Alright, guys–it’s that time of year again. As the seasons start to shift and the flowers begin to bloom, the juniors of Bob Jones High School are strenuously preparing for one thing………………….THE ACT *insert dramatic music*. The entire junior class will be taking the ACT on Tuesday, March 29th. As a senior, my days of taking the ACT are far behind me and I get to sit, watch, and listen to the tears and agony the youth have to experience as they prepare for this despised yet coveted test. But don’t worry, I have some sense of sympathy and compassion within me. I’ll give you some helpful tips and resources to assist in conquering this beast of a test.

Practice Practice Practice

You could spend all day browsing the internet looking for things like “Top 10 tricks that will get YOU a 36 on the ACT!1!!1!”. But none of that will help you more than cold hard studying. Sitting down and taking a practice test will help you out a ton. My advice would be to simulate the testing conditions of the real test. Sit down in a quiet area and time yourself for each section. When you’re done, review the questions you missed or had a hard time with.

Use your Resources

There are a TON of resources available to study for the ACT. The school itself provides students with the On to College software. At the link here, students can find video lessons and practice problems for not only the ACT, but also the SAT, PSAT, and Pre-ACT. Log in using your MCS email and the password “BJPatriots#1”. In addition, you can easily find several practice tests, tips, and resources with a quick google or youtube search.

If you prefer a classic pencil and paper study method, there are several workbooks that you can utilize. Many of them are available for checkout in our school library or the College and Career Center. Popular books include the official ACT prep guide here, Barron’s ACT premium study guide here, and the Princeton Review’s ACT prep book here.

Mrs. Cox, one of our math teachers, also offers ACT prep classes on the weekend. You can find more information about that here.

Clearly these efforts are working, as roughly 1/3 of the junior class last year (class of 2022) scored a 30 or above on the school administered ACT. Bob Jones and Madison City Schools as a whole consistently score at or above the national score average.

Testing Tips and Strategies

The ACT has four multiple-choice sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science, as well as a written portion. Their names are pretty straightforward. Each of these sections has its nuances and tricks to help make things a bit easier. You don’t have to follow all of these, find what works best for you!

General

• Pace yourself
• Answer the questions you know first and skip the ones you don’t
• Guess at every question (even the ones you don’t know)
• Don’t second guess yourself, oftentimes you’re right the first time
• Eliminate answers you know are incorrect

English

• Learn the grammar and punctuation tricks. Once you learn them, the English section can be a quick plug and chug
• When in doubt, pick the shortest answer. Oftentimes it’s the right one
• Read the sentence in your head to see if it makes sense

Math

• Learn the formulas
• Use the answers to help you. Sometimes plugging in the answer choices can help you figure out which one is correct
• Check your answers. You don’t want to miss questions because you multiplied wrong
• Learn how to use your calculator
• Watch out for trick answers

Reading

• Read the questions first
• Skim the passages and focus on the main points
• Make sure your answers are supported by the passage

Science

• Focus on the graphs, not the writing. A lot of times the science section looks more intimidating than it is
• You don’t actually need to learn anything “sciency”. Just know how to read and interpret graphs

You have more chances

The good thing about the ACT is that you can take it again, meaning if you don’t do well this time, you have another shot. With that being said, don’t take the ACT too many times. At some point, your score will not improve significantly enough to justify taking it again. Most students choose to take the ACT around 2-3 times. If you’re taking it more than this, consider if the benefit of a score increase is worth the time.

Relax

When polled, most juniors said they felt nervous but prepared for the upcoming test. Stressing over this test isn’t going to help. Please don’t drink a ton of coffee and energy drinks trying to pull an all-nighter cramming for this. Get a good night’s sleep and make sure you eat breakfast the next morning. Bring a snack to eat during the break (it is about a 4-hour test after all).

In the end, some random test score does not define you or your intelligence. Don’t get too wrapped up in it. People have different strengths. Senior Katie Tanner advises to “Try to not be too stressed about your scores, just do what you can instead of psyching yourself out during the test.”

Testing Reminders

Since this ACT is being taken through the school, all juniors have been pre-registered for the test. However, students still need to fill out non-testing information on their myACT accounts. More detailed instructions were sent to student emails on March 21st. Students should arrive between 7:45 and 8:15 and go to their testing location. This can be found on the Patriot Dashboard. Be sure to bring your photo ID (such as a driver’s permit or license), an ACT-approved calculator, and #2 pencils.

The ACT can be rough, but you’ll get through it. Good luck!