StillStanding Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 I have a very smart, but slow methodical student. My dd took the ACT sophomore year: She didn’t finish the science, math, and English sections and got a 30. She took it again this February (she is a Junior): She didn’t have much time to prepare because after living in the same house for 20 years we had to moved to a new house and we have been crazy busy with that. She was able to finish the English section this February, but didn’t finish the math and science section –about 10 questions left for math and one passage for science. She got a 31. She got a 35 in the sections she finished (English and Reading) but only got a 27 in math and a 28 in science. She wants to be a Civil Engineer. She is not interested in applying to any competitive schools. She would like to live at home and commute to school which narrows down where she can go for school. Her 31 already gives her the max scholarship at the state school (safety school) and one of the small schools she is looking into applying. One more point would put her in a higher scholarship bracket at another local school she is looking at. I just don’t know if she is capable of being faster. What have you found helpful. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 This is the exact issue my kid has had with the math and science section. And it's all the timing and pacing. He has improved considerably by just doing a bunch of timed practice. It does take an investment of time though. I wish my kid would spend a little more time actually because now I see he really could have ceiling scores. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Has she tried the SAT? SAT gives slightly more time per question and is often the better choice for bright students who work at a slower speed. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Has she tried the SAT? SAT gives slightly more time per question and is often the better choice for bright students who work at a slower speed. This. Also, there is very little difference between the two exams (with the exception of the time per question) since the SAT was redesigned a few years ago. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 I can't help much in math other than practice-practice-practice (the ACT questions & strategy for how to solve them). But, for the Science section, have her go through For the Love of ACT Science book. Using those strategies, she should be able to finish & improve her score. The book is small for being $30! However, if it helps her score go up into the 30s, you might have that extra point you need for the extra scholarship $. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillStanding Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 This. Also, there is very little difference between the two exams (with the exception of the time per question) since the SAT was redesigned a few years ago. Thank you everybody, We have not really looked into the SAT but we will. :) More time sounds good. We live in the South and the ACT is more common. The local High Schools do not even offer it so we will need to go to a private school an hour away (or the one university in the city listed as a test site). Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillStanding Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 I can't help much in math other than practice-practice-practice (the ACT questions & strategy for how to solve them). But, for the Science section, have her go through For the Love of ACT Science book. Using those strategies, she should be able to finish & improve her score. The book is small for being $30! However, if it helps her score go up into the 30s, you might have that extra point you need for the extra scholarship $. Hello RootAnn, This book has amazing reviews! Thank you for the recommendation. I guess now we need to decide if we try the ACT again after doing some more prep with new books, or we switch to the SAT.... I really appreciate everybody's wisdom in this board. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 She got a 35 in the sections she finished (English and Reading) but only got a 27 in math and a 28 in science. She wants to be a Civil Engineer. Has she completed all the topics for math for the ACT? Assuming that she knows how to do all the questions and the only factor is speed, one way my younger kid improved his speed was to set one minute timer for each question for math. If one minute is up, you just move on to the next question. That way the easier ones get done as well and sometimes the easy questions are the last few questions on the ACT or SAT. By the time my this kid sat for the SAT Math 2 subject test, he managed to finish the 50 multiple choice questions in an hour. Does she need a math and a science subject test for engineering school admission? Time is a factor on those. There is 5 practice tests for ACT on this link https://blog.prepscholar.com/printable-act-practice-tests-5-free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I guess now we need to decide if we try the ACT again after doing some more prep with new books, or we switch to the SAT.... No matter what you decide about retaking the ACT, she should definitely do a full-length, timed practice test for the SAT. Eight are available free on College Board's website and Khan (#5-8 are actual prior administrations, with #8 being January 2017). There are a couple of additional tests available online if one knows where to look, including the October 2017 QAS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Does super scoring help and would it be accepted? I was a bit surprised to learn how many schools simply want the highest score in each section. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendall Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 My son was missed very few math questions, but was slow and didn't finish the tests. He did a bunch of math practice tests-real ACT ones. We went over every single question right or wrong. We talked about ways to do it faster. Sometimes I could see from what he had written and sometimes he would describe his thinking process and we would think about ways to be faster. We talked about things like keeping an eye on the answers and not going further in solving than you have to in order to narrow the choice down to 1. He improved his score by about 6 points from his first practice test to the actual test. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillStanding Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 Has she completed all the topics for math for the ACT? Assuming that she knows how to do all the questions and the only factor is speed, one way my younger kid improved his speed was to set one minute timer for each question for math. If one minute is up, you just move on to the next question. That way the easier ones get done as well and sometimes the easy questions are the last few questions on the ACT or SAT. By the time my this kid sat for the SAT Math 2 subject test, he managed to finish the 50 multiple choice questions in an hour. Does she need a math and a science subject test for engineering school admission? Time is a factor on those. There is 5 practice tests for ACT on this link https://blog.prepscholar.com/printable-act-practice-tests-5-free Yes, she has finished (she is almost done with Saxon Advanced Math). She has been practicing with some prep books, as sometimes the way the tests asks the questions doesn't exactly match Saxon's way. I really like the idea of using a timer :) Our state school requires an ACT of 25 to get into the engineering school (she has a 27). None of the private schools she is looking at are supper selective (about 60% admitted who applied). None require SAT subject tests to be admitted. If she can up her ACT score she will be in a higher scholarship bracket at one of the two private colleges she (thinks) wants to apply--we will visit the school on Monday. Thank you for linking the 5 practice tests. They will come handy if she decides to try again (if she likes the school we visit on Monday). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillStanding Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 No matter what you decide about retaking the ACT, she should definitely do a full-length, timed practice test for the SAT. Eight are available free on College Board's website and Khan (#5-8 are actual prior administrations, with #8 being January 2017). There are a couple of additional tests available online if one knows where to look, including the October 2017 QAS. Thank you! We like Kahn--She used it for PSAT prep (qualified as a National Hispanic Scholar). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillStanding Posted March 15, 2018 Author Share Posted March 15, 2018 (edited) Does super scoring help and would it be accepted? I was a bit surprised to learn how many schools simply want the highest score in each section. None of the schools my oldest visited accepted a super-score. We are just now starting to visit colleges with second child but according to what we have read on their website, they don't do supper-scoring either. It might be a regional thing (?). We are in Tennessee. Edited March 15, 2018 by StillStanding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 ACT superscore list on prepscholar. https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-that-superscore-act-complete-list 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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