A Strategic Cooperation Between ACT and WMOThe American College Testing ( (Hereinafter referred to as ACT) and World Mathematical Olympiad ( (Hereinafter referred to as WMO)) reached a strategic cooperation agreement in May 2018. As the authoritative college entrance examination in the United States, ACT has great credibility in American society. As a world-class mathematical competition, WMO has selected numerous outstanding mathematical elites. Their cooperation is a beneficial event in education field without doubt.
The Chinese name of ACT is “美国大学入学考试”, which is one of the conditions for admission to an American university. It is also an important basis for scholarships, and is sponsored by ACT. The current situation of ACT: Nearly 2.5 million people attend the ACT every year. ACT not only examines students' ability to master English, but also examines mathematics, science and many other aspects, so it is a test of abilities. The significance of ACT: The countries that approve ACT are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and other English-speaking countries. The score has been widely recognized by more than 3,300 universities in the United States and the universities of English nations, including the eight ivy league universities which are Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and University of Pennsylvania. If high school students are to apply for the top 50 universities in the United States, in addion to their TOEFL or IELTS scores, they also need to provide their ACT scores, which more than 90% of the top American universities will refer to. The ACT score is the important reference that determines whether the student could get the scholarship, and the students with only IELTS or TOEFL score have little chance of being accepted by the top 50 universities in the United States. The advantages of Chinese students for ACT: Chinese students are generally superior to western students in math and science, and they pay more attention to the mastery of course knowledge, which is the main reason why ACT suits Chinese students. Therefore, in ACT system, Chinese students are most likely to achieve outstanding results in math and science subjects. There will be a significant improvement in the overall performance of Chinese students through systematic preparatory courses. So far, Chinese students have kept the ACT's average score of 21 points (18.7 points for native American students). The higher scores could reach 34 points. Exam arrangements, contents, and relevant information of ACT: According to national policies, the US ACT university entrance exam is not yet available for social organizations in China, and only registered students of ACT/GAC can take the exam. The ACT exam is organized five times a year, and GAC students are generally arranged to take the global ACT test in October / December each year, or February / April of the following year (GAC students are free to take part in the test for one time, and will pay $47 each time if they take part in the test again). The global unified time is overseen by ACT examiners. The results will be posted on the official website, and will be sent to the university (free of charge for three universities ) from the headquarters when students apply for a university. The ACT exam is divided into four parts: English, Math, Reading and Science Reasoning. In addition, composition is optional.
In addition to examining the cognitive factors of examinees, the ACT also focuses on the non-cognitive factors of examinees. The examination is accompanied by three materials, including courses and grades of middle school, students’ personal information and students' interests, thus it could understand the education needs, interests and abilities of examinees.
The World Mathematical Olympiad (WMO) has been joined by more than 20 countries, including the United States, Britain, South Korea, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and China, and more than 300 cities. The international influence is evident in the participation of tens of millions of children. WMO has a history of 10 years in China, which focuses on training young people's creative ability, teamwork ability and problem solving ability. Based on the mathematical literacy, WMO systematically guide and cultivate students through "mathematical learning and innovation activities" centered on integrating education concept, encourage multi-disciplinary integration, constantly create new fields, and train young children to become the new talents with "5C" ( 5C includes Culture Competency, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration) for the development of the 21st century. WMO provides a stage for mathematical elites to continuously surpass themselves, widen their sights, enlighten the minds and realize their dreams, and select elites in the world for the future. ACT develops students' critical thinking ability, communication skills, ability to obtain information and happiness from reading, acquire mathematics and scientific literacy, and investigate the skills and abilities necessary to understand, communicate and analyze and reasoning in colleges and universities. This requires students to understand the basic concepts involved and to have basic knowledge reserve. Students must also be able to use their knowledge flexibly and be able to analyze reasoning scientifically and think critically. This coincides with the concept of WMO, which is training youth creative innovation ability, team cooperation ability and problem solving ability. On August 11th, 2018, ACT and WMO will co-host the 13th World Mathematical Olympiad together. At that time, the math elites from more than 20 countries will gather at Stanford University in the United States for WMO and start a math feast. In line with the principle of win-win cooperation, WMO and ACT will give full play to their advantages, and jointly build a world-class selection system, in order to build an international platform for the mathematical elites and lay a solid foundation for world talents’ exchanges. Thus, the two sides will carry out practical cooperations in various aspects. |
