1. College and Career Readiness
What is the MME, and how does the ACT fit in?

2. What is the MME
It is a 3-day exam that will provide students with: • A free ACT Plus Writing college entrance exam score that can be used to apply to college. • A WorkKeys assessment that connects work skills training, and testing to improve students’ education and job opportunities. This includes job skills assessments in reading, mathematics, and "locating information." • Michigan assessments that measure what is important in mathematics, science, and social studies and not covered in the ACT and WorkKeys.

3. Why is the MME important?
State assessments, like the MEAP and the Michigan Merit Exam, provide a way to measure all Michigan students in the same subject, at the same time. The tests provide valuable information to parents on their children’s academic progress. The MME also provides teachers with important information about how their students are doing and assists teachers in getting struggling students the academic support they need. All of this will help students get a better education and succeed in college or the workplace. MME and MEAP scores are also used to determine if schools and districts are meeting annual state goals called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) required under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Schools and districts not meeting AYP for two or more consecutive years receive various state supports and federal consequences depending on their phase of improvement

4. When will I take it? Day 1: March 4 - ACT Plus Writing®
Day 1 starts at 8:00 and typically is over by about 12:30. You do get to go home when your testing room is finished.
Day 2: March 5 - WorkKeys® Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information, and Locating Information
Day 2 starts at 8:00 and typically is finished by around 11:30. You do get to go home when your testing room is finished.
Day 3: March 6 - Michigan Mathematics, Michigan Science, and Michigan Social Studies
Day 3 starts at 8:00 and typically is finished by around 11:00.

5. What does it test?
_Content_Standard_425363_7.pdf

6. What exactly is the ACT? English 75 questions 45 minutes
Measures standard written English and rhetorical skills.
Mathematics
60 questions
60 minutes
Measures mathematical skills students have typically acquired in courses taken up to the beginning of grade 12.
Reading
40 questions
35 minutes
Measures reading comprehension.
Science
Measures the interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving skills required in the natural sciences.
Writing Test
1 prompt
30 minutes
Measures writing skills emphasized in high school English classes and in entry-level college composition courses.

7. Why is it important to do well on the ACT?
Your score indicates how ready and how successful you are likely to be in post-secondary education. This is the score that colleges (2-year community colleges and 4-year universities) and trade schools will use to predict your chance of success at their institution. Your national percentile scores how you rank to other recent high school graduates who took the ACT and scored at or below each of your scores. You can use the ranks to get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses in the four general subject areas represented by the test scores and in the seven specific areas represented by the subscores. A high rank in a content area may suggest a good chance of success in related college majors and careers. A low rank may indicate that you need to develop your skills more by taking additional coursework in that area.

8. How do schools and colleges use ACT scores?
High schools use ACT results to:
evaluate the effectiveness of instruction & plan changes and improvements in the curriculum
Colleges use ACT results in a variety of ways:
Admissions decisions: ACT test results, high school grades, academic preparation, out-of-class accomplishments, and future plans all help admissions officials identify applicants who can benefit most from their programs.
Course placement: Colleges usually try to take into account individual strengths and weaknesses as they place students in first-year courses. For example, a college may offer three sections of a subject—developmental, regular, and advanced. A student's ACT test results, academic background, and high school grades might be used to determine which section would be most appropriate. Therefore, doing well on specific parts of the ACT can save you MONEY!
Scholarships and loans: Some scholarship and loan agencies may use ACT test results with other information such as grades to identify candidates. This information helps the agencies evaluate applications for scholarships, loans, and other financial assistance. Therefore, doing well on specific parts of the ACT can earn you MONEY!

9. How is the ACT scored?
They count the number of questions on each test that you answered correctly. They do not deduct any points for incorrect answers. (There is no penalty for guessing.) Those raw scores (number of correct answers on each test) are converted to "scale scores." Scale scores have the same meaning for all the different forms of the ACT, no matter which test date a test was taken. Your Composite score and each test score (English, Mathematics, Reading, Science) range from 1 (low) to 36 (high). The Composite Score is the average of your four test scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Fractions less than one-half are rounded down; fractions one-half or more are rounded up. They compute your seven subscores (Usage/Mechanics, Rhetorical Skills, etc.) in the same way, but subscores range from 1 (low) to 18 (high). There is no direct, arithmetic relationship between your subscores and your test scores— this means your subscores don't add up to your test score.

10. What is a good score on the ACT
Michigan Scores and Averages (when every student in the state takes the test) cores_-_Spring_2010_328574_7.pdf National Averages (with some states not mandating that every student takes the test)

11. Who sees my ACT score?
You, your parents, your high school and the colleges that you identify on your forms. It is important to identify as many colleges on your initial forms as possible. It SAVES YOU MONEY! If, at a later date, you decide to apply to a college that you didn’t identify on your forms, it will cost you $11.00 to $16.00 to send a college your scores.

12. Your future plans
Identify at least 3 schools that you are interested in attending. Don’t limit yourself. Choose big schools, small schools, inexpensive schools and expensive schools. Sometimes something you think is out of your reach is within your grasp based on financial need, high school transcripts, extra-curricular activities and ACT scores. You will then need to see if you can determine what ACT score you need for each of those schools. That (along with your initial ACT pretest that you will be taking) will help you to determine your goal score.