<p>Just got D’s October ACT results, and she pulled her 31 up to a 33! When she got her scholarship letter (for the 2/3 tuition scholarship), it said that if she took the ACT again and got a 32, she may be considered for another scholarship. Is there any significance to the “may,” or will she automatically be upgraded to the Presidential?</p>
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</p>
<p>The above was copied verbatim from: [FAQ</a> - Undergraduate Scholarships - The University of Alabama](<a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/faq/]FAQ”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/faq/)</p>
<p>Start celebrating. Congrats and Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Beth’s mom, congrats! We just saw my son’s also, and he went up to the 32 threshold! From a 29. He is doing engineering, so the 30 was all he really needed. But I am SO happy he hit 32, since that gives him the option of changing to any major in the university with the presidential scholarship. Wheeeewww</p>
<p>My son is a Junior in HS and is nowhere near those scores- Congrats- i am wondering if he should go ahead and take it again in February and then again next October - I am hoping for a 28 - he is not my smarter one… My older one went from a 26 to a 32 after a one on one turor.</p>
<p>For my son, practicing the tests in the red book using a timer, and then re-doing the missed questions made a difference. But I think that familarity with the test made the most difference. This was his second sitting, and he was much more comfortable than with the first one. There is also a difference between tests. I dont want to say that one test is easier than another, but I think that there are instances where one test may happen to cover material more familliar to a student, and other tests that cover material less familliar. So taking it a couple of times allows for an improved comfort level as well as “luck” with taking a test that has topics/questions more familliar to him.</p>
<p>I hate these tests, I do not think they really give an accurate depiction of a students ability to do anything but take a test. At best, they show the tenacity of students that are dedicated to raising the score to meet a certian threshold. But that is a different thread.</p>
<p>** Looks like I crossposted with Bethsmom below, whos daughter also felt like there were benefits of taking multiple times and differences in test “difficulties” from one to another. And thanks for the congrats, bethsmom!</p>
<p>Vlines, congrats to your son!!</p>
<p>Hlsess, according to my D, the tests and their difficulty (at least for her) have varied greatly from sitting to sitting. She’s had big swings in the individual subject scores (for instance, as high as 35 in English and as low as 30; high of 29 in science vs. low of 25, etc.), and a 4 point swing in one of the subjects is a point in the composite. Plus the kids can just have off days and “magical” days. If you’re going for a particular score, I say have him take it as often as he can without getting sick of it.</p>
<p>Congrats, vlines and Beth’s mom. My D’s score went up from a 28 to a 31! That qualifies her for the full tuition scholarship for in-state students! She put much time and effort into studying for this one and I am very proud of her. She consistently got 27s and 28s on the ACT over 4 tries, but couldn’t get past that. She had a tutor for this last attempt and it paid off, so hlsess, don’t give up. She started with a 27 as a junior and took it 5 times total.</p>
<p>Congrats to all whose scores have gone up! Yes, those who have the numbers now have the Presidential!! 
The word “may” was probably included because sometimes Bama awards the bigger scholarships for those who test in Dec…those aren’t a given.</p>
<p>*My son is a Junior in HS and is nowhere near those scores- Congrats- i am wondering if he should go ahead and take it again in February and then again next October - I am hoping for a 28 - he is not my smarter one… My older one went from a 26 to a 32 after a one on one turor. *</p>
<p>I would have him take it as many times as possible - not just 2 more times…and also have him take the SAT since sometimes it’s easier to just do better on the Math + CR. And, have him work with a tutor. </p>
<p>For those who can’t afford a tutor, try this…Either have a parent who is good at these tests or another person/student who is good at these tests, sit with your child while he’s taking an untimed practice test. This person should have the answer key (with explanations). While the student does each question, immediately have the other person provide input as to why that answer is right or wrong (in a pleasant, helpful fashion!!). </p>
<p>Later do the tests timed, and then have that other person go thru the answers with the student - again using the explanations in the practice book. </p>
<p>When the tests are timed, if the student guesses an answer, have him mark that one. Then while scoring the test, the student will not only review those that he got wrong, but also review his correctly-guessed answers…because he needs to take a second look at those guessed answers…even if he guessed correctly. :)</p>
<p>Lastly, if you have trouble getting your child to practice for these tests, try offering something that matters to the child. For my kids, if they practiced on a Saturday morning, then I would treat that child and a pal to a matinee. For other kids, a different “carrot” might work. I only had to do this a couple of times, because once my kids saw that practice helps, they were motivated to do it on their own.</p>
<p>Thanks M2CK- he is not a great student(makes A’s and B’s) and I do know he may take it more than twice- I am hoping he can get a 28 for Honors- and hope that he keeps a 3.5… he is on the edge now…someone that took it said the Math was really hard… his reading /english is low- I have a call in for a tutor now…</p>
<p>My junior son got a 31! We are thrilled because right now he plans to go the engineering route, but he will try again in the spring for the 32! Congrats to all!</p>
<p>Congratulations on those scores and receiving the Presidential Scholarship.</p>
<p>M2CK’s prep advice is golden. Having the student take one of the tests untimed and having to justify their answer is great advice. They should also practice several timed tests. I had my daughters time each part. Later they worked up to taking the entire test as they would at the test center.</p>
<p>Definitely take the SAT and the ACT. For those folks who have juniors this year there is an option on certain SAT dates to get the QAS Question and Answer service. </p>
<p>"With the Question-and-Answer Service, you’ll get:</p>
<ul>
<li>A copy of the SAT questions for the specific testing administration</li>
<li>A record of your answers, the correct answers, and additional scoring instructions</li>
<li>Information about the type of test questions and levels of difficulty of the questions</li>
</ul>
<p>The QAS is a very valuable tool for improving your SAT score because you receive a copy of the test you took along with your answers to all of the questions. Using QAS, you can see specifically which questions you missed so you know exactly what you need to work on to improve." </p>
<p>Looks like QAS is offered in Oct., Jan., and May. <a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools;
<p>I don’t know if this was covered in this particular thread but has been in several previous ones. </p>
<p>SCIENCE can be a real $*^## for some! They tend to get hung up on the terms and verbiage. In reality, it’s about being able to dissect and read graphs/charts. After 2 attempts at the ACT, our daughter was discouraged with her Composite because the Science kept kicking her bootie.
