taking a practice ACT test as a HS Freshman

[kfeusse]

we are considering having our daughter take a practice ACT next year....just to see where she is act academically and to give her the opportunity to take a test like that.   Is that a good idea??   If so, can someone lead me in the right direction as to where to find some good practice tests?  thanks.

[creekland]

I'm assuming you mean a practice test at home vs paying for a real test?  If so, yes it can be a good idea.  I wouldn't pay for one in 9th grade without other reasons for doing so (feeling she needed "real" test practice or something - and even then - 10th grade is a good year for that).

 

You could find older real tests in your local library in test prep books.  That would be your least expensive option - just have her put her answers on paper.

 

If you want her to fill in bubbles, etc, you could buy your own test prep book with older real tests.  Look for this book:

 

http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/book.html

 

Other books give their versions of similar tests. (Barrons tends to be harder, McGraw Hill tends to be easier but has good teaching sections, Kaplan is worthless, Princeton Review is the closest to the real thing - all opinions of my middle son who prefers to tutor out of Barrons because it is more difficult and makes the real test easier later.)

[regentrude]

You mean just a practice test at home, not actually taking the ACT?

The red RealACT prep book has 3 or 5 old ACTs you could use.

[Space station]

I had my 8th grader take the real ACT in December for practice. It was a good experience for her and she scored much higher than I expected. If you want to give her a similar experience that won't be as advanced, you could look into the ACT Explore tests (geared at the 8th grade level) or Aspire test (which is for 9th graders). Either is supposed to predict how a student will do on the ACT in their junior year. I don't know if that is really how it works out, but that is how they are billed.

 

However, you could just do a test prep book yourself, grade it and save a lot of money. :)

[mjbucks1]

Since our state requires either testing or an assessment by a teacher every year I have been having my son take the ACT since 6th grade. He was ready for it. DD is in 8th grade and will take it for the first time this year. I make sure they know the test is not A big deal and just lets me plan their courses better. If the money is not an issue I think it is a good idea.

[Mom22ns]

I think it depends on how much it will hurt her confidence if she doesn't do well. There is nothing wrong with taking the ACT more than once. Using the Real ACT book and doing some practice tests is a good idea before taking the real thing in 11th grade for sure. I do think you should be careful about having her take it in 9th if she isn't ready though. Too often people do "practice" exams, then panic. Their kids panic. Everything gets out of hand, tons of studying, classes, stress, when all they really needed was a couple more years to learn what the test covers.

[creekland]

Be aware that a few colleges also that all scores are sent to them (most let you choose, but not all).  These tend to be more selective colleges.  If you think you're trying to aim that direction, it could be wise to do a practice test at home first in case there are gaps you want to fill in prior to any official scores.

[The Girls' Mom]

This website has a list of free ACT tests from previous years that you can use as practice tests.  I had my girls take several of these before their actual tests and it really gave us a feel for how they would do.  

http://www.badtesttakers.com/resources/

I also liked the book associated with that website if you are interested in test taking techniques to better your score.  

[katilac]

You can go to the Princeton Review site and look for free practice tests in your area. That's what I did, so my kids could suffer through the entire process of getting up early, having their calculators checked, and filling in bubbles  :D

[RootAnn]

I think you got some good advice already, but I'll reinforce that it can be a blow to do a section, especially something like the math section, and feel like you completely blew it because you didn't know most of the problems. It is much better to wait until your kid has seen much of the math before throwing them into the real ACT situation.

 

With that said, I had my eldest take the ACT this spring. It was a good experience & some of her scores make her eligible to take local college classes, even if by age she can't yet.  :laugh: I have them in my back pocket for when I go that direction. I don't plan on having her take it again until spring of either sophomore year or fall of junior year.

[LisaKinVA]

My oldest two (7th and 9th) both took the ACT (without writing) this year.  They were both ready and both did very well.  I was nervous about the "all scores being sent" as well, but the scores are sent with dates, so an ADCOM could easily see that his (hopefully lowest) scores were from the 9th grade.  I plan to have them take the ACT with writing next year.  Oldest son has only expressed an interest in schools (thus far) that super score, so it probably won't matter at all.