Seniors, Seniors, Read All About It!
Perhaps you’ve been wondering, who should take the ACT Test. Stop wondering, and start listending. Seniors, you need to sign up for the december 11th ACT test, and you need to do it now!
Regarding early admissions, many colleges will accept standardized tests scores starting in January, so the December test is the last great push. The same goes for scholarships. So you may be one of those students who has a good act score, and is considering going with what you have.
This is not your best option. Your best angle is to take the act again at the end of this semester. Consider the value of a couple extra points if your are pushing for a scholarship.
5 Reasons Why You Should Take the ACT ASAP (and then repeat):
- For most students, the ACT is only available 6 times a calendar year, some juniors have the opportunity for a 7th test. If you are a senior hoping for scholarships, your last two tests that matter are the October 23rd ACT Test, and the December 11th ACT test. You are out of time!
- If you are less than a senior, it only makes sense to get your feet when as quickly as possible
- The more you take this test, the better you’ll do. It’s true. It takes most students at least 3-4 full tests just to become familiar with the timing of the exam. Pace is everything, and like a good dance, it takes practice
- If you can do it today, don’t put it off till tomorrow. College entry is very, very, very stressful. Don’t let things pile up on you.
- Regarding tomorrow, you don’t have any idea what will be there. The day of your test, who’s score may or may not determine your scholarships, or if you get into the school of your dreams, your car may break down, or you may fall ill, or you may just fall. Regardless, you mess around w/ the test and you’ll get messed up.
In summary, take the act asap amtap (as many times as possible).
A recent article posted on cincinnati.com gives a broad assessment of how prepared Northern Kentucky High Schools students are prepared for college. The results are dismal at best. According to the article, only 41% of grads are ready to enter the gates of college, with some schools dipping down into the low 20’s.
This article tells us many things, but what screams to me is how important our systems renders the ACT test. One of the primary components in predicting college readiness is the ACT. Ironically, today I spoke w/ a mom who’s daughter is a straight A student, taking multiple AP courses, but can’t score above a 17.
For reference sake, with a 17 on the ACT, you won’t even get accepted into jail.
And thus the metric is stupid. Obviously, how well a student performs on a one time 31/2 hour long exam is absurd. That’s like asking a person who likes to job to go run a marathon, and then determine their overall health based off their time. Northern Kentucky ACT scores are important, but please, lets not be blinded by that data.
ACT Science Test
40 questions
35 minutes (just like the reading)
4 main sections: biology, chemistry, earth/space science, physics
3 main formats:
data representation
research summaries
conflicting viewpoints
Different from any other science test you’ve probably taken: Test of science reason, this is not a test of subject matter or knowledge.
Science Formats:
Data Representation: Requires you to understand, evaluate, and interpret information presented in graphic form
Research Summaries: You need to understand, analyze, evaluate, and finally give explanation of the design, execution, and consequences of one or more experiments
Conflicting View Points: Provide alternative theories!
One passage from the natural sciences. Usually presents a science topic explanation of its significance. Furthermore, authorship is typically concerned with relationships between natural phenomena. As a whole, questions will ask two basic things:
Find or use information clearly stated in passage
Take information that’s stated or implied and use it to answer more complex questions. We like to think of them as scavenger or inference questions. Can you go find the answer o do you need to draw conclusions based on what’s there?
Questions are either looking for details or vocabulary as well. These are regularly used question types:
-identify and interpret details (scavenger-details)
determine main idea (inference-details)
Understand comparative relationships
Understand cause-effect relationships
Make generalizations (inference-details)
Determine meaning of word from context (inference-vocab)
-Understand sequence of events
Draw conclusion about author’s voice and method (inference-details)
Summary: If you want to become a good reader…read…like they do at covington catholic high school
At Notre Dame Academy, the Boot Camp is running an exclusive ACT test prep course, tailored specifically for the Pandas. Notre Dame has a very rich history, and is commonly known as a private school that excels in everything it does. Parents know that if they send their daughters to NDA, the students will leave extremely prepped for the universities.
After sitting through our first training, I was floored by how well trained they were. Three hours is a LONG time to sit and take notes, but all the way through the end, the pencils were still moving, eyes were still locked on the power point, questions were still coming. So much of education is connected to mental fortitude and discipline to stick with it.
Having gone to a Kenton County High School, I certainly would never say that a student must attend a private academy to be mentally equipped for university; however, having trained Notre Dame girls, I cannot deny that this bunch is by far the most advanced group as a whole that we’ve ever trained.
53% of the English act test is focused on usage and mechanics. Translated, 53% of the English test is extremely learnable, extremely coachable, extremely beatable.
The math portion of the ACT is extremely systematic, and thus offers a great array of patterns that can be studied and mastered. Embedded in each of these small bits of information is a vast amount of strategy.
Increase ACT test scores is doable, but it is not easy. Any course that promotes as get rich quick experience is full of something, but not the truth, and not increased test scores.
I love the way we train students in Kentucky ACT test prep. I love it because we take students from many locations, including Boone County Schools, and train them. We work face to face because learning how to beat the test is not easy, it is not quick, it is not magical. It takes strategy, practice, repetition, hard work. The deficit in online test prep is that it does not take into account human motivation. The power of encouragement, the power of having a coach actually in your life, pushing you to your extreme is so amazing. The internet is amazing, but a personal act test coach is still the best.
For the most part, Google has become our brains…and perhaps rightly so. In our modern world, all information is at the tip of your fingers- except when taking tests. High School students are quickly realizing that they have the power to really boost their scores. But what methodology is right for you?
Let me make something extremely clear. Of all the Cincinnati ACT test prep courses, the good ones are for profit. Test prep is a good business. In business, the ultimate goal is passivity. If you can build a business that can generate income autonomously of you, you’ve done well. So, if you do research, you will quickly observe online act test prep to be the predominant form of training. People like this because they can do it in the comfort of their own home, on their own time. I like this style of training. It can be an awesome way to increase scores.
Something things are just best done face to face. Getting in engaged, breaking it off, saying goodbye, all these things are best done face to face, although email may be easier. With the ACT Boot Camp, we train in person. My next post is going to go into more detail as to why we think that training in person best teaches a person how to increase act test scores.
Think about the amount of time most people spend on sports. I live right behind Highlands High School, and I hear the band playing from early in the morning, until way after the sun goes down. Every athlete goes into strict training.
They go into training to win a prize that will not last, but we go into training in order to receive a prize that will last all through college. Scholarships. We live in a culture that promotes sports to the highest degree, but not necessarily academics.
I fully believe that it is possible for nearly all students to increase their standardized test scores through diligence, repetition, and our northern Kentucky ACT test prep.
We prepare thoroughly for the ACT Test. For English and Math we will spend some time reviewing content you’ve already learned in high school, even though this is best accomplished through your homework. Across the board, we promote a paradigm that pushes students to excel on ALL the test, and consequently, their future.
Denise Amos reports that 6 students in the Cincinnati area have dominated the college entry exams. This is a very exciting stat, but by no means surprising. The author goes on to report that many of these students have labored in the process of becoming a skilled, effective test taker.
With the test being made a state-wide requirement, Kentucky students are given a foundation for solid testing, but still need to be coached into excellence. In 2014, it is expected for Ohio to develop similar requirements, and with the change, we will be there leading the way in Cincinnati ACT test prep.
For more references, check out the article from cincinnati.com.
PS
We came across this math shower curtain that is pretty cool!