American ACT vs International ACT: Is the Curve Different?

As a student preparing for standardized tests like the ACT, you may be wondering if there are any differences between taking the test internationally or in the US. One common question is whether the international ACT has an easier or more generous curve than the American ACT. Let's dive into the answer. Some background: each test has it's own scoring scale, which is how the raw score (number of questions correct) gets converted to a scaled score (for the ACT, the score out of 36).

A scoring scale for an ACT test

The scoring scale is not determined by how students performed on that test. In other words, if the pool of test-takers happens to do exceptionally well (for example), that doesn't affect the scoring.

Instead, the scale is determined by difficulty of the test itself. If a test is more difficult than usual, the curve will be more generous, which means that test-takers will receive a higher scaled score for the same raw score. Conversely, if a test is easier than usual, the curve will be less generous, which means that test-takers will receive a lower scaled score for the same raw score.

So to go back to our question: sometimes an international ACT will have a more generous curve than the American ACT, and sometimes it will be less generous. It all depends on the difficulty level of the particular version of the test, and that varies from test date to test date. But all the curve does is even the playing field between different test, so getting a particular score is equally challenging on all versions of the test, regardless of the date or location.