The ACT is a test which all High schoolers take during our junior years. As a university preparation test, the exam has dramatic implications on college acceptance, scholarships, and future internships.

The setup of the ACT is easy to understand. There are four sections: language arts, math, reading, and science. Each individual test score will be averaged into a cumulative score which will then be sent to future colleges and employers all over the world.

Simple, right? Well, there’s just one caveat.

The ACT is a timed test, meaning that as well as answering the majority of its questions correctly, in order to achieve a high score, a student must also do all of this within an explicit time frame.

This is inoperably unfair.

The ACT’s job is to measure our smarts, to assess what we know and how we can apply that at the University level.

So how does the speed with which I finish a math problem carry any implications upon my overall talent in math?

The answer, it doesn’t.

The ACT is not alone in its time transgressions; the SAT, PSAT, and every AP exam also have time limits which can negatively affect the scores of most students.

The College Board, the company which runs the nation’s AP exams, released a statement saying that tests were timed to judge one’s college readiness. It argues that as tests are always timed in college, the timing of the ACT is a fair and necessary part of a student’s score.

Hogwash.

Rarely in life, even in college, will a the success of a task be based on one’s ability to read passages or solve math problems in a quick manner. In replacing the timing of the test, the College board would signal that background knowledge and preparation are more important than speed.

After all, careful preparation is a skill that all students must indeed have in time for their freshman years of college.

It is, in every sense, what constitutes actual college readiness.