How important is the ACT?

Well, it’s really important if you’re trying to get into an ivy league school. Not so important if you’re just going to a state college.

This looks like it may be of some help. And good luck!

That or the SAT are important at one time in your life, when you’re applying to college. At that point, it’s either high enough, or isn’t.

After that, no one cares or brings up scores. I have no idea what anyone I’ve met since high school got on their admission tests.

Most colleges will take either ACT or SAT, so you can choose. ACT is faster paced, but questions are more straightforward than on SAT.

If you are serious about going into IT you don’t need it at all. The direct path into IT is through certifications like Network+, CCNA and higher level like CISSP which require testing in those particular areas. Some like CISSP require some lower level experience that can be gained through CCNA security concentration or COMPTIA security. They don’t even require college so you don’t need the ACT at all.

Personally I would get a college degree as well if you can afford it. A degree in computer science is a nice compliment to these certs and will put you way ahead of the competition. Get one of those ACT self study books and go through it. You are going to basically be required to study and take tests like this regularly for IT security so you may as well get used to it. Starting in IT usually means help desk for a few years while you work on certifications. A technical degree of some sort be it associates, Bachelors in electronics, engineering, computer science or information technology will probably get you out of the help desk stage. I’m an engineer but do quite a bit of network configuration and even for me the IT path is lucrative enough for me to potentially jump ship to do it full-time.

Good luck it’s a great field!

@ARE_you_kidding_me – good point about college. @SergeantQueen – here is a link about free Kahn Academy ACT test prep: https://blog.prepscholar.com/khan-academy-act-prep

I do plan on going to college, but if i can grt qualifications and still get a job without going, what would a degree do?

@SergeantQueen A degree gives you options especially a related degree. It will also help you get through those certifications because it will teach you how to study. You’re more likely to get a job with credentials that pair nicely with IT like Computer Science or Engineering. Last I checked the CCNA which is a pretty basic cert had a dismal15% pass rate. Also higher level positions like “IT director” may arbitrarily require a technical degree of sort depending on who you work for. If you find IT is not actually your thing you have a backup plan too.

The degree is like a built in portfolio of past work and references, all rolled into one. It’s super handy.

I was an MIS major and dropped out. I work with a lot of different groups and without a degree the challenge is showing good, current work that is related to their need. With a degree there’s an assumption that you’ve covered a certain breadth of topics, so the “proof” is built in to some extent.

You can certainly get a job without one, but all those jobs are available with the degree as well, plus some that truly require the college time. It’s best to get that advantage up front, if you can.