My D needs 5 more points on the ACT

Parents Forum
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<p>Well, first off, with her stellar GPA, she’ll probably blossom wherever she goes. Going to a less prestigious school might also give her the potential to become a big fish in a little sea as opposed to a little fish in an ocean of competitive sharks. One of my macroeconomics professor is some kind of high up manager at an extremely large, international corporation. He says it really doesn’t matter where you go to college. He has employees who graduated from Harvard, and employees who graduated from no-name-public-U working side by side. He says they care more about what you accomplished during college, then where you went to college. He doesn’t think that the Harvard students are any more educated than the public-U students. So don’t know if that will be of any encouragement, but I’ll also just drop a few tips for your daughter for each section:</p>

<p>Math: With math, the most important thing is the triage system. First go through and get all the easiest problems. Then go through and tackle the ones that you know, but that take more time. Finally, take on the hardest questions. This way you don’t run out of time for problems you know. Take a practice test with unlimited time, and then go back to see what you missed. Most people are missing very specific problems or types of problems. For me, it was the word problems, and I needed to slow down and think calmly and logically in order to figure them out. If it’s a specific type of problem (say trigonometry), go look up math tutorials on Youtube, Khan Academy, and Brightstorm. Speaking of Brightstorm, I highly, highly recommend it. If you can’t get a personal tutor, it’s the next best thing in my opinion. They have a whole ACT prep section with tutorial videos for each different type of problem, and valuable tips and tricks. I think it’s only $20 a month too. </p>

<p>English: English came pretty easily for me, so I don’t have a whole lot of advice here, but definitely review the basic grammar skills found in most any ACT practice book. Barron’s Perfect 36 was extremely helpful for grammar. For me, if I missed anything, it was because I wasn’t 110% positive about a grammatical rule, going back and really clarifying what I already kinda-sorta-knew really helped. I think I made a 36 on all of my English sections. They are starting to throw in one or two questions that purely test your vocabulary, so brushing up on a SAT vocab book wouldn’t hurt.</p>

<p>Reading: The most important thing is to allocate how much time you have for each passage. I think it was 8-9 minutes or something. The next most important thing is practice highlighting things that sound important (you kind of learn what information they’ll probably ask questions on after awhile) and really taking the time to understand the passage. Nothing wastes more time than having to go back through that long passage looking for questions. I normally write a little note about what each section is about (i.e. “Where the narrator grew up,” or, “Colby’s mother”). I give myself 5 minutes to read the passage, and 4 minutes to answer the questions. It’s worked for me, I made a 36 on reading most of the time.</p>

<p>Science: When I first took the ACT, I got a 23 in the Science section. After going to a tutor and practicing a lot of tests, I made a 31. Not the best, but high enough to get you a solid score if your other sections go well. It is true that this section is all about reading graphs and analyzing data, and almost nothing require actual scientific knowledge. There are a few times where it helped to understand various aspects of chemistry, physics, and biology, but you should be able to do well without it. My biggest problem was being too hectic, my brain was going everywhere and nowhere at the same time. My tutor told me to just slow down, and first take practice tests logically, calmly, and without a time limit. I was so slow at first. But as I practiced more and more, I got the hang of it and even scored a 34 during a timed practice test. The test makers know you’re exhausted at this point and likely to make silly mistakes, so it’s extremely important to just pull your brain together for one last umph. When trying to answer questions, first I read the question, underline the keywords, then look for those keywords in the passage and the answer choices. I also take the time to really understand the graphs, and write little notes and symbols telling me their trends (going up or down, what they’re trying to discern, corresponding temperatures, etc.). If you can’t find the answer from reading the question, look to the answer choices to see if they answer your question, if they don’t, then you should go skim the passage. They always throw in one or two questions that do require you to read the passage, so be prepared for those. Also, I know everyone says to do the five question passages first, then the six, and then the seven, but this actually makes you slower. I did that during a test and actually ended up running out of time. It’s hard than you think for your brain to transition from answer questions, to searching for the passage with x amount of questions. My tutor told me to just answer them in the order provided, and it worked, I had 5 extra minutes at the end of the science section on the real test day…something that never happens for me.</p>

