to study
In America, the dream of many a school-leaver in this country. Some of the candidates from Germany, however, fear that could have moved this objective to the background – due to a computer breakdown: 25 students wanted to drop in Berlin last week, the “American College Test” (ACT): A standardized achievement test with questions from the areas of English, math, and science, the students attests to the high school maturity.
Nadine Bös
editor in the business, responsible for the “profession and Chance”.
F. A. Z. Twitter
A good test result is comparable with a good high-school: It is a part of the admission ticket to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and co. The ACT is offered by a company several times a year in Test centers around the world, so also, last week at the John-F.-Kennedy-school in Berlin. But a day before the exam date, the participants received an E-Mail: your Test is not taking place but, for technical reasons. “Imagine, you want to make your Abitur and the Abitur is simply to be cancelled at short notice due to computer problems,” says David Bonello, 17 years old, and one of the 25 Affected.
Bonello desires of the heart, to go and study at an American University, preferably to Stanford. Many American registration deadlines end at 1. and 2. January; the next ACT is only on 9. February offered. “De facto, I have no Chance to study this year in America, and lose a whole year,” he says. “This is very tragic for me.”
cancellation is not an isolated case
ACT, Inc. informed on request of the F. A. Z., that the company has switched his international Test in September of a paper to an electronic Version, and that the Test-Center with no paper Backups. The Test in Berlin was “canceled due to technical problems related to the Test Center,” – said in a statement. Not an isolated case: Although the vast majority of the international Test Center have survived the transition without a problem. It has, however, been since September elsewhere, technical problems “which forced us to the delivery prior to the test date to cancel or prevented some students to finish their Tests on the day of the test.” How many students were affected, does not want to tell the company. If one believes statements in Social media, but far more than the 25 students in Berlin. The company “super tutor”, the Video-learning offers assistance to aspiring candidates, will have counted for Cancellations or discontinuations in 39 Test centers in 31 countries.
“We regret the Situation and inconvenience that the affected pupils could arise”, to let ACT know. If a transfer student is not working satisfactorily, will ACT in the registration fee – usually $ 150 – pay back. Burckhardt Bonello, father of the pupil concerned, can only laugh at that: “What will help my son paid the test fees? He is valedictorian at his school, has won several physics-prices, and now loses a year of his life, because the registration deadlines for a study pass.“ Not to mention the effort: American high school from the learning-teaching plans differ significantly from those in German high schools. David Bonello had to do so much. “I have recently used on a normal school day of 6 to 7 hours, maybe more,” he says. For the time being, in vain.
