PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Haggag, Kareem
AU  - Leslie, Emily
AU  - Pope, Devin
AU  - Pope, Nolan
TI  - The Value of a Higher ACT Exam Score
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0922-12537R2
DP  - 2024 Nov 07
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0922-12537R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2024/11/04/jhr.0922-12537R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2024/11/04/jhr.0922-12537R2.full
AB  - Entrance exams are an integral aspect of the college admissions process. We use rounding in ACT composite exam scores to identify the causal effect of receiving a higher score. Using data for over 3 million test takers, we estimate that “randomly” receiving one extra point on the ACT leads to a 0.44 percentage point increase in the probability of attending a 4-year college. Our results have implications for the importance of entrance exams in the admissions process, the value of test preparation and retaking, and the inequities that can be created by unequal access to test prep and resources.