<p>Hope this helps some. I would sign up for brightstorm, take as many practice tests as you can get your hands on, and get a private tutor if possible. So much of the ACT is just strategy and learning the question patterns. This just takes lots of practice. Wishing your daughter the best of luck wherever she ends up, she’ll be just fine.</p>

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<p>What is the evidence that the “overwhelming majority” of 2200+ are the result of intensive prep? Most of those scores are from kids that do really well on these types of tests. Sometimes those that are not as good at getting As in all their courses. One of my kids was an NMSF and a 2350 one sitting on the SAT. He did very little prep, just a couple of sessions with a tutor so he could understand the “guessing penalty” and to review the math he hadn’t had for a few years. Many of these are kids that take the SAT in middle school for a talent search and score at a high level at that time, generally without prep. There are probably enough of those kids to fill many seats at top 20 schools, although not all of these kids are the best students so will not make it into top 10 as the GPA is not there. Others are great students and likely will shine at the most elite colleges. </p>

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<p>Dreadspirit- I find it crazy to think a kid can cram her way up five points on the ACT in 6 weeks, but if you think that’s a better plan than reading actual books and looking at actual numbers and figuring out what they mean- well, that’s what keeps the test prep industry alive.</p>

<p>I guess my ironic comment missed its mark.</p>

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<p>“He says it really doesn’t matter where you go to college. He has employees who graduated from Harvard, and employees who graduated from no-name-public-U working side by side. He says they care more about what you accomplished during college, then where you went to college.”</p>

<p>It really depends on the corporation and your area of study. DH works for a large well known corporation and for certain areas they mostly hire people from top universities like Yale,Duke,Harvard…That’s not to say it’s for all departments and some people end up there after having a lot of job experience that went to other colleges like DH. However at least at the large corporations he has worked at degree from a top university does make a difference. </p>

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<p>@blossom I don’t believe it is likely that someone can cram 5 points in 6 weeks but if there is a chance the only way it is possible is by studying (ie intentionally learning missing information) and not by learning (ie improving one’s understanding of the material organically eg reading The Economist).</p>

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<p>To reach a plateau score in 6 weeks may be feasible for many people if you do dedicate to it. However, to get a 5 points boost in 6 weeks would be very hard. At the end the ACT is not simply a test for preparation but for the knowledge you’ve learned from school. Everyone can reach a plateau after practice, but not everyone can reach a particular score even after a very thorough preparation.</p>

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<p>Studying for an aptitude test is quickly going to have diminishing returns. Studying for an achievement test, on the other hand, should have more immediate pay-off. From what I understand, the English and math sections of the ACT are more “achievement,” while reading and science are more “aptitude.” To maximize the ROI when it comes to prep, once basic test-taking skills have been honed, it may be wise to focus on the achievement areas. </p>

<p>(Edited to add—case in point, when D took the ACT in middle school, I’m pretty sure her math score got a bump because I took 20 minutes to explain some basic concepts like sine, cosine, and tangent to her. She didn’t get better at math, but she did have that little bit of new information to refer to, and it helped.)</p>

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<p>People, we are talking about a kid who according to her mother won’t devote half an hour every other night to test prep. So debating how feasible the self-study plan is (whether aptitude or achievement) seems quite tangential to the topic at hand.</p>

<p>OP- no, your D is not going to raise her ACT by five points in the next few weeks if she’s not willing to take this on as intensive project. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with your D. In terms of “things worth nagging your kids about” where I put health/safety and thank you notes to grandma at the top, and wearing shoes which match your outfit at the bottom, this seems to me to be a battle not worth engaging in if your child does not seem willing to hit the books night after night.</p>

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<p>@MichiganGeorgia I agree, that certainly doesn’t apply to all large corporations. I still think you can land a good job, or end up in a good grad school regardless of where you go to college so long as you work hard and match their standards. That’s all most people want, and I just wanted to reassure OP. </p>

