Juniors and seniors have one or two tests on their minds. The ACT and the SAT are back in season, and preparation for these tests can be crucial. For most universities, only one of these tests is required, and as the SAT is less stressed in Illinois, many students will focus all of preparation energies of the ACT. But what kind of ACT prep gives the most bang for its buck?
Some, like senior Fatima Hassan, would advocate for the private classes route: “I went to Huntington in Gurnee, so I went there on the weekends. It was like two hours a day. It was not fun; it was kind of boring, but I got through it, you know? I did that for maybe two months or longer. I’m not sure. But it did actually prepare me a lot.”
To put this assessment in perspective, Hassan moved up one point from her Practice ACT score immediately after going through a private program. Taking it again, she jumped three more points, something she attributes to not worrying going into it.
Hassan’s one-point improvement is mirrored in the experience of another senior. Emily Prey also increased her score by one point, but she chose the less rigid self-studying method. “I used the Princeton Review [book]… I did the online tests, like practice tests, but that was pretty much it,” said Prey.
Others prefer to spend more energy on structured studying. Senior Theresa Manfredini used a private tutor, The Real ACT book, and took Libertyville High School’s ACT Prep course. While Manfredini doesn’t believe that going through LHS was helpful as it reviewed many topics already hammered at school, she believes the tutor through which she went, Ms. Pam Szwaya, was critical to her three-point increase.The variety of methods were particularly beneficial.
“I went to a private tutor, and it would be once a week, and she would give me maybe [two to four] ACT tests, so like a test for reading, a test for English, and I would just go through practice problems and then I’d work on it on my own. And working on it on my own really helped because I could go at my own pace, and I would clock it every time, and she’d give me a certain time to go. And my score moved up three [points],” Manfredini added.
Differences in quality of program will also affect perception and outcome. According to The Huffington Post’s Carlee J. Adams, “experts suggest that consumers do their homework before shelling out money and make sure the prep service is the right fit” because “outside research shows coaching has minimal positive effects, although there hasn’t been a randomized, controlled experiment to isolate the impact of test prep.”
Given the disparity between various prep courses and their prices, students may also choose to rely upon a book as Manfredini (The Real ACT Prep Guide) and Prey (Princeton Review: Cracking the ACT) did. These should also be chosen by personal preference, though trusted names include Kaplan, Princeton Review, The Real ACT, and REA, Inc.
Libertyville High School’s College and Career Counselor, Ms. Amy Belstra stressed the importance of remembering that wrong answers won’t count against a test taker and knowing the format of the test. The PLAN test is a good indicator of score range, though students who lose focus after taking the ACT once may actually fall in score. Ms. Belstra believes that taking the ACT three times is usually enough to have one good and one bad day and cover the usual three point test-to-test score fluctuation. In order to up potential focus and increase the chances of having a good day, one should, Ms. Belstra suggested, focus on studying the particular sections that are the most individually problematic, and offered, “get a good night’s sleep, get up early enough to eat a light breakfast, and lay out materials the night before.”
Test-optional universities give students the opportunity to be admitted without ever sharing their test scores. More information on test-optional schools and standardized testing can be found at www.fairtest.org, run by The National Center for Fair and Open Testing. Ms. Belstra asked that students realize that many schools with more competition for enrollment and applicants with similar records will often require every test a student has taken. Students applying to Ivy League institutions or other equally regarded universities such as Stanford should be prepared to have standardized test scores required and weighted in admissions just below GPA the difficulty of one’s curriculum and.
Juniors (and some seniors) should remember that decisions about how/where/when to prepare for the ACT are up to them. The programs and books, and how many to use, that have the best results are the ones suited to each student personally. With prep companies making fewer authenticated claims, a student can only securely choose their method of preparation based on comfort and personal experience.
