My daughter has taken the PSAT with so-so results (Math is a challenge). She recently took a whole ACT under test conditions at home and did a good bit better on that test.
Here are my questions:
How in the world can anyone safely take the test during COVID? 10 kids in a classroom max with masks on? It seems with the cancelled tests they are going to be packing them in the test centers.
Looking at Princeton Review and PrepScholar? Any thoughts on either program? There is self-paced, online classroom and some tutoring as well.
The ACT site is clearly crashing and not working well. How in the world can anyone register for this test?
It seems these themes have been covered, but I wanted some advice and perspective.
Many schools are now test optional, but the SUNY system requires a standardized test still.
My teen has tested twice during the pandemic. In March there were 10 kids or less in individual classrooms. In July kids were split up into three very large rooms( gym, cafeteria, etc). Perhaps the tests are filling up because capacity is being limited. All wore masks for the July test.
My daughter who is a senior this year had her July 18th ACT cancelled on July 17th. Her ACT was cancelled in April and June as well. Her SAT was cancelled in March two days before she was going to test. I think I had her scheduled for another SAT but honestly now its all fuzzy. I have her currently scheduled for Aug and Sept SAT’s to try to get her A score of some kind. (I know you asked about ACT). During our SC Board meeting last week it was brought up that the Superintendent was meeting with College Board this week to discuss the August SAT that is to be held at our school. 80% of our Senior class has no SAT/ACT scores. We have a ton of kids scheduled to take that SAT and one of the board members was very vocal that we needed to open elementary schools …do whatever it takes to make sure we get our kids a test. College board has concerns already…too many kids.
As a school counselor and a proctor, I can speak for my school/county- we are definitely not packing them in to the rooms or sites. I am not wanting to escalate my personal risk any more than I want to do that to your child.
Khan Academy is free practice and also allows a kid to be considered for the opportunity scholarship. We also use paper based tools like Barron’s to help.
At my ACT center in July, the proctor let everyone take off their masks once we were sitting. The rule was you could take off your mask if you were sitting, and if you got up you had to put it on (although some people broke this). The desks weren’t 6 feet apart (and there was plenty of desks in the room, we took up less than half of them). I kept my mask on through the test, but everyone else kept their’s off.