BlsdMama Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Preparation is worth it. And not preparing will kick you in the tail. Does anyone know if ACT is at all like SAT in that the colleges take the highest score of each category? DD's previous lowest score was science (19) so we did some prep work on that and she scored a 28. Her previous high score was Reading (35) and so we did NOT spend much time on that - it dropped to a 31. :( Overall happy with her improvements in Math and Science (where we focused more) but disappointed for such a big drop in her strong subjects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imeverywoman Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 What a great improvement! How did you prepare? I'm curious because for one of my kids, we paid a ridiculous amount of $$$, and we couldn't budge his score from a 26, and in fact, his score actually dropped after the prep course. After all that work, he was so very disappointed! Great job! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlsdMama Posted April 22, 2014 Author Share Posted April 22, 2014 For writing we used PWN the SAT. It's an excellent essay resource but it did center on the SAT not the ACT. We used the SAT study guide for English and took tests. If I remember correctly there was some info in the PWN for English as well. Really, truly, I think his books were an incredible resource. A little, um, rough around the edges at times, but easy to understand, to the point, and an all around excellent resource! We used the ACT blue book for science, but essentially she really just needed to get used to reading graphs, charts, etc., and interpreting data. It was wholly unfamiliar to her and she just need practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Interesting that they don't post all of them on the same date Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GailV Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Does anyone know if ACT is at all like SAT in that the colleges take the highest score of each category? Different universities have different policies on this. Some super score, some don't. You'll have to look at individual policies. For example, Univ. of Illinois takes the total score from the time that you scored the highest in your chosen field --for example, if you're going into science, they will use the total score from the time you scored highest on the science portion. However, they don't super score, so if your English score was low that time, well, that's just the way it is. The tests vary from test date to test date, and many people find their scores vary based not so much on preparation but on how easy that particular test was for them. There was a rumor that a particular date was "good" for getting higher scores, and that's when athletes take the test -- I don't recall the details of the rumor, but it does illustrate that people have all sorts of theories about why scores can vary so much from date to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Ds's scores were up yesterday. He has done very little prep so far, but we were very happy with his scores. He will do some studying and try one more time because one more point on his composite will put him into the top scholarship category at his first choice University. Can I admit as a homeschool parent how very validating this was for me? :leaving: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Yes, I am panicking a bit. Ds's score went down?? This is the kid who was getting letters from Ivy Leagues after his PLAN test. His first ACT came back "just OK", so we knew he needed to study more. He took an online prep class that covered everything AND worked through the Chalk Dust math study since his math was the one that was very low. His Math went up 2 points. Not as much as we had hoped, but still it went up. His science stayed the same, even after the prep class. His English and Reading BOTH WENT DOWN???? We have not even received the Writing test which he says he is sure he bombed. Having said this, I know he has really been focused on his two AP tests more than he was this ACT, but I have this very bad feeling in my stomach today. I am signing him up for the June test and will sign him up for the fall one if his next one is not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Preparation is worth it. And not preparing will kick you in the tail. Does anyone know if ACT is at all like SAT in that the colleges take the highest score of each category? That depends on the college. For example, GA Tech will superscore across both SAT and ACT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 This is the kid who was getting letters from Ivy Leagues after his PLAN test. Taking any of the college readiness tests seems to trigger mail from all sorts of schools, from the tippy top to ones you've never heard of. I'm not so sure the mail has much to do with what the student scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Taking any of the college readiness tests seems to trigger mail from all sorts of schools, from the tippy top to ones you've never heard of. I'm not so sure the mail has much to do with what the student scores. But his PLAN score was exceptional! Even if the college letters have nothing to do with it - is the PLAN that much of a poor predictor of what the test will be like when they take the actual ACT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 But his PLAN score was exceptional! Even if the college letters have nothing to do with it - is the PLAN that much of a poor predictor of what the test will be like when they take the actual ACT? I don't know. I've only been through the process with my oldest. He did score significantly better on the PLAN than on the ACT, although IIRC he had a pretty bad cold on the day he took the ACT. So in his case that could certainly account for the difference. OTOH, DS did significantly better on the SAT than he did on the PSAT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 But his PLAN score was exceptional! Even if the college letters have nothing to do with it - is the PLAN that much of a poor predictor of what the test will be like when they take the actual ACT? It is a very rough predictor. The PSAT is a bit better predictor of SAT scores, but I still see many kids that end up with scores that are significantly different than what they got on the "pre" tests. They key question for me would not be what his PLAN scores were, but what did he score on a red book practice ACT at home. While it isn't 100% percent by any means, I find much more consistency in the predictions between "real" sample tests at home and actual test dates. If there is a big gap between home sample tests and actual test, sometimes the student just had a bad day or maybe they have some test anxiety or distraction going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 DD's previous lowest score was science (19) so we did some prep work on that and she scored a 28. Good for her. That's really impressive. I have had students who make similar gains in science and I often tell students with poor science scores to take time for prep instead of just assuming the SAT will be a better test. What approach did you use for prep? Here's a list of colleges that superscore the ACT. It is really difficult to keep these sorts of lists current and homeschool requirements and scholarship requirements can vary so it is always good to check with individual colleges too. For those who are confused by scoring and would like more information about how this process works here's an article about superscoring from my website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 It is a very rough predictor. The PSAT is a bit better predictor of SAT scores, but I still see many kids that end up with scores that are significantly different than what they got on the "pre" tests. They key question for me would not be what his PLAN scores were, but what did he score on a red book practice ACT at home. While it isn't 100% percent by any means, I find much more consistency in the predictions between "real" sample tests at home and actual test dates. If there is a big gap between home sample tests and actual test, sometimes the student just had a bad day or maybe they have some test anxiety or distraction going on. His red book practice scores were good. Not exceptional, but certainly not bad. The unfortunate thing is that he was confident he did pretty well on it and is as stunned as I am. Maybe he just had a bad day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 is the PLAN that much of a poor predictor of what the test will be like when they take the actual ACT? Ds's ACT composite was 1 point higher than the top end of the range predicted by the PLAN. When I did some searching on tWTM to see how PLAN scores correlated to ACT scores, it was a pretty typical bell curve. The vast majority said accurate, a few above a few below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Ds's ACT composite was 1 point higher than the top end of the range predicted by the PLAN. When I did some searching on tWTM to see how PLAN scores correlated to ACT scores, it was a pretty typical bell curve. The vast majority said accurate, a few above a few below. Well then... I am just not sure what to think. Maybe he had a bad day. I guess it is back to the drawing board on the prep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Well then... I am just not sure what to think. Maybe he had a bad day. I guess it is back to the drawing board on the prep. I'd go with the bad day and not stress out over it. Prep again, but try to avoid stress and see if it comes out better next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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