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<p>As I said earlier it’s darn difficult to raise the composite 5 points. Elliebud’s concept, though, has merit with regard to the math…it’s absolutely straightforward and it reflects what kids should have learned in Alg. I and II and Geometry with a couple trig questions thrown in. If the kids have really “learned” their math, they can easily hit 29-31…the other sections not to much and science is more intuitive so requires alittle thinking. The reading requires reading quickly with comprehension or skimming quickly in search of the answers (which you read first) and knowing your grammar and punctuation which gets taught in elementary school and many kids “forget” by high school. There’s no tricks to the ACT and you can learn how to take it appropriately but you’re not going to raise your composite score without understanding and previous learning. Most kids with a strong college prep curriculum can do well on it. I believe the cut-off for college ready is 21. Most solid B+ kids can get a 25 after 2 attempts. I believe the percentile of college going students with 25 is about 80th percentile for college going kids. 34-36 is 100th percentile if I recall. 24 is 75th percentile so not shabby for a college bound senior, but not great going up against 100th percentile kids. </p>

<p>My dyslexic worked very hard to nail the math, his strength area, to drag his composite up to counterbalance very weak, sub 50th% English subscores even with accommodations for hose sections, He did not have trouble with the science…but many engineering colleges look closer at the math subscore anyway. And he just nailed his first year of Engineering at a very competitive engineering uni so keep in mind the ACT is just a hurdle…just one hurdle. So keep these standardized tests in contexts with your kids interest area and don’t burn them out on the testing as it has little bearing on how they will do once they are in college and the colleges pretty much only admit kids that they perceive will be successful. </p>

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<p>“busdriver: Why pay $255 for 5 “real” tests–when you can get a book of 10 “real” tests for only $20? (My kids did books of tests at home before taking the real test–only paid for it once for each of four kids. Prep well at home and no retakes needed.)”</p>

<p>@atomom, that sounds good in theory. You take all sorts of practice tests and prepare, and then the final score you get is as good as it’s ever going to be, right? May not work for the kid who doesn’t have the time or inclination to do huge amounts of prep work to do well on the test. Plus, theoretically, the fifth test you take should be better in every section than the first test you take, shouldn’t it? Of course, the fact that the colleges generally take the best score in each section, makes it not work that way. You may get your best in one section the second or the fourth time you take the test. Especially in math, where you don’t have to miss very many to lower your score. It can be a bit of a crapshoot, how the math section goes. You just miss a few because you make a simple error or go too fast, and there goes your perfect score. I figured as long as my kid was willing to take the test and his score kept going up, I’d be happy to pay. It worked for him, he got into a school that should have been out of range as far as his GPA went, and he’s truly happy there.</p>

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<p>I mostly agree with @atomom that one should not use a real test for practice. Taking practice test not only give you a practice score but also a chance to review the questions you have missed and go through the answers. The only thing one cannot get from a practice test is the test center experience. Nevertheless, retaking SAT would allow superscoring. To be honest, taking 5 times SAT1 is really a bit too much even for superscoring purpose. Statistics showed there is little improvement after the second attempt anyway. Those who still got significant improvements after 3 or 4 attempts obviously did not prepare thoroughly for the test. For ACT, most schools do not superscore and that would change the game plan. My D took a lot of practice tests on it and reached a plateau score before the first (and only) attempt. She got exactly the same composite score. She did make one stupid mistake and lost one point in Math, however, she also got better score in English at the real test. We figured that she may get 1 or 2 points higher in section scores if retake, however, the composite score will be mostly the same (ACT rounds the average of section scores). So she is happy with the score and no more ACT. For SAT, she also did a lot of practice tests and reached a plateau. She took the first SAT1 and there was an issue that she did not perform well. Then she retook the test and still got a score a little bit lower than practice although all 3 section scores were higher. She was thinking to retake it again to achieve her target score but she changed her mind after receiving the ACT score. Without practice tests, she would not know what score she may achieve. Moreover, retaking a test may still be required sometimes even with a lot of practice.</p>

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<p>That’s pretty true billscho…kids do plateau and taking it over and over rarely nets any valuable difference. That is kind of the point of these standardized tests…to find out where that kid is relative to the rest of the nation of test takers.</p>

