ACT Prep

[pfp258]

Paying to improve a test score? Sorry, this continues to create elitism is this country. Why can't high school students take the ACT a few times and use their best score? Why must we add to the stress and already busy schedules they have? My daughters both took the test twice and used their best score. They both attended a state university so that they would not to have incur student loans. (We bought into a pre paid tuition program when they were young and saved and invested for room and board). Oldest just graduated with a teaching degree and has a teaching job this fall! second daughter is a junior studying special education.

 

[sksjasams]

If shooting for Top Tier, it's best to do very best first time rather than having to repeat as ALL test scores will need to be submitted.
Best of luck to ur student!!

Actually, not that many schools require you to send all scores. Just don't sign up to have your scores automatically sent. Then you can decide after you see your score if you want to send it.

 

[aprincessatlast]

So not to derail this but what grade did most of your children take this test? I remember it being offered 10th grade maybe? However on our school fees for 7th grade there was a charge for the ACT test. Is this normal? You can start taking college classes here in 7th grade so wondering if that is why.

 

[MommaBerd]

Paying to improve a test score? Sorry, this continues to create elitism is this country. Why can't high school students take the ACT a few times and use their best score? Why must we add to the stress and already busy schedules they have? My daughters both took the test twice and used their best score. They both attended a state university so that they would not to have incur student loans. (We bought into a pre paid tuition program when they were young and saved and invested for room and board). Oldest just graduated with a teaching degree and has a teaching job this fall! second daughter is a junior studying special education.

While ideally this would be the case (just take the test without prep), and it seemed to work well for your daughters, it just isn't reality. For one thing, college acceptance has become highly competitive, even for most of our in-state universities. For my son, it was well worth our money to pay for a test prep program (which for anyone who is interested was PrepScholar.com). He had a very specific major/minor that he wants to study and it is not offered at our state universities. Because of his test score (and grades) he was able to get a full tuition scholarship, plus a little more, to an out-of-state school that has his desired program of study. The amount of money we spent relative to the amount of money he earned was less than .01%!

 

[havaneselover]

While ideally this would be the case (just take the test without prep), and it seemed to work well for your daughters, it just isn't reality. For one thing, college acceptance has become highly competitive, even for most of our in-state universities. For my son, it was well worth our money to pay for a test prep program (which for anyone who is interested was PrepScholar.com). He had a very specific major/minor that he wants to study and it is not offered at our state universities. Because of his test score (and grades) he was able to get a full tuition scholarship, plus a little more, to an out-of-state school that has his desired program of study. The amount of money we spent relative to the amount of money he earned was less than .01%!

Yep. If I expect a decent return on investment I'll do it for my children. I'm not going to limit their opportunities on principle.

 

[MomToOne]

DD16 is using prepscholar.com at the moment. I picked it after a fair amount of research. I'm thinking she will also do one-on-one tutoring once she finishes that.

And for the person who asked, if you had a child who struggles with standardized testing, you'd understand the need to find them some help. It isn't "elitist", it is survivalism. My daughter is an honor role student, but due to certain issues, she tests very badly. I'm not trying to get my child into an elite university, just get her to the point where the local college (a "safe" school for most kids) is a sure thing.

 

[DisMommyTX]

If your kids are reaching, then in-person classes or tutoring are by far the best route. Online prep and DIY books tend to have minimal impact but are fine if your kid is aiming for a 'safe' school, scores are already decent, and he/she not planning to compete for any scholarships. Many students and parents don't realize how important SAT and ACT scores are for more than just getting into college. Our university uses these scores for math placement as well. Often weaker students end up taking remedial classes or having to take extra math courses which could have been avoided with a couple more points on the ACT.

 

[v.t.]

For those of you who have been through the college process, any suggestions on scholarships? I have looked for threads on the board but can't seem to find any. I have twins who are seniors and we are searching. I think we are going to have to find merit only scholarships since we will be using last year's taxes (UGH! DH has been out of work since Jan.)
TIA!

 

[mjkacmom]

If your kids are reaching, then in-person classes or tutoring are by far the best route. Online prep and DIY books tend to have minimal impact but are fine if your kid is aiming for a 'safe' school, scores are already decent, and he/she not planning to compete for any scholarships. Many students and parents don't realize how important SAT and ACT scores are for more than just getting into college. Our university uses these scores for math placement as well. Often weaker students end up taking remedial classes or having to take extra math courses which could have been avoided with a couple more points on the ACT.

True - ds28 got out of an English course and calculus.

 

[ceecee]

DD took it to see how it was and got a 31. She studied and took it again and got a 30!

 

[MommaBerd]

So not to derail this but what grade did most of your children take this test? I remember it being offered 10th grade maybe? However on our school fees for 7th grade there was a charge for the ACT test. Is this normal? You can start taking college classes here in 7th grade so wondering if that is why.

I had my son take it spring of 10th grade, but he didn't take any prep classes beforehand. I just wanted him to get exposure to the process - part of that is because we homeschool and so he had very limited experience with taking standardized tests in an actual classroom environment.

For those of you who have been through the college process, any suggestions on scholarships? I have looked for threads on the board but can't seem to find any. I have twins who are seniors and we are searching. I think we are going to have to find merit only scholarships since we will be using last year's taxes (UGH! DH has been out of work since Jan.)
TIA!

If your kiddos are seniors you have got to jump on this! Typically you have to apply early (like end of October/begioof November) to the school to be considered for merit scholarships. And other scholarships usually have earlier deadlines. Have your kids met with their Guidance Counselor? Do they know what schools they are interested in or what they want to study? As for your particular financial circumstances, you will use this current year's tax info (2016) on the FAFSA, not last year's. But I would suggest you get your taxes filed as early in January as possible as well as file your FAFSA as early as possible. Some schools award money as information is submitted, so you could possibly get their financial aid packages earlier.

