ACT Preparation

MY SON IS A RISING JUNIOR AND JUST TOOK HIS FIRST ACT PRACTICE TEST. HE (MYSELF INCLUDED) ARE MORTIFIED WITH HIS NUMBERS. HE GOT A 22 YES 22, HOW IN THE WORLD WILL HE GET INTO A TOP COLEGE? HE IS IN THE TOP 4% OF HIS CLAS AND HAS A VERY HIGH GPA? HOW MANY POINTS COULD THISS POSSIBLY GO UP? HAS ANYONE EVER GOTTEN A 22? IT DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE. ADVICE?

Firstly, please avoid writing in all caps. It seems as though you are shouting.

Secondly, plenty of perfectly intelligent kids get 22 on the ACT, and miraculously go on to live happy and fulfilling lives. Your son may never do well on the ACT, in which case, he can try the SAT. He can also apply to test-optional colleges, of which there are many, inlcuding some very prestigious ones.

Thirdly, what’s your definiton of a top college? If you mean USNWR top 25, no, he isn’t getting in with that score.

Fourthly, he isn’t yet a junior. He has plenty of time to practice. He won’t be taking an official test until next spring, right? The ACT is extremely time-crunched. No one takes the ACT for the first time ever and gets a 36. In fact, hardly anyone gets a 36 anyway. The ACT is just as much about learning strategies and time management as it is about applying knowledge.

Please calm down. He has plenty of time and if he practices he will improve his score.

Bonus Advice: Even if he gets a 34 on his next attempt, do not assume that will get him into top colleges. Make sure he has a balanced list of reach, match and safety schools to apply to.

Your score (22) is the college readiness bench mark for every subject except science (24). That means, as a junion, his is already considered college ready.

Doing well on the ACT is about knowing the test, practicing it, and rationing your time. Your son will get better at all of these. Make sure he understands what is required in each section, takes timed practice tests, then reviews the wrong answers. Repleat. Repeate. Repeat…you get the idea.

Also be aware GPA tends to be higner in Freshman/Soph years for prep students. Make sure is is taking college prep classes (ap, college now, honors, etc)… Its the grades in those classes adcoms look at most.

When is he planning to take the test? I would allow plenty of time to practice, and not try to take the test right away this fall. Sometimes a Junior math class is just the thing for getting better on the math, although ACT math has to be practiced as a separate thing (in addition). I am working with a kid (friend of my daughters) who took the ACT twice without practicing first, and I think that was a bad idea. He can still post a higher score as a Senior, but why have all those other scores on the books if you don’t have to?

U Chicago has accepted 22s before!!

@CorncamMom , because you don’t have to have them on the books. That’s why.

You can permanently delete any National Test score.

State required tests you can’t delete.

Sure, a college like U ?chicgo has probably accepted a 22 from someone with exceptional circumstances. Anyway, OP appears to have left the building.

Deep breath. It’s a PRACTICE test. Many of my students know when a practice is a practice and they’re not in their full “game” mentality.
As for a 22, I have students every year who are working their rear ends off to get to that score, and when they get it, they’re not going to Ivy League but instead to a quality state school. As soon as you accept that there’s more to the world than Ivy-covered walls, you’ll be a much happier person.
Now, will his score go up by the time he’s sending college apps? I will only say that if it doesn’t, then he doesn’t deserve to go to a major school. ACT Scores do go up with time and reasonable practice and preparation.
As I have posted elsewhere I had a student w/ a Top 5 ranking in a class of 500 students, an extracurricular list made of steel, and a 36 ACT who didn’t get accepted into a pair of top 25 schools. She’s now at a state school in its honors program, and she will graduate after 4 years with zero college debt and a wide open set of options for graduate school.
Mom, if you put too much pressure on him about his score, I can almost guarantee that he’ll continue to come up short of his potential.