2019 Education magazine

2019 “Education making a difference” LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 Page 29 Look at the other major universities in the Midwest: Iowa (95%), Wisconsin (89%), Indiana (67%), Ohio State (86%), Kentucky (92%), Tennessee (99%), Michigan (76%), and Missouri (96%). Look at the Ivy League schools: Yale (57%), Harvard (53%), Penn (54%), Brown (61%), Princeton (54%), Columbia (57%), Dartmouth (48%), and Cornell (56%). Those numbers are significant because the Fall of 2017 was the first time in history that over half the Ivy League applicants submitted ACT scores. Here’s the irony: the SAT was originally invented by the Ivy League schools! It was their test and now most of their applicants are submitting ACT scores. Here’s the reality: The ACT has been the most popular college admissions tests nationally and internationally since 2011. Over 130 countries administer the ACT. We live in Illinois. The ACT has been the most popular exam since the 1960s. Even though Illinois is one of eight states that administer a taxpayer funded State SAT” ( while 20 states administer a state ACT), the ACT is still more popular among Illinois college bound students. Because more students take the ACT, colleges and universities tend to connect more scholarship opportunities to the ACT. And, that is the best reason why serious college bound students should focus on the ACT. Jason Franklin is the founder of Better Prep Success, Inc. and teaches classes in Bloomington, Champaign, Decatur, Peoria, and Springfield. He has been teaching classes for over 20 years and has personally worked with over 15,000 students. He also has online video classes that have been used by students around the world. His email address is Jason.Franklin@BetterPrepSuccess.com.