I told her to focus on reading the graphs/charts and to quit focusing on the content. It worked. She raised her Science score dramatically and the Composite followed.
I don’t have any pointers for Reading/English sections. That’s going to be a real stickler for the younger daughter. She despises reading anything that’s not on FaceBook 
Older daughter has been a book worm since Kindergarten. She dominated Reading/English.
I would definitely recommend test practice in all subjects with and without time. You can pull them off the internet. Take advantage of every test date. The tests are on rotation. Some are certainly “easier” in specific subjects than say the next date.
GOOD LUCK! It’s just as nerve racking for them as it is for us ;/</p>
<p>*The QAS is a very valuable tool for improving your SAT score because you receive a copy of the test you took along with your answers to all of the questions. Using QAS, you can see specifically which questions you missed so you know exactly what you need to work on to improve."
*</p>
<p>Yes!</p>
<p>SCIENCE can be a real $^## for some! They tend to get hung up on the terms and verbiage. In reality, it’s about being able to dissect and read graphs/charts. After 2 attempts at the ACT, our daughter was discouraged with her Composite because the Science kept kicking her bootie.
I told her** to focus on reading the graphs/charts and to quit focusing on the content**. It worked. She raised her Science score dramatically and the Composite followed.
*</p>
<p>that’s the key!!!</p>
<p>Just a note about the science section…the advice to focus on the charts and graphs is good in general. However, it was noted in the ACT forum on CC that the October ACT actually required you to have a decent science knowledge base to do well. I am not sure if this is an ACT testing change, or a one test anomoly. But I thought I would pass that info along.</p>
<p>Here is the link for the oct. science discussion so that you may get an idea of what was said. Hope iit helps! <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/act-preparation/1229593-october-22-2011-act-science-discush.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/act-preparation/1229593-october-22-2011-act-science-discush.html</a></p>
<p>My D used the science approach detailed above, and it never worked for her. It especially did not work on the September 2011 ACT. I heard a lot of complaints about how the science on the September ACT was brutal for kids using that approach (which is apparently recommended by tutors and in some of the review courses). However, these variations from test to test are why it’s not a bad idea to just take the test as often as possible and hope that there’s a golden day when the planets align and you get all of your best scores in a single sitting.</p>
<p>*October ACT actually required you to have a decent science knowledge base to do well. I am not sure if this is an ACT testing change, or a one test anomoly. But I thought I would pass that info along.
*</p>
<p>My friend just called and told me the same thing. Her D got the needed scores, BUT her science section went down because it was more difficult. I think the difficulty of the different sections varies from test to test.</p>
<p>My kids used to insist that the difficulty and ease of ACT and the SAT fluctuated from test to test…which is why kids need to test more often. Better chance at getting a test that works to your strengths!!!</p>
<p>And my kids (boys!!) really did better on the tests that didn’t have stories to read which didn’t interest them.</p>
<p>From my dd’s experience, my before mentioned advice raised her Science score from 26 to 32…which resulted in a higher Composite. </p>
<p>She’s very good at CR/English. She read through the Science stuff and it threw her off or put up a mental block where she couldn’t think it through. Tried the charts/graphs approach and raised her section score by +6. Maybe it was a fluke…or maybe 3rd times a charm…either way, we did the touchdown dance!</p>
<p>The day of the test, dd and friend (equally as intelligent), both said the “Alleles” info in the Science section was confusing but stuck to the graph approach. They each scored “Pres Scholarship” marks. I believe that was the Sept. test. </p>
<p>Don’t undermine the importance of practice tests. I would have your child try “reading the passage” AND “sticking to graph only” approaches to see which works best. Everyone’s different. Best of LUCK!</p>
<p>for those whose children have taken the ACT several times- Do you think it matters if you wait until later in year to take it so that you have more knowledge from your classes that you are taking? My friend said they were waiting until April but I signed up for February…Both of our sons took it in October…</p>
<p>hlsess- I think that taking it multiple times helps. As for timing in the school year, I do not know if it makes much of a difference. Except that the tests are all different, so one test may have more familliar topics on it than another test does. My recommendation would be to take the test in February like your son is signed up for. That will give him a starting point, and help him determine how much studying he needs to do to raise his scores. That could be anywhere from self studying to tutors depending on his baseline score and what his target score is. </p>
<p>Because the ACT is timed, he may want to practice some timed ACT practice tests before the test. It does help a lot.</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters. I wouldn’t wait simply because the earlier you start, the more times you can take it if you want to. Nothing gives you more practice for the real thing than the real thing. The ACT is not testing high level math - my D had what she needed to answer all but a couple questions by the end of sophomore year. Likewise with English and Reading - they’re not teaching to the test at her high school. As for science, my D never did well on it and she’d had biology, honors chemistry and a partial year of AP Environmental before she took the ACT. My D did get her highest score the last time she took it (October of senior year), but only because she managed to combine her previous high scores into one sitting. She had a couple of those high scores when she took it a year earlier. It was more having a test that was easier/contained material familiar to her than having another few months of school under her belt.</p>