ACT today anyone?

[Kalypso]

My ds is taking it for the first time. He's a bit anxious, but then again, so am I!

[Kidlit]

My dd13 is taking it. First time for her, too. I'm less anxious this time since my dd14 took it a few years ago.  @Kalypso I hope both our children have calmness and clarity of mind!

[teachermom2834]

My 10th grader took it. He has taken it before but this was the one that we are going to really assess the results and make a plan for prep or possibly consider the SAT. So this is one that will inform some decisions going forward. He will have some scores he is trying to hit for automatic merit aid to potential colleges so we’ll know how much work we have to do. We will see!

[SebastianCat]

My 11th grader took it today for the 3rd time, so no nerves here.   He really only needed to improve his writing score, so that's what we've been focusing on, and we anticipate that his math score will naturally come up now that he's nearly completed Trig and Pre-Calc.   We will see in a few weeks!

[Kidlit]

Dd, usually quite pessimistic, didn’t have much good to say about her experience. She DID, however, manage to leave nothing blank.  I have no idea what to expect from her score. 

[ElizabethB]

My daughter took it, with essay.

They may have been given one less break than they were supposed to, she sat for 5 hours with only 1 break.  PrepScholar said they are supposed to get an additional 5 minute break before the essay, I could not find what the official ACT site said about breaks.

Luckily, she did not have to go to the bathroom, at least, but that it is lot to do with only one break. 

[Kalypso]

My ds just got home. He didn't have much to say about it. They had one 10 min break, and then they had a few minutes before the essay as others were turning in their tests. The second one was a stay in your seat not walk around break. He's glad to be free of thinking about it until the scores are released.

[RootAnn]

Dd#1 said it was strangely to be taking the ACT this year. She took a friend home after the friend took it today. I'll have a kid taking it next spring  (and DH is supposedly going to take it at the same time. He & BIL are supposedly going to have a competition on who can score higher as an adult. 😉)

Edited April 13, 2019 by RootAnn

[MamaSprout]

Dd took it today. Said she had one of the extra tests at the end that don’t count. She felt pretty good about it and we will definitely use this test site again.

[BusyMom5]

My oldest took it for the first time today.  She had s 5th section- an extra 14 science questions.

[Kalypso]

My ds had the extra science section at the end, too. 

 

[easypeasy]

DD took it and this was the FIRST time she didn't have an extra set of questions at the end! Her other three (two ACTs and one SAT) all had the additional section. She was starting to feel jinxed. lol

The proctor this time collected every phone (kids usually just have them off and in their bags somewhere), every snack (kids usually leave them in their bags or in the hallway), and ALL THE WATER BOTTLES. 😕 Which had never happened before either. So, the kids did the entire test with water only during the brief single break they got. 🙄

DDs score keeps inching up a point or two every time she tests, so she's taking another test or two in June too. She's a senior, but taking a gap year and many of the schools have said they'll accept the June scores. Woot!

[JadeOrchidSong]

How did your dc prep for ACT? I am gathering some ideas to help ds16. He will take PreAct on April 19 for the second time. I am just curious to see ow much he can improve on his math. He will take ACT next spring as a junior. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Ds took it, with the writing essay. He did have the extra questions.

[Hoggirl]

^I thought only kids who didn’t take the essay had the extra questions/section??  An extra section wasn’t a thing on the ACT when ds took it.  It was on the SAT, but I don’t think you knew which section was experimental.  You could figure out whether it was math or reading or (back then) writing based on the total number of sections after it was over, but tha was it.  Aren’t the practice ones all tacked on the end now??  I don’t get how that helps the testing agencies.  I mean, the kids know they don’t count now, right? So what is the incentive to do well? How can either the ACT or SAT get a good read on how the questions are???  Maybe i am mid understanding how it works.  I’m curious, for sure.

[prairiewindmomma]

Yeah, my ds didn’t know extra questions were a possibility so he came out surprised  when he shared how things had gone. He said the questions were handled as a fifth test. He then completed his writing essay.

