<p>Thanks emilybee! I know she can take it again, but it would just be nice to get a good score the first time for peace of mind. If she retakes it and does even better, then it would just be a bonus. We have her signed up to take the one in June, and she is taking it the end of April as part of high school standardized testing. The one through the high school will not have the writing portion, so not sure what good it will do her expect to give her more practice. I know there is one in September and another one in October. We will only sign her up for those if we have to though. Thanks for replying!</p>
<p>I’m finding it a little crazy that a) they gave her the same test twice and b) they never let her review her errors from it the first time around. Maybe that just shows they were intending all along to give it to them twice? Official practice ACT’s are a little harder to come by than official SAT’s, so maybe that was their thinking?</p>
<p>But that’s great she’s making significant progress. A two point jump is nothing to sneeze at! You’re absolutely doing the right thing by going back and reviewing all her errors. That’s the number one thing that will help her, and so many of my students never bother to do it…well, before they get to me anyway 
I agree she shouldn’t take another test on Friday, and if at all possible do all of her error review practice this week rather than waiting for Friday. She should take it easy that day and try not to touch the ACT at all the night before. Her brain needs to be rested for the grueling day ahead. I always recommend comfort food and a mindless movie for pre-test preparations. </p>
<p>If she gets stumped on anything, PM me. I’m piloting a very cool new tutoring platform via Facebook that lets kids get specific questions answered without paying for a full session, and I’m eager to try it out. Keeping my fingers crossed for her (and you) so she doesn’t have to drag the standardized testing process through the summer! Good luck!</p>
<p>Swansoo4 ~ Thanks for your reply. It was not the prep company that gave her the same test twice. They gave the students in the prep class 5 different and distinct retired ACT tests. Through her high school, my daughter took a practice test in October. The test through high school in October just happened to be the exact same exam as the practice test the prep company used as their last practice test. What luck, huh? I guess w/only a limited amount of retired tests out there, it’s bound to happen. The high school gave them the scores for the test, but did not provide them an answer key. At least now w/taking it through the prep company, she knows what the right answers are. We didn’t get a chance to go through this test yet, so we will do so on Friday. We’ll try not to overdo it on Friday, but I think a little prep will help boost her confidence for the test. Thanks again for your reply!</p>
<p>Ah, got it now. That is terrible luck, but not completely surprising. The ACT is much stingier with releasing old tests so there just aren’t that many out there. My guess is that the ACT is so much more straightforward with a more limited “world” of question types that they’re reluctant to give too much away. The more available tests out there, the more likely kids, prep companies and tutors could figure out their “system!” Best of luck, and let us know how it goes for her.</p>
<p>I wanted to come back and update this thread because my daughter judst got her scores back from her April 14th test (we’re still waiting for the writing though). She got the score that she was aiming for! She scored a 30 composite on her test, and we are thrilled! Here’s her breakdown:</p>
<p>Composite ~ 30 (95th percentile)
English ~ 34 (99th percentile)
Math ~ 30 (94th percentile)
Reading ~ 31 (93rd percentile)
Science ~ 25 (84th percentile)</p>
<p>My daughter knew that she blew the science section coming out of the test. She thought it was very hard compared to all the practice tests she had previously taken, which was about 7 or 8. She felt pretty good about all the other sections though. She did take the test through her high school on April 24th and thought she did even better on that test than on this one; however, that test didn’t have the writing portion. Thank you state of Illinois for cutting funding so that the students taking the ACT didn’t get the chance to take the writing portion of the test this year! Can you detect my sarcasm? Anyway, my daughter is taking it again in June and hopefully she will get even higher than a 30 that time. She will gladly take the 30 for now though. I just wonder, if she scored better on the ACT test that she took through her high school, will that test have any value for her in terms on using it when she applies to colleges? As long as she sends in an ACT score that has the essay, will she be able to send this score in as well? I am thinking about starting a thread asking about this. This has been talked about a little bit on the ACT forum, and I am still not sure if she will be able to use a score w/out writing or not. Anyway, thanks to all that followed my thread! I appreciate all of your helpful advice!</p>
<p>Wow!! Thats fantastic news. I’m so happy for you. Congratulations to you and your D. You both worked so hard…(I hope D appreciates what a good mom she has:)</p>
<p>Thank you so much, Dungareedoll!</p>
