Why is The Certificate based on the Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information skills?
ACT has profiled more than 18,000 individual jobs across the country to determine the skills and skill levels needed to succeed in them. According to our findings, three skills are highly important to most jobs: • Applied Mathematics—applying mathematical reasoning to work-related problems. • Locating Information—using information from such materials as diagrams, floor plans, tables, forms, graphs, and charts. • Reading for Information—comprehending work-related reading materials, from memos and bulletins to policy manuals and governmental regulations. A solid foundation of these three skills is essential for a well-qualified workforce. A recent American Management Association survey found that 38 percent of job applicants taking employer-administered tests lacked the reading and math skills needed in the jobs for which they applied. Information retrieval and problem-solving skills—what the Locating Information test measures—are highly relevant in our information-based business culture