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by prairiewindmomma

[Hoggirl]

^okay, I think that is awful!  They should at least let them do the essay first!

[RootAnn]

From what I've seen on reddit, students have confirmed everything but the science section was reused from the Feb 2018 ACT. Science might have been new. 

[2_girls_mommy]

Mine took it for the first time with writing. She was not optimistic about her math just because that's her least strong subject nor tge science just because she said she was pretty brain fried by the end. Then she did the writing, but she felt ok about it. We shall see. She'll retake next year to up any scores. 

[teachermom2834]

Scores are in here. Mine is in 10th grade and raised the composite five points from 9th grade. Still a little room to improve and he’ll try but he hit a number we can live with and he can get merit aid with so we are very happy. A couple more points would give him a few more options but we are happy here today. Composite also 3 points higher than any practice test so surprised too.

I don’t think I would have worried at all about a 10th grade ACT with my older kids figuring it was early and they had a lot of time. I still feel that way but the stress of college admissions (and really much more so the paying for college part) has me a bit traumatized. Lol. I admit to getting into a panic thinking about #3 kid starting college. So if nothing else this score can help me go back to sleep when I wake up in a college financing panic.

Now I can worry about all the score cutoffs for merit aid going up between now and then I guess. 🙂

[BusyMom5]

My 10th graders are in.  First time taking it, she's in 10th grade, I'm so proud - composite score of 31!  

[SebastianCat]

My 11th grader's math score improved by 2 points, which is awesome, and his other scores were very good.   He really needed to improve his writing score, which won't be released for a while, but I am pleased with his scores.

[prairiewindmomma]

Ds also has his scores back. He did very well. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Ds is actually in automatic merit aid range. Does anyone know where we can research more?

[ElizabethB]

On April 14, 2019 at 11:33 AM, JadeOrchidSong said:

How did your dc prep for ACT? I am gathering some ideas to help ds16. He will take PreAct on April 19 for the second time. I am just curious to see ow much he can improve on his math. He will take ACT next spring as a junior. 

I recommend the ACT black book, my daughter's scores improved 5 points overall and 2 points on the English section from the tips in that book. She took it in February and again in April, she did much better this time.  It just took 1 hour of study to get that improvement in English from the Black Book organization.  For example, she missed mainly things that that book calls "comma sandwiches," she studied the comma sandwich section, then took some more comma sandwich questions open book, then took comma sandwich ACT questions closed book, 2 more points.  The comm sandwich thing makes no sense to me, really, but you just memorize it...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0692078398/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You also need this book that goes with it:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119508061/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For math prep, we basically did what was in this book but on our own, but I got this book for my son, it is ACT and ACT like questions organized by topic:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989496473/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We did use a few questions and the organization from this book, but I only got it a week or so before the test.

Prior to the February test we were just doing a few practice tests and working on understanding what she missed.  She did well enough in February to go to most of the colleges she wanted, but borderline for one college, so we did a bit more study in math and got the ACT black book and studied using its tips.

[teachermom2834]

18 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Ds is actually in automatic merit aid range. Does anyone know where we can research more?

 

I actually do most of my research by just going to the college website to see what they have listed for freshman scholarships. You can google the name of the university + freshman scholarships or out of state scholarships or that sort of thing. My ds wants to stay in the region so that limits the googling. Public schools are more up front about automatic awards. Running a net price calculator can clue you in to what to expect at some private schools. Word of caution depending on the age of your child- they scholarships do change from year to year so the cutoffs can change between now and the time your child applies. My second ds hit the score he needed at one school jr year and then that school raised the cutoff by a point. 

I am sure there are lists out there for automatic scholarships but they are probably difficult to keep accurate and up to date. I would go straight to the college website to verify any info you find from another source. 

[borninthesouth]

We took it on the 13th.  She got a 31.  My question for all you veterans is (this is my oldest)— do we focus on the ACT and bringing her score up or do we also take the SAT?  She had a perfect score in the reading section and a 35 on the grammar.  Her math and science are the ones we would like to bring up and I’ve heard that’s easier than the English section.  Thanks!!!

