choirfarm Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 I thought I would share how I had my son prepare for the ACT. This came in part because of a college confidential question about how they did on a practice test and how they did on a real test. I saw how much he had improved. I bought two books: the red REAL ACT booklet and the Barrons 36 book. The first week he took 1 of the practice tests out of the real ACT book. One test a day: math, reading, English, Science and writing. I like spreading it out as it only adds 25 minutes to his regular school day. He got a Engl. 31, Math 27, Reading 29, Science 27. His composite was 28. He looked at what he missed and WHY he missed it. Over the next month he did a subject a week: He read through the English section in the Barrons ACT 36 book. He did the exercises in the book. He took a practice test in that subject in the REAL ACT book and tried to understand WHY he missed what he missed. Would anything in the Barrons book have helped him with what he missed? The scores from that test that he took over that month were:English 32, Math 30, Reading 32, and science 26. Composite 30. Then we had one week left until the exam. Once again he took a test over that week. HOWEVER, we discovered these cool science videos online so instead of doing the science test he watched these videos ( since as you can see that is the subject where he didn't improve) I really wish we had found these earlier so he could have incorporated them into that week he spent on science prep. He didn't make it all the way through the videos. His scores for that test were: English 32, Math 30, and Reading 34. I also wish we had been better about practicing the essays. He only did those 3. I should have had him practice several each week. But he had writing in his other "real" classes and I didn't want to take away from that. Until the SAT this March I am making the writing his writing for English. So he took the ACT in December and these were his scores:English 35, Reading 34, Math 34 and science 31. His composite was 34. His writing score was 7. This was a relatively painless way to prepare for the ACT. He spent around 30 minutes a day for 6 weeks. We are doing something similar for the SAT except we are adding in more prep for writing. I hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lang Syne Boardie Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thanks, choirfarm :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thank you so much. The college where my dh and I graduated and dd is interested in gives a full tuition scholarship for a 31 or higher or the ACT. If she wants to go there, we'll need all the help we can get. I've heard the ACT is easier than the SAT. Please let us know if that's true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asta Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thank you so much. The college where my dh and I graduated and dd is interested in gives a full tuition scholarship for a 31 or higher or the ACT. If she wants to go there, we'll need all the help we can get. I've heard the ACT is easier than the SAT. Please let us know if that's true. Mmm... not really. It's more that they appeal to different ways of thinking. From their website: The ACT and SAT are different tests that measure similar but distinct constructs. The ACT measures achievement related to high school curricula, while the SAT measures general verbal and quantitative reasoning. and Relating ACT and SAT scores is a difficult problem. The fundamental difficulty is that the two test batteries measure somewhat different educational constructs. The ACT tests are curriculum-based tests of educational development. Their content is intended to be representative of knowledge and higher-order thinking skills that are explicitly taught in typical college-preparatory programs and that are essential for success in college. The ACT measures academic achievement in the areas of English, mathematics, reading, and science. The SAT, in contrast, measures reading, writing and mathematical reasoning, and is less closely linked to high school and college curricula. Because the ACT and SAT are not parallel in content, and different students have different strengths and weaknesses, there is really no such thing as an “equivalent†score on the two tests. HTH a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thank you Choirfarm for sharing! I'm going to pass those science videos along to dd - thank you!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Congrats to your son choirfarm. That's great! Mom 31257. About a third of the people do better on the ACT, a third on the SAT and a third about the same. I would encourage you to ask about the scholarship. Most often schools use the corresponding score for the SAT and ACT so students can choose the test that's better for them. If so, I'd suggest your student take a sample of both at home and see which test they do better on and work from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 This is chart shows how the scores for the ACT and the SAT compare. http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/estimate.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Congrats to your son choirfarm. That's great! Mom 31257. About a third of the people do better on the ACT, a third on the SAT and a third about the same. I would encourage you to ask about the scholarship. Most often schools use the corresponding score for the SAT and ACT so students can choose the test that's better for them. If so, I'd suggest your student take a sample of both at home and see which test they do better on and work from there. They do have it for the SAT as well. I've read that the ACT is more like school standardized tests, and dd tests top 1% on those, so I'm hoping that even if the SAT is challenging, then maybe the ACT will be her style. She will definitely be taking both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MicheleinMN Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 :lurk5: Thank you and congrats on those scores!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 HOWEVER, we discovered these cool science videos online so instead of doing the science test he watched these videos ( since as you can see that is the subject where he didn't improve) Did he pick up the ACT sample test from a high school, like the teacher recommends, or did he just listen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thank you for posting how your son prepared, and especially for the link to the videos. I had seen them years ago, but now my son is actually about to take the ACT (Feb. 11) - for the first time! I think he will enjoy -- and learn from -- the science videos. And congrats to your son on his scores! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) Did he pick up the ACT sample test from a high school, like the teacher recommends, or did he just listen? I'll have to ask him. But I think that he gives you a link to a pdf where you can dowload it. However, I think maybe the test was the the wrong version. However, I think he had it in his REAL book maybe. He had taken the science test that he was talking through... Edited January 17, 2012 by choirfarm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thanks for sharing, choirfarm. I was just talking to ds about how we/he is going to prepare this year (10th grade) for the ACT. He took it last year with no prep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Choirfarm, thank you for posting about your very specific path and your ds' test scores. You've been very helpful Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Thanks Choirfarm. I appreaciate learning a method that is simple and not too time consuming. I like the video idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonor Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thank you and congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I'll have to ask him. But I think that he gives you a link to a pdf where you can dowload it. However, I think maybe the test was the the wrong version. However, I think he had it in his REAL book maybe. He had taken the science test that he was talking through... I just got the "Real ACT" book and it doesn't have the test he goes through on the videos. However, you're right, there's a pdf on the web here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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