brendafromtenn Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Heh, Ya'll! We got our first ACT scores this week for first born ds. As a sophomore we got a 28 composite. We are very pleased with his first try. Here is my question though. He wants to bump this score up to a 30 or 31 to be in line for more scholarship money. Now, I'm not concerned about math.....That will come up with another year of math. And math is his strength. And I feel he is doing well with the English. It was his highest subtest score and he hates grammar. But we just kept plugging along and he KNOWS his grammar. (Thank you R&S and Analytical Grammar and SWB!!) But what do we do to bump up reading and science reasoning? He got a 28 in reading and 27 in science reasoning. Should we just "keep on keeping on" with what we are doing, or is there something specific that we can work on? We use a great books approach to reading and use Apologia Science for science. He will be doing physics next year. We just need a few extra points....Any ideas? Blessings, Brenda:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyinNNV Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 The science reasoning test includes a lot of graph/table interpretation. So, I think that purchasing a test prep book and doing lots of those types of problems would help a student's score. I've noticed that these types of problems are included in the Prentice Hall Biology program. I think it is because of the ACT. Holly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokyomarie Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 If you haven't done ACT test prep, I do encourage you to get some test prep materials. My girls- esp. my second daughter- both benefited from learning tips for taking the college admissions tests. We used CD-ROM materials from both Kaplan and Princeton Review. They were more engaging than the paper test prep books. Just a quick peek shows that Kaplan still has a CD-ROM available for a pretty reasonable price. Princeton Review has taken their computerized courses to a very pricey online version. Anyway, learning the tricks of the test-taking trade really helped to boost my daughter's scores. As far as other prep, if your son is continuing to read good classic lit and wrestle with understanding it and he is continuing his science preparation and doing well, his scores should naturally take a jump over the next 1-1.5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avdelp Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 My dd also got a 28 composite as a sophomore. The next year she took it she got a 28 again, and she was SO upset. She decided to take it again 4 months later and this time she scored a 31! 35 English, 30 Math, 33 Reading and 25 Science. We didn't change anything we were doing. I think just having the experience from the previous tests helped. We had her practicing with books from Princeton Review and the "Real ACT" book. She never took an actual prep course. Also, the time she got the 31 she did not do the additional writing test--we just wanted her to focus on the main test. The other 2 times she did do the writing. She is going to take the ACT again in June, in hopes of raising her science score, but we aren't too worried about it. Best wishes to your child--a 28 as a sophomore is terrific! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendall Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 My son took the ACT cold as a sophomore and wasn't able to finish the science and reading portions. The ACT prep books have helped him increase his practice test scores by 4 for each of those. You really do need a strategy for them and need to learn which types of questions are hardest for you and do those last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendafromtenn Posted February 20, 2009 Author Share Posted February 20, 2009 Here is what we have done thus far...... Sorry I did not include this information in the first e-mail. 1)Took an ACT prep class with our umbrella school(Well worth our time...) 2)Took 3 practice tests the three Fridays prior to our test date. The week of testing, we took that week off. So we did the practice tests on Jan16th, 23rd, and 30th.....But then did not take one on Feb 6th, as his test date was the following day. 3)Also went through some of the sections in the Princeton Review Hope that helps! Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I saw these links on another board as being a help specifically for the ACT Science portion. The following is a link to the first video in a series of eight (I believe) in which the instructor goes through a science reasoning section in real time. The following link is the practice test which is being addressed in the videos: http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/preparing.pdf Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brendafromtenn Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 Thank you so much to all of you who have given wonderful ideas for me to think about and use. Blessings to you all, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.