<p>btw what made the science so hard? when s took the act he thought the science would be the easiest part of the test, since he is a big science kid. in all the practice exams the science section was always on bio or earth science. so he went in very confident. interestingly, the science section was all on physics. most kids did terrible because the physics terminology freaked them out. thankfully, s figured out that it wasn’t really physics just terminology that required the students to think about what was really being asked. the student could have easily substituted the physics terminology with bio terminology and still come out with the same answer. so i wonder if thats what happened this time. let your d know that that the science should always be the same any way you cut it. don’t get to concerned about the configuration of the questions or the terminology, just answer the question. don’t let the test intimidate her.</p>
<p>Dungareedoll ~ I don’t know what made this particular science section so hard. It was the hardest science section she has taken, including all her practice tests. Science is usually very iffy for her. She can score great on it, or not so great. I just think as a whole, the science section is just very unpredictable for her. The ACT test that she took through her high school on April 24th had a much easier science section. Can’t wait until we get that score back so that we can compare the 2.</p>
<p>Ladyham: Find out why and then analyze the science sections of several practice exams. Note there are underlying themes, regardless of the topic. Thats what my S told me. Id be a liar if I said I noticed it. But hopefully it will help you. S was just a big bio and earth science kid. He hated chem and was fine with physics but not prepared at all to see it on the ACT. Like I said during the test he just came to him that they were just trying to scare the kids with the big physics words. In the end it wasn’t really any different than anything he had practiced before.</p>
<p>Dungareedoll ~ Great advice, thanks! I think we are going to have her prepare especially hard for science for the June test. She still will practice the other sections as well so that she does not lose all the progress that she has gained, but we definitely are going to go over the science sections w/a fine tooth comb.</p>
<p>This may have been mentioned in an earlier post, but the website [Number2.com</a> :: Free Online Test Prep](<a href=“http://www.number2.com%5DNumber2.com”>http://www.number2.com) has been helpful for my son, recommended by his GC. The questions presented are determined by previous right/wrong responses, so more targeted practice and better use of time. </p>
<p>The other suggestion I have is practicing each section (in written format, to mimic the testing) with pre-determined and self-timed checkpoints: by the 15 minute mark I should at number X, etc. It allows some smaller adjustments throughout the section rather than slamming through the final questions as time runs out. It seemed to help with the “mad race to the finish” anxiety.</p>
<p>My son just took his first test and is so relieved and happy that he got a composite 32, 33-E, 33-R, 36-S, 26-M even though he was so disappointed in the math score and plans to work over the summer with a tutor so that he can re-take it in September. </p>
<p>His GC seemed to think the math score was a problem, and that the 32 was only pretty decent, but frankly I’m thrilled. He’s headed for a state public so he isn’t going for top school with tippy-top scores.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>One other suggestion, this one from my son’s perspective. He said what helped him most was reading explanations why the three incorrect responses were incorrect - both on the website www/number2.com and in the book he used, Peterson’s “The Real ACT Prep Guide” ordered from Amazon. He said it helped him more than anything else.</p>
<p>Sonmere ~ Thank you so much for the suggestions. That website looks like it is going to be a wonderful tool! Thanks!</p>
<p>@ Ladyham Congrats to your daughter! She did some fantastic work there. Hope she’s just as excited as you are.</p>
<p>Just wanted to throw in my two cents re: the Science section. They key is not to treat it as a “science” test at all. Even strong science students struggle with it, and it’s not helpful to conceptualize it as anything like the science they do in school. It’s a test of 1) graph/chart reading and 2) reading comprehension. There are only very rare questions that test your science knowledge. All the rest are based on the experiments and graphs of the results provided. Knowledge of science terminology isn’t really going to help much, and in some ways can be a hindrance because students want to rely on what they know from science class instead of what’s on the page in front of them. Sometimes changing a student’s approach to the science is all it takes to bring a score up. The other issue with science is it’s at the end of a grueling test and fatigue is almost always a problem by that point. Building up stamina by doing timed practice tests each weekend can help some, but I generally don’t recommend that approach for my students this time of year (at least until they’re done with exams).</p>
<p>^ Absolutely correct. Science is not science but graphs, reading comprehension, and logic.</p>
<p>Yes!!! Thats what S was trying to tell me too.</p>