IOWA CITY, Iowa— ACT announced today that it will shift all administrations of the ACT® test in South Korea to a single testing site directly monitored by ACT staff for the remainder of the 2016-2017 testing year, starting with the December 10, 2016 test date. All previously existing ACT test centers in the country will be closed for the remainder of the 2016-2017 testing year, which ends in June 2017.
The move is being made to combat repeated test material breaches in South Korea and strengthen ACT’s ongoing commitment to provide a fair testing environment for all students.
The location of the December test center in South Korea will be the Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul. Locations for the 2017 test events will be communicated by January 31, 2017.
Students who have already registered to take the ACT in South Korea in December or on future international test dates will be given the option of testing at the new test center, rescheduling to another test center or test date, or cancelling their registration and obtaining a refund of their registration fees.
“We can no longer continue to let the criminal actions of a few unscrupulous individuals undermine the efforts of hardworking, honest students” said ACT Chief Commercial Officer Suzana Delanghe. “Moving to a single testing venue directly monitored by ACT staff members will allow ACT to have greater oversight on the testing process, improving test security and fairness.”
Despite the employment of increased test security measures, ACT has continued to experience deliberate attempts by individuals in South Korea to fraudulently obtain ACT test materials for personal gain. ACT was forced to cancel the June 2016 administration of the ACT in all South Korea and Hong Kong test centers due to a verified breach of the materials.
ACT’s plan to move to a Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT) design for ACT tests at all international test centers in the future, which was announced earlier this year, remains in place. The CAT design allows for quicker scoring and turnaround of results for examinees and is less vulnerable to certain security threats than the existing paper-and-pencil format.