[BusyMom5]

I am not a veteran,  this is also my oldest kid.  My plan for right now is to switch yo PSAT test prep, and take that in the fall.  I don't think we will test again until next February. 

[prairiewindmomma]

1 hour ago, borninthesouth said:

We took it on the 13th.  She got a 31.  My question for all you veterans is (this is my oldest)— do we focus on the ACT and bringing her score up or do we also take the SAT?  She had a perfect score in the reading section and a 35 on the grammar.  Her math and science are the ones we would like to bring up and I’ve heard that’s easier than the English section.  Thanks!!!

Ds is also taking the SAT because some universities he's looking at want ACT with writing, others want SAT.  He's taking the SAT May 2.  He's a junior. 

For ds's studying, we evaluated his practice tests and tallied what types of errors he was making.  We found that there were repeated mistakes between practice tests, so we targeted remediating those topics.  He took a practice test a week until he took the actual test. The remediation work really paid off.

[madteaparty]

4 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Ds is also taking the SAT because some universities he's looking at want ACT with writing, others want SAT.  He's taking the SAT May 2.  He's a junior. 

For ds's studying, we evaluated his practice tests and tallied what types of errors he was making.  We found that there were repeated mistakes between practice tests, so we targeted remediating those topics.  He took a practice test a week until he took the actual test. The remediation work really paid off.

Sorry to butt-in: are there universities that request ONLY SAT? 

[mom2scouts]

My sophomore's scores were disappointing, especially in math. He usually works slowly, so I knew the pace of this test would be a problem for him. I'm glad I had him take it this year because we still have time to study and practice and try to get his scores up. He really wants to go to a military academy (at least they superscore!) and college will be out of reach without some merit aid. The past few weeks have been filled with multiple disappointments and I was hoping for a composite that was several points higher.

[SebastianCat]

1 hour ago, mom2scouts said:

My sophomore's scores were disappointing, especially in math. He usually works slowly, so I knew the pace of this test would be a problem for him. I'm glad I had him take it this year because we still have time to study and practice and try to get his scores up. He really wants to go to a military academy (at least they superscore!) and college will be out of reach without some merit aid. The past few weeks have been filled with multiple disappointments and I was hoping for a composite that was several points higher.

What math has he taken?   My DS took the ACT for the first time in July after his sophomore year (after Algebra 2), and math was his lowest score.   He re-took it in December 2018 (halfway through junior year) and it went up 2 points (after taking College Algebra).   He is almost finished with Trig AND Pre-Calc (both college classes) this semester, and his math score went up another 2 points.    If your DS hasn't gotten that far in math, don't worry just yet about his scores.   If his other subtests were good, spend some time practicing and prepping for math, especially the pace.

My DS is also hoping to go to an academy.  USNA invited him to a CVW this spring, which was very motivating.   His preliminary applications have been submitted for the class of 2024.

[mom2scouts]

11 hours ago, SebastianCat said:

What math has he taken?   My DS took the ACT for the first time in July after his sophomore year (after Algebra 2), and math was his lowest score.   He re-took it in December 2018 (halfway through junior year) and it went up 2 points (after taking College Algebra).   He is almost finished with Trig AND Pre-Calc (both college classes) this semester, and his math score went up another 2 points.    If your DS hasn't gotten that far in math, don't worry just yet about his scores.   If his other subtests were good, spend some time practicing and prepping for math, especially the pace.

My DS is also hoping to go to an academy.  USNA invited him to a CVW this spring, which was very motivating.   His preliminary applications have been submitted for the class of 2024.

He's finishing Algebra 2 this year and said there was math he's never seen before. I'm thinking the trig problems are what he's talking about. We switched to Mr D this year and he's understanding math better than ever before. He's still not loving it, but he understands most of it. Mr D has a six week ACT bootcamp which may be helpful. I think I'll have him take the test again in December and we'll really concentrate on the math section this tme.