<p>My son is a rising junior. We live in a small town in Arkansas, and he is at top of his class. My CC research indicates that he needs to have ACT of 34 in order to be competitive. He has been studying ACT on his own and with Kaplan ACT prep this summer. However his composite scores have been 30-31, 4 practice exams so far. His initial plan was to take Sept ACT test, but now looks like it doesn't make sense to take the test if he can't score 34 on practice tests. Since Yale requires all scores to be sent in, and no more than taking exam twice, Should he wait til next spring Feb or April to take ACT? Do practice exams scores comparable with the real test scores?</p>
<p>I realize I just replied to your other post, but I have to say that you should get a red real act prep book for real act tests from previous years. They should be the most accurate. PR and Kaplan and Barron’s Alvan sometimes be too hard or too easy. There should be threads that reccomend other prep books. Look through those.</p>
<p>Try this these tips, which worked for my son: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>The ACT is all about time. Have your son take his practice tests with an egg timer set to five minutes LESS than the required amount of time for each section. With practice, this will train his mind to process the information faster.</p></li>
<li><p>Your son doesn’t have to do the problems in the order given. For example, on the math section, if your son doesn’t immediately know how to get the correct answer within 30 seconds, he should circle the problem and come back to it after finishing all the other problems.</p></li>
<li><p>The same with the reading passages. The test will always have a passage about Social Studies, Natural Science, Prose Fiction and Humanities – in that order. But, he doesn’t have to do them in the order they are given. He should do them in the order he finds easiest.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you all for your advice, they are very helpful to ease the stress :)<br>
nhd: you are right, your reply from other post, stupid mistakes cost points…need to be more consistent :)</p>
<p>FWIW… when I was prepping for ACT (using the “real former ACT tests” from the red book described above) I scored 28-29 at best. When I actually took the ACT I scored 32.</p>
<p>I believe the reason I did better on the actual test is that I knew the stakes were higher and I performed at a higher level. If I could create an analogy–its like how an athlete will describe the immense difference between practice & actual game play. The practice can never duplicate the environmental effect of the real thing.</p>
<p>He’s a rising junior. Why not wait till spring/summer of junior year His score may rise with the extra year of school. Has he tried the SAT? He may do better.</p>
<p>I second the advice of trying the SAT. Some people just do better on one or the other. Also, I don’t think Yale, or any other school, has a rule against taking standardized tests more than twice, although three times is probably about as many as one ought to do.</p>