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<p>I’m not reading through all the threads, but read through enough to just say what worked for us. My daughter had a dream school in mind. She knew that she had to get 32-34 to get in the middle 50% range. She got a 31 the first time. She studied, took practice tests, etc. and still kept getting 31-33 on practice tests. So I hired a private tutor, the tutor did not teach her any material…she said all along my daughter was smarter than she was, better at math, science, English, etc. What she taught her was how to take tests. How to look for tricks in wording, how to scan quickly for correct answers, how to speed up math so she could focus on more difficult problems. Two 2 hour sessions… Best money I ever spent. She got her score, she’s at her school. </p>

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<p>^^ that is exactly right moonpie. Because the ACT is required for ALL students in Michigan at our kids school they have a class that kids can take - it’s not to teach them math or to bone up on their punctuation and grammar - the sole purpose it to teach the kids how to handle the speed of the test. How to maximize how they take the test. By the end of junior year, with the exception of reviewing early math, the kids brains are pretty hardwired for what they have actually learned, but they can all use a lesson in adapting to the speed of the ACT. Personally i think that is the beauty of the ACT - what they know is what they know and they can all benefit with the couple of points they will gain from mastering the gymnastics of the test and it’s not a long arduous Saturday morning. The ACT is a pretty good predictor of what math class they belong in freshman year, what English class they might benefit from etc. and that is the ACT’s popularity and why I suspect the SAT is being redone. And frankly, once they have mastered the speed after a couple practice runs they just aren’t going to raise their score anymore - you’ll see what has been reported, one section goes up, another section goes down and the composite pretty much stays the same. I personally placed more value in the ACT scores stacked against my kids’ college acceptances than i did their GPAs. There is just too much fluctuation in the quality of education across the country our kids get in high schools.</p>

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<p>@‌Ghostt I am decidedly not delusional. S1 took the ACT in 7th grade as part of the Duke TIP program. Got a 23 no prep. Then took it again as a Junior, got a 34. His SAT was a 2220 (1560 core). Again, no prep. </p>

<p>The reason the data and studies show no correlation between scores and success is because people keep taking them until the get the score they want (or give up). That means the scores as they are become meaningless. Not all high scoring students are actually of high intelligence, they just spent way too much time and money prepping. Then they get to college and fail because prepping for the test does not make you any smarter, it just helps you on that test.</p>

<p>Your own situation was ludicrous. The is absolutely no reason to retake after getting upwards of about 700 on each section. Admissions people stop caring about your score once you meet their threshold. Getting a few more points just feeds the College Board income stream. (The data showing higher scores at competitive schools is another example of test score inflation. People ‘believe’ higher scores improve your chances, so they keep pushing despite perfectly acceptable scores. You wasted your time and energy on trying to better a 2250. I supposed if you had all of your points in writing, the real portion of the SAT may be been low for you. I fully expect that anyone who takes the exam multiple times will improve at least slightly simply due to familiarity. However, back in the day, we took Iowa Basics or similar tests throughout HS and if you were familiar with them, you would be familiar with SAT and ACT type test.</p>

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<p>@moonpie No way to prove it, but I’ll be that you child would be in the dream school with a 31 as well. She actually just did what I described above. Her attempts to boost her score raised the ‘middle 50%’ for that school artificially. Schools want to know that the kid is smart enough to do well. Beyond that point they only care about the other stuff…leadership…ECs…etc. Glad she got where she wanted, but sad she had to suffer needlessly to chase a mythical target.</p>

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<p>Just look at the percentiles at some point there is no meaningful statistical different once you are over a particular hurdle (e.g. 34-35-36 on ACT), I’m sure the same thing occurs with the SAT.</p>

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<p>perhaps all of us should go back to read the OP. The OP‘s D had a 24 on ACT not 34, by all means, a 34 should not be retaking. But OP is asking advise how to improve 5 points on a 24. I think she should at least try to retake at least once to see if it will improve or otherwise to apply for Wake Forest which is a test optional school. </p>

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<p>Here are a few more suggestions from another thread;</p>

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<p>Bowdoin is a top school, if OP is interested. </p>