducted for 36 marks and students scoring 30 and above will get many options. We consider average marks to be from 23-26. While the highest average of US students is 21.4, Indian students have an average of 30.2.”

ACT has been made fully computer-based at all international centres and will be launched at more than 30 centres in tier II and III cities across India.

Asked about the difference between ACT and SAT, Simmy said: “There is a low weightage for English in overall tests. This has also resulted in the increase of students joining US colleges from China and Nepal, apart from India. Our main motto is to make international students get standardised education in the US. With the test being computerised, aspirants will get multiple opportunities in a year, whereas with SAT, they can only take the test four times.”

ACT has an option of a fee waiver ($150) and also provides a scholarship to meritorious students. According to officials, at least 20,000 students fly to the US every year for undergraduate studies.