Over 100 Students' ACT Tests Got Lost In The Mail

In what is a literal bad dream come true, a group of students in California had their ACT tests lost in the mail and will have to retake it. About 125 students from University High School in Los Angeles recently learned their completed ACT tests, which they took in April, have gone missing, and they will need to take the ACT again this month.

A spokesperson for ACT Inc., Ed Colby, told the LA Times the testing organization is working with FedEx to locate the missing tests. In the meantime, students can retake the test for free (The standard ACT fee is currently $58.50 with the writing portion, $42.50 without.) If the original tests are found, students will be able to select whichever score is better to use on college application.

In case you never had the honor/horror of enduring the ACT, it is a standardized test meant to assess high school students for college readiness, similar to the SAT. There are four parts: English, math, reading, and science, as well as an optional writing portion. In total, the test takes about three hours and thirty-five minutes to complete. This is not accounting for the breaks you get between each portion to scarf down a granola bar and get out a quick stress scream in the bathroom. Basically, it’s a full day of filling in tiny bubbles and hoping you absorbed something from those flash cards you spent hours staring at.

This isn’t the first time ACT tests have gotten lost in the mail, according to the LA Times. In 2015, 50 in Florida and 88 tests in Maryland went missing. Last year, 53 Long Island ACT tests were lost last year. However, Colby told the LA Times, "It is very rare that a package doesn't make it to ACT eventually.” Over a million and a half students take the ACT each year. So, proportionally a few dozen missing tests does classify as “very rare.” But not sure that’s much consolation to University High School students like Sarah and Hannah Fahn, whose mother told the LA Times ACT that prepping for the ACT “cost the family close to $10,000 and hundreds of study hours.”

Fingers crossed the original tests get found soon. Until then, students might want to start sniffing rosemary for memory and looking into some study hacks to make test prep easier.