XENIA — Some Xenia High School students will have the opportunity to retake a college entrance exam free.

After many students reported less-than-desirable testing conditions from the March 4 administration of the ACT, Xenia Community Schools is paying for any student wishing to take the exam again Saturday, June 13 at the high school.

“The testing conditions were poor, to say the least,” junior Gary Henry said via Facebook Messenger. “One major issue was the loading time for each question. Each question took approximately 20 seconds to load and this loading time depended on where students were sitting in the gym.”

Henry penned a letter highlighting all the issues students said they encountered and posted it to social media. On Monday Henry met with high school principal David Torrence for further discussion regarding a resolution of the issues.

“While we appreciate the engagement and perspective of each student, not everyone reported the same concerns from the testing day,” said Kristy Creel, coordinator of communications for Xenia Community Schools. “However, the district is strongly committed to ensuring all students are as successful as possible on college entrance exams, so we will pick up the cost for a second test administration for any student who tested last week and feels the need to re-test.”

Henry said he is pleased with the outcome.

“I was very excited to know that my class would be offered a free test,” he said. “I am very pleased with how the board has chosen to address this issue.”

The ACT is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States. It is currently administered by ACT, a nonprofit organization of the same name. The ACT test covers four academic skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science reasoning. It also offers an optional direct writing test. It is accepted by all four-year colleges and universities in the United States as well as more than 225 universities outside of the U.S.