I want to go to Mizzou and my GPA is not as high as I would like it to be so is freshman year of high school to early to begin preparing for the ACT? What can I do to prepare?
I wouldn’t say it’s too early but it’s always better to be prepared. Typically, the ACT will be taken in junior year, so you still have two more years of prepping. For now, just do well in your classes and make sure you know your basics in math. The math section of the ACT deals with more complicated problems like trigonometry and quadratics so you should study the basics of algebra really well. Later on, you can just skip ahead to the harder concepts instead of reviewing the foundations. I would say that you should focus more on your GPA right now and your classes instead of focusing on the ACT. Freshman year is difficult to adjust to and colleges know that so some will be lenient when looking at freshman grades.
The SAT and SAT measure high school preparation for college. The best advice, then, seems to me to learn, listen, study, think, do well on tests and read everything that comes your way== maximize learning. You may find some classes and teachers boring, but they aren’t designed or intended to fascinate you. Lots of high school information isn’t thrilling to learn then, but might or might not become useful later. Just learn it. Your brain can hold lots of stuff!
One way to prepare would be to take practice ACT’s. The “Red Book” has practice questions and you can time yourself which is very helpful. Check out the library as some will offer a free practice test. I agree it depends on your math cycle. My son was in advanced math and took the ACT the summer before sophomore year with good results. He had taken a few practice tests at home and didn’t feel any pressure for the test since he wasn’t older. Good luck!