After 15 years of 11th graders taking the ACT exam, the Chicago region is now talking about switching to taking the alternative SAT exam instead.

The Midwest is known to stick with the ACT when it comes to college entrance exams, while its rival, the SAT, is used mainly in the East. However, this is quickly changing as the SAT is slowly working its way inward into the Midwest.

‘Why the change?’ is the question of many concerned Midwestern parents and students. Well, not only is the SAT a cheaper test to administer now, but it is also known to produce higher scores.

The switch of test, however, did not agree with everyone. On December 15, the ACT company filed a formal protest in hopes of canceling the contract between the College Board in Illinois.  This protest is in risk of derailing the three-year, $14.3 million dollar contract with the College Board that provides the SAT exam.

This whole controversy started when the SAT College Board won a multimillion-dollar contract in Michigan, gaining them access into the Midwest states. This was a big enough prize, and the start of winning over Illinois as well is an even bigger prize and bonus to their original hopes.

Well aware of the College Board’s Advanced Placement courses, parents and students are becoming interested in this new offer. Along with the AP courses, the awareness of the PSAT test that qualifies students for merit scholarships is not something that parents and students overlook either.

In addition to these benefits, there are major changes happening to the SAT. For starters, there is now no penalty for getting an answer incorrectly, which means no more debating whether it’s worth the guess or not. Some other major changes are free test prep, abolishing obscure vocabulary, giving the student a piece of text to write their essay on, having more text-focused questions, more graphs and charts, and finally, more great texts such as passages from the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

Despite these SAT pros, parents are also very aware of the issues that might occur.  Specifically, administrators are sensitive to and taking into consideration the fact that parents have poured time and resources into helping their child prepare to their best ability for the ACT, and not the SAT.

Other people besides parents and the ACT company are not pleased with the idea of switching exams, as well. Schools, such as Hinsdale Township High School District 86 and Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, along with about 90 other school districts in Illinois, are showing their support of the ACT by signing up for it, at least for this school year. This isn’t a surprise, though, because the ACT is extremely popular in Illinois, which can be seen in the most current results for 2015’s graduating class.

Just about every Midwestern state has high percentages of test-taking students. Illinois, however, shows the largest number of participants taking the ACT than any other state, which is about 157,043 students from private and public schools, combined. The SAT, on the other hand, had a total of 6,000 students take the test in 2015 in the state of Illinois. Out of those 6,000 students, only 3,963 SAT test-takers were from public schools.

While the decision remains undecided, juniors will keep studying relentlessly regardless of what exam they will have to take.