Over the past few years, I have gone through the college process twice with my son and daughter. I noticed a pattern when it came to testing. On their first practice test, they both scored 6 points lower than the highest composite score on an actual ACT. My son started with a 24 and with much tutoring and prep got it up a 30. My daughter started with a 26 and with the exact same prep got a 32. I have discussed this with my friends going through the process and they have find the same 6 point gain in their children’s scores.
Do you think this is a random number or are most students, with proper help, able to raise their scores 6 points? Is there a way to raise it past this 6 point stopper?
Interesting theory - coincidence? My child’s score rose from a 29 from her first practice ACT in sophomore year to a 35 after some tutoring prep and many practice then actual timed tests.
(It’s another way economically privileged kids experience even more privilege, for sure. It’s a crazy system, but I have to admit that we exploited it.)
It’s not random. Test prep companies routinely give extra hard “practice” tests to suppress initial scores so that they can then claim that their prep was the reason the score went up (when really it was because the prep test was extra hard). In fact, I’ve seen a fair amount of evidence that test prep companies are no better than taking prep on your own (or using Khan Academy’s FREE and excellent online prep).
@Troyus , I agree with you. I am a tutor for a test prep company and I had to take both the SAT and ACT. I found the study materials much more difficult than the actual tests. Now that I tutor, I routinely hear from my students that the test is easier than the study material.
Interesting. The company my kid used (a partial targeted tutoring plan with multiple practice tests, not their whole shebang) said they only used previously released tests also, but who knows. I will say that the best tutoring she received was on “tricks and tips” for the test, things like timing and a few other strategies. Also, I do believe that most kids will improve with simply practice tests, both for timing and rhythm as well as tamping down performance anxiety or jitters that some folks have taking standardized tests. That familiarity is huge.
My daughter took the ACT twice. 31 and 33 were her scores. The first time with about 20 days of prep and the second time with hard core prep using many prep books. We used a tutor for a while but we weren’t convinced it was very helpful ( probably 4-5 sessions and the tutor mainly just went over questions with her). So we decided to do the rest without more tutoring and she just went over her mistakes herself. At this point she will be taking the test one more time and I am wondering what would be the best approach. She needs to get a a lit bit faster on reading cause if she gets a tougher passage she can end up taking more time and then has to guess on the last 3 questions . She does very well on English (36) ,Math she finds the last couple questions harder but fairly ok. In science, she can struggle for time sometimes.(32). For her second attempt, she did literally thousands of questions from various test prep books and old released papers so I don’t think that approach will help.
Any suggestions for a tutor who can really do targeted prep with her to overcome her shortcomings?
Thanks!
Not everyone who initially scores an average score will end up with a score 6 points higher (or any amount of points higher for that matter). It takes a lot of time and studying. So perhaps it’s a similar work ethic or academic strength.
@bullishmom Have you tried Erica Meltzer’s book on ACT reading? My daughter found it helpful. She had been consistently scoring 31 in that section on tests and was able to move it to 35 and 36 on her last two real tests. She also told me that she strictly managed her time per passage – she allocated a specific amount of time per passage. DD also says she read the passages in mixed order - working them according to her strengths/preferences.