By Joe Deaton, www.bluegrasslearning.com
Monday, March 2nd, 2015 2:00 PM CST
Bluegrass Learning provides ACT test prep classes at local high schools, private in-home tutoring for Pre-K-12th grade students, and on-demand video classes for parents. Call 270-925-2148 or visit www.bluegrasslearning.com to learn more or register for a class.
Two of the most frequently asked questions we get at Bluegrass Learning are:
“When should my child start taking the ACT,” and
“How many times should she take the test to get her best score?”
If you do an internet search for those questions you will find many experts providing the exact same answers: “Take it once at the end of your junior year, and if you don’t get the score you want, take it one more time at the beginning of your senior year.” That’s good advice for a small number of students, but experience tells us it is dead wrong for a large number of students. In this article we will explain why, and help you develop a good plan that will help reduce the stress of college admissions testing, scholarships and the application process for you and your children.
We launched Bluegrass Learning in Bowling Green in the spring of 2014. Like many new, small local businesses, we had a slow start. One of our first ACT prep classes only had two students! Over time the classes got bigger and we noticed some trends starting to emerge. In those initial classes our students were mainly 9th-11th grade kids, with the occasional hard-charging 8th grader in attendance. That all changed last fall.
Our September classes started to fill up with seniors. The calls we received from parents began to sound a little bit desperate. Admissions and scholarship deadlines were looming and their kids just didn’t have the scores they wanted. Our October-November classes had even more seniors, many of them in full blown panic mode at this point. Their scores weren’t good enough to get into a dream school, or they were too low to get the scholarships that would help make that dream school affordable. Many of the kids told us they had only taken the test one time, at the end of their junior year, just like the experts had recommended.
Here is what happens when students follow the “Take it once at end of junior year, and again at beginning of senior year” advice.
1. You take the required test at school in early March. It’s the end of your junior year.
2. Results come back 3-4 weeks later. You didn’t get what you hoped for, but it’s too late to sign up the April test.
3. Your next option is in June…if you are lucky! You hope the June test date doesn’t conflict with vacation plans, summer sports camps, etc.
4. If there is no conflict, you’ve got 4-8 weeks to study for that test, so you might buy a prep book or sign up for a class at the last minute.
5. School is out for the summer. You have some questions about the content, but you don’t have access to your favorite teachers.
6. The June score comes back. Hopefully it’s what you wanted. If not, your next option is testing in September, a few weeks after school starts.
7. You spend the last few weeks of summer vacation studying for the test, again, without access to your favorite HS teachers for help.
8. The large scholarship you want has a deadline in December. There isn’t much time left to get the score you need.
You get the idea, but before we move on, let me give you a specific example to illustrate why the conventional advice is often wrong.
We have a wide variety of students taking Bluegrass Learning ACT prep class but here is an example of the type of students we see most often. We’ll call him Tom.
Tom is a VERY high achieving student. He took high school credit classes (like Algebra I and Geometry) in middle school. He is currently enrolled in AP classes and has near perfect grades. Tom takes the test at the end of his 11th grade year and is surprised to see a score somewhere between the low to mid 20’s on his math section. Where did Tom go wrong?
The ACT math section has 60 questions. Here is the breakdown:
- 33 Algebra questions- 14 pre-algebra, 10 “elementary” algebra and 9 “intermediate” Algebra questions
- 23 Geometry questions- 14 plane geometry and 9 coordinate geometry
- 4 Trigonometry questions- basic sine, cosine, tangent, identities and graphing questions.
Take a close look at those numbers. The last time Tom had classes that cover the majority of the tested material was more than 2-3 years ago! It is highly likely that he has forgotten a TON of the material that was tested.
Now let’s assume you’re one of those high achieving students taking AP Calculus and you have perfect grades. You get your results back and have a 24 on the math portion. You are NOT happy about that score! We need to get it up to at least a 30 to be eligible for a great scholarship at your dream school. What do you need to do to reach your goal? You need to correctly answer:
1. All 14 pre-algebra questions
2. All 10 “elementary” algebra questions (Algebra I)
3. 6 of the 9 “intermediate” algebra questions (Algebra II)
4. 20 of the 23 geometry questions
5. None of the trig questions
You have correctly answered 50 of the 60 questions and you’ve got your 30 in math.
If you are a high achieving student, and can do VERY well on the material you had as an 8th and 9th grade student, you’ve got your target score. This is just one reason why you shouldn’t wait until your junior year to take you first test.
So how do we fix this? Before you decide when your child should take the first test, think about a few questions first:
- What does my child want to study in college?
- Where would they like to go to school? Pick at least 3-4 choices.
- Can we afford these schools or will we need to get good scholarships?
You should be thinking about these questions no later than the 9th or 10th grade. It will reduce stress and make the process MUCH simpler if you start early. You don’t need to have answers to all of the questions, but you should be talking about it with your children.
Once you have decided on a list of target schools, start looking into score requirements for admissions. If your child knows what he would like to major in, be sure to check the department requirements as well to make sure they don’t have higher requirements for specific programs.
Now that you know the minimum target score needed to get into the college and program your child would like to attend, take a look at the costs and start searching for scholarships. Do you need a certain score to qualify for the best scholarships? When are the deadlines? We recommend you have answers to these questions NO LATER THAN the beginning of your child’s junior year. 10th grade would be better, but beginning of 11th grade is OK.
Now that you have target schools and programs, understand the costs, and know application and scholarship deadlines, you should have a target score in mind. Now it’s time start taking the ACT.
Here in Kentucky, your child is required to take the ACT at school in March of their junior year. If you listen to the experts, that will be the first time they take the test. We recommend students take the ACT at least once before that required test. It will help them understand what is on the test, how it is structured, and give them some great practice.
In a perfect world, the very LAST test you want your child taking is the required state test at the end of their junior year. You DO NOT want it to be the first time they see the test. There isn’t enough time to make drastic improvements if they don’t do well. If you follow our suggestions, you will have much less to worry about during your child’s senior year. You can concentrate on applications and campus visits instead of studying for another test.
Below is a quick recap of our recommendations. Again, this will vary by student and aptitude. Some high achieving 8th graders may want to start taking the test now and that’s OK:
1. Take the ACT at least once or twice sometime between the beginning of 9th grade and middle of 11th grade years.
2. Consider the first test a learning experience and don’t sweat the first score too much!
3. Now that you know what to expect, start studying well for the next test.
One caution about taking the test too early and too often. A few colleges require you to report ALL scores, not just your best. Verify the requirements of your target schools. If they require all scores be reported, DO NOT have your child take multiple tests before they are ready.
Finally, let me give you an example of one of our students who used these recommendations perfectly. Mom called us mid-way through his junior year and said her son had a 20 on his ACT. His stretch goal was a 28, but any improvement would be helpful. He had a list of 4 schools he wanted to attend. They were all out of state, thus not cheap! He wouldn’t be eligible for any scholarships until he scored at least a 25. The young man attended a four hour Bluegrass Learning ACT Strategies class and took the test a week later. The score came back at a 21. A little better, but we knew he could do better. Mom sent him to subject classes to work on English, reading, math and science over four Saturday’s. He took the test again and the score came back a 25.
What are those five extra points worth? Moving from a 20 to a 25 gave our student $11,000 per year in scholarships at a small private school out of state. Instead of mom and dad paying $30,000 per year, now it’s $19,000… and his senior year has been worry free, at least from an ACT standpoint!
We hope this information will help you develop a good plan for the college admissions process. Good luck!
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