If your kids are good students and get high scores on their tests, there are several public universities (I only know the ones in the south) that give generous scholarships based on those two factors alone. My son will be going to Ole Miss, which is out of state for us. They have a "sliding scale" academic scholarship program where they award money to students with a minimum 3.0 GPA, and the amount awarded is based on test scores. Here's the chart: http://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8
And there are other universities that have similar programs.

I am no expert; I am TODAY taking my first child to college. But again, because we homeschool, I became my son's "Guidance Counselor," and I researched a LOT! So, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Hope this helps!!!

 

[v.t.]

If your kids are good students and get high scores on their tests, there are several public universities (I only know the ones in the south) that give generous scholarships based on those two factors alone. My son will be going to Ole Miss, which is out of state for us. They have a "sliding scale" academic scholarship program where they award money to students with a minimum 3.0 GPA, and the amount awarded is based on test scores. Here's the chart: http://finaid.olemiss.edu/scholarships/#8
And there are other universities that have similar programs.

I am no expert; I am TODAY taking my first child to college. But again, because we homeschool, I became my son's "Guidance Counselor," and I researched a LOT! So, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Hope this helps!!!

I hope you had a good trip, I am not looking forward to the drop off. Please share your experiences with us!

My boys want to attend Texas A&M which, we were told, does not guarantee merit scholarships except National Merit. That is why we are looking for additional scholarships. One scored a 32 on ACT and 1420 on the new SAT while the other scored a 30 (but his STEM was 33) and 1280. They are going to take each test one more time and hopefully scores will come up. They used the KHAN Academy to study which is free. They are also going to use the on-line prep course from ACT which they received free this time.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

If your kids are reaching, then in-person classes or tutoring are by far the best route. Online prep and DIY books tend to have minimal impact but are fine if your kid is aiming for a 'safe' school, scores are already decent, and he/she not planning to compete for any scholarships. Many students and parents don't realize how important SAT and ACT scores are for more than just getting into college. Our university uses these scores for math placement as well. Often weaker students end up taking remedial classes or having to take extra math courses which could have been avoided with a couple more points on the ACT.

Exactly this! DD currently has the stats to get into her main choice and safety schools, but she wanted to improve her chances for her reach school. She took both the ACT and new SAT cold. She did a little better on the SAT, so she will be taking an in person prep class with 3 other kids for the SAT. She'll have assigned homework between each session. I think she'll get more out of the "in person" small group prep then through self study alone. It was $575 for 4 weeks.

DD took it to see how it was and got a 31. She studied and took it again and got a 30!

This happened to my DS (a college sophomore now). His first cold ACT score was his best (much higher that DD's). He went down a point overall after self study. His reading and math scores went up, but science went down a lot. Too bad the ACT doesn't superscore!

 

[Trixie Belden]

I've been told by 2 different people (guidance counselor and an admissions counselor at a state school) that letting kids take the tests early, so that they get used to the question styles and get results that show them what they need to work on, actually does just as well as paid test prep. We were talking about my son, who's in 8th grade so he has time to take them a few times before the grades go to the schools. If your child is a junior or senior then test prep might be necessary.

 

[pfp258]

Everyone is drinking the kool-aid! My child is special, they must get into this school or that, they need to have an edge etc. Take a step back people. Parents are putting waaaaay to much pressure on their children to achieve. We are losing family time as parents continue to push....more extra curriculars, more volunteering, more classes to make test scores higher! It really is just so sad

 

[georgina]

Nothing wrong with improving test scores to get more merit aid!

One of my kids practiced for the ACT using the book of practice tests. The problem with ACT is the time crunch, the questions are more straightforward than the SAT, but there are a lot of them! Strategies for dealing with the science portion can be helpful also, sometimes skipping the reading portion and going straight to the graphs, etc.

 

[georgina]

Paying to improve a test score? Sorry, this continues to create elitism is this country. Why can't high school students take the ACT a few times and use their best score? Why must we add to the stress and already busy schedules they have? My daughters both took the test twice and used their best score. They both attended a state university so that they would not to have incur student loans. (We bought into a pre paid tuition program when they were young and saved and invested for room and board). Oldest just graduated with a teaching degree and has a teaching job this fall! second daughter is a junior studying special education.

My kids each only took it once, so we are less elite than you I guess. One was an Econ major and has a high paying job for a consulting company, the other 2 were/are computer science majors, one has a high paying job and the last already has a job with a 6 figure income lined up when she graduates in a year. Around here special ed teachers are more plentiful than jobs.

 

[bjscheel]

As for your particular financial circumstances, you will use this current year's tax info (2016) on the FAFSA, not last year's. But I would suggest you get your taxes filed as early in January as possible as well as file your FAFSA as early as possible. Some schools award money as information is submitted, so you could possibly get their financial aid packages earlier.

Actually starting this year you file FAFSA for 2017-18 starting this October, using 2015 taxes. I think it is to alleviate the crunch of trying to file taxes and FAFSA in January when you may not have all your info. So people with college sophomores used 2015 for last year and will use it again for next year. We'll be doing it for our first time here in two months I guess!

 

[MommaBerd]

Actually starting this year you file FAFSA for 2017-18 starting this October, using 2015 taxes. I think it is to alleviate the crunch of trying to file taxes and FAFSA in January when you may not have all your info. So people with college sophomores used 2015 for last year and will use it again for next year. We'll be doing it for our first time here in two months I guess!

Wow - I had no idea! Is there no option to use either one?

 

[bjscheel]

Wow - I had no idea! Is there no option to use either one?

Doesn't sound like it:https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/fafsa-changes-17-18.pdf