ACT science is a bugbear here....

[JFSinIL]

DS just got his most recent results (Illinois has all the Jrs. take ACT in April as part of state testing) and science went down 3 pts from his first ACT in Dec. (other scores stayed the same, give or take 1 pt...except reading went way up to 36!!!). His overall score went up one point (28 - good, but not a scholarship score I fear). Is there any point in retaking an ACT for a 3rd time when math and science have been on the low end for two tests (22 and 23)? I am just surprised given his 'A's in all his science and math (he is in Physics and PreCalc this year).

 

Ah, well, he can try the SAT in June and maybe that score will be better. And he is not asking to major in anything mathish or sciencey in college, so maybe they will look more at his higher language subscores?

A mom can but hope.

[Stephanie/MO]

with taking precalculus before the ACT ( I had one son doing this too) is they forget the "lower" level math. This requires a lot of pretesting with the timer.

My 3rd son just finished taking the ACT in April. His math scores, testing at home, were in the 30's....always. But on the real test, he scored a 27.

Truth came out that at home, he fudged on his time, taking more than the alloted 60 minutes.

 

I does help to test, test, test, and duplicate the time.

 

Blessings,

STephanie

[Sandra in NC]

If you do take the ACT again, it might be worth checking out these links, posted a while back by a WTM member.

 

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.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef7rX...eature=related

 

The following link is the practice test which is being addressed in the videos: http://www.act.org/aap/pdf/preparing.pdf

[JFSinIL]

Thanks to both of you - I think DS has another summer project ;) so he can try one more ACT in the fall. I never would have thought Precalc. would make him forget the lower math...and in the breakdown that is where the scores are the lowest!!!!! Those science videos also look useful.

[Ida]

The SAT doesn't have a science section and I don't think the math is any harder, so that would eliminate a problem subject. I can't see any disadvantages to having him try the SAT.

[asta]

DS just got his most recent results (Illinois has all the Jrs. take ACT in April as part of state testing) and science went down 3 pts from his first ACT in Dec. (other scores stayed the same, give or take 1 pt...except reading went way up to 36!!!). His overall score went up one point (28 - good, but not a scholarship score I fear). Is there any point in retaking an ACT for a 3rd time when math and science have been on the low end for two tests (22 and 23)? I am just surprised given his 'A's in all his science and math (he is in Physics and PreCalc this year).

 

Ah, well, he can try the SAT in June and maybe that score will be better. And he is not asking to major in anything mathish or sciencey in college, so maybe they will look more at his higher language subscores?

A mom can but hope.

 

I'm relatively certain that the ACT has changed a bit since I took it (um... 25 years ago?), but I still have my score sheet for some odd reason. At the time I took it, I was BOMBING physics. Yet, I made a 98th percentile in science. I had also done poorly in Chemistry, though alright in Biology. I was acing social studies and English, but only made 80s - low 90s in them. Math - well, I was making a B in Trig at the time, and I scored something horrific, like 45%.

 

So what does this mean? I loved science. I may not have been able to work my way through every nitnoid mathematics problem in my courses, but the concepts stuck. In English and History, I could work my way through, and have stuff stick (relatively). I obviously had no relationship with mathematics...

 

Personally, I believe that standardized tests are as much about what someone is interested in as what they know.

 

Just my .02

 

 

a

[LoriM]

I'm relatively certain that the ACT has changed a bit since I took it (um... 25 years ago?), but I still have my score sheet for some odd reason. At the time I took it, I was BOMBING physics. Yet, I made a 98th percentile in science. I had also done poorly in Chemistry, though alright in Biology. I was acing social studies and English, but only made 80s - low 90s in them. Math - well, I was making a B in Trig at the time, and I scored something horrific, like 45%.

 

 

a

 

It has changed dramatically since we took it lo those many years ago. GRIN. Back in our day, the "science" subject test was a test on the actual science concepts we'd studied in high school. There were questions from biology, chemistry and physics, and actual problems to solve--equations to balance.

 

Now, the "Science Reasoning" test is more a logic test and a chart-and-graphics interpreting test than a science test. It's *awful.* Long, long ago, in a galaxy far far away I scored 32/32 on math and science...but there is no chance in the universe I'd break 30 in the science reasoning area today. With a MS in Statistics. GRIN.

 

So, if I were helping a student study for science reasoning, I'd just work all the practice problems available in every study guide we'd purchased, and be content with the best score they can manage.

[asta]

It has changed dramatically since we took it lo those many years ago. GRIN. Back in our day, the "science" subject test was a test on the actual science concepts we'd studied in high school. There were questions from biology, chemistry and physics, and actual problems to solve--equations to balance.

 

Now, the "Science Reasoning" test is more a logic test and a chart-and-graphics interpreting test than a science test. It's *awful.* Long, long ago, in a galaxy far far away I scored 32/32 on math and science...but there is no chance in the universe I'd break 30 in the science reasoning area today. With a MS in Statistics. GRIN.

 

So, if I were helping a student study for science reasoning, I'd just work all the practice problems available in every study guide we'd purchased, and be content with the best score they can manage.

 

How very sad. I mourn the decline of higher education in favor of what has essentially become expensive, high speed vocational school.

 

This actually was starting when I was in Uni - people in technical degrees complaining that they had to take liberal studies courses, and people in arts degrees complaining that they had to take algebra. Whatever happened to going to Uni to learn how to think?

 

(yeah, yeah, I'm dreaming...)

 

 

a

[luv2quilt]

Have you tried ACT guides (Cracking the ACT, and The Real ACT prep guide). They have some helpful hints on how to take the math and science sections. Also, we purchased the McGraw Hill's "10 ACT Practice Tests" and just had him take a section (timed of course) every day a month or two prior to taking the test just like it was another one of his high school subjects. The Science reasoning part of the test is a menace. My son always did well in Science, but this is the part of the ACT that he scores the lowest on. After some practice you realize it is a test on how to read graphs and charts more than it is a science test. IMO.