Understanding the ACT: A Parent's Guide

What is the ACT?
The ACT is a nationwide standardized test that many colleges use as a guide to determine admission. The test takes about 4 hours and has sections on English, Math, Reading and Science. Scores range from 1 to 36, with 20 being about the national average score. Doing well on this test, along with a good grade point average, is necessary to gain admission to most of the prestigious colleges and universities. Many scholarships also consider this in determining who will be awarded money.

Who Takes the ACT
Each year over 1.5 million high school students take the ACT. Most students take this test in their Junior year, but many wait until the Fall of their senior year. Although t he ACT used to be taken just by college bound students, the following states now require all students to take the test, in order to comply with the testing requirements of No Child Left Behind:
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Michigan
• Kentucky
• North Dakota
• Wyoming

What is the PLAN Test?
The PLAN test is a “mini-version” of the ACT taken in the sophomore year of high school. It is designed to give students some experience taking this type of test and the results are meant to be a predictor as to how well students can expect to do on the ACT the following year. The PLAN test is administered by all schools in the following states:
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Illinois
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Minnesota
• Oklahoma
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• West Virginia


Format of the Test
Although there is an optional Writing Test, the majority of students just take the English, Math, Reading and Science portion of the test. Each is multiple choice format and is timed. The English section has 75 questions in 45 minutes, the Math section has 60 questions in 60 minutes, and both the Reading and Science sections have 40 questions in 35 minutes. Each question has four answers to choose from, with the exception of the Math section, which offers 5 choices.

What’s All This About Guessing?
Unlike the other national college test, the SAT, the ACT doesn’t penalize students for incorrect answers. Therefore, it is in the student’s best interest to guess on questions that they are not sure of.

Isn’t This Just the Same as the SAT?
Not at all. In addition to the fact that guessing is not penalized on the ACT, the SAT tests three areas: reading, writing and math. There is no science section on the SAT.

Why is Timing So Important?
The most common problem that students experience with the ACT is running out of time before they have answered all the questions. Obviously, for a question that you don’t answer, you have a zero percent chance of getting the question correct, so keeping an eye on the clock and proper pacing is key to doing well on this test. If a student sees that they are almost out of time, it is best to just guess on the remaining answers in the hopes of getting

How is the ACT Just Like Life?
Because in life there is too much to do and not enough time to do it. And, like in the business world, you must prioritize where you will get the biggest bang for the buck. It makes no sense to spend 5 minutes on one math problem, when instead you could get three or four others answered.


The College Exam Tutor ACT preparation course begins with such an assessment, in order to help students work smart instead of just having to work hard. For more information, visit http://www.collegeexamtutor.com and sign up for the free newsletter.

Parents: How to Motivate Your Kids to Study for the ACT

Nothing is more frustrating than seeing your child doing something that you know will hurt them in the long run. When our kids fail to take the ACT seriously, we cringe because we know how important this is. Yet as parents, we sometimes do things that are very counterproductive to helping our kids study more and study more effectively.

First Rule: Understand Your Child's Study Style

Believe it or not, everyone has a different study / learning style. Not everyone studies like you do. Some are more visual; some are more auditory. The hardest style to deal with is the kinesthetic, or "tacticle." Instead of learning through seeing or hearing, these students need to 'feel' or experience' in order to retain knowledge. They are also ususally fidgety and have short attention spans. These students learn best if they are involved in a study group, discussing facts and figures while tossing a football or moving around, and tend to stop doing well after 20 minutes or so. If you child is one of these kinesthetic learners, you need to help them adapt their study time accordingly.

Second Rule: Don't Nag

Nagging never works anyway. The last thing you want to do is connect negativity with the ACT; it is stressful enough.


Third Rule: Get Some Help

Unless your student is a great test taker who loves to study by just sitting alone for long hours reading, then you would do well to have a quick assessment of their learning style and help them craft their study time accordingly. You will be amazed at the transformation. They will avoid studying less and retain much more, and will be on their way to improved grades and a more successful work life as well.


The College Exam Tutor ACT preparation course begins with such an assessment, in order to help students work smart instead of just having to work hard. For more information, visit http://www.collegeexamtutor.com and sign up for the free newsletter.

ACT Practice Tests: Get the Most Benefit Without Paying a Dime

For high school students wishing to get a good score on the ACT, practice tests are both an invaluable and misunderstood tool. The first thing to know is that you should never pay for a practice test, as you can get them for free very easily from a high school guidance counselor or at http://www.actstudent.org/. The second thing to know is how to use a practice test to improve your score; simply taking a lot of practice tests won't help you much unless you are using them to diagnose your shortcomings.


Many expensive ACT prep courses use the lure of a diagnostic ACT practice test to generate income from parents with deep pockets, and even have the nerve to charge a couple hundred dollars to administer the test and interpret the results. Since you can get the tests for free, the only thing you need to do is interpret the results. That is very straightforward.


While many free tests abound, the test that is the most helpful will break your score down into subscores for Math, English and Reading. The tests you get from ACT will have this breakdown.
The Math test has 60 questions, basically divided into elementary, intermediate and advanced math, loosely corresponding to freshman, sophomore and junior year math classes. Since the free practice tests provided by the ACT organization break the results down for you into these three categories, you can very easily determine what you need to study to increase your score.


Many students are surprised to find that they did better on the more advanced math and poorly on the elementary math. This is because they haven’t seen the freshman math problems in two or three years, and just requires some brushing up. As far as Trigonometry goes, the ACT has only 4 questions on this, so if you haven’t yet taken Trig, don’t worry too much.


The English test score is also broken down into two categories: rhetoric and usage/mechanics. Rhetoric is basically your abilities at writing and identifying good writing, which is difficult to improve quickly. The usage/mechanics portion tests grammar and punctuation and since these skills can be improved much more quickly, this is where you should focus your efforts.


The subscores provided for the Reading test are really of little value and the Science test has no subscores. However, by taking the time to see if you missed questions of a certain type on each test, you can identify areas where you can improve your score. For instance, did you miss Reading questions that asked you to identify persons, places or things in the passage? If so, then underlining these items when you read each passage will help you improve.


While each of the four tests on the ACT seem to be quite different, there are methods to approaching questions that students can learn that will apply to all four, saving time and quickly raising their score.


More information about the ACT and test taking tips are available at http://www.collegeexamtutor.com/ where you will find a newsletter and also a four hour video course available either online or on DVDs.

The ACT: Which Month Should HS Juniors Take the Test?

There are a few differing opinions on when Juniors should take their ACT. One school of thought is that the best time is the last test of the year, as this has given you time to take more classes before taking the test. Another school of thought says that it is best to take the ACT early in the year so that you have time to retake it in case you do poorly.

The most advantageous time is December! This gives you plenty of time to retake the ACT if you do poorly. However, most importantly, for an additional fee of under $20, you can get a Test Information Release, which will be an invaluable tool to help you increase your score should you decide to retest! According to the official website, www.actstudent.org, :

“If you order and pay for Test Information Release (TIR) and test at a national test center on a national test date that offers this service, you will receive a list of your answers, a copy of the multiple-choice test questions used to determine your score, the answer key, and scoring instructions.”

By taking the ACT in December at a location designated a ‘National Test Center’ you will be able to get a TIR and be well positioned to increase your score on a retake. In addition, do NOT designate any colleges to receive your score results at this time, even though it is free to send the score report to several schools. If you are satisfied with your score, you can pay an additional charge to have the scores sent later.

This way you will be less stressed, because you know that even if you do bomb on the test, nobody will see the results unless you choose to send them. Plus, with the TIR you will receive, you will be well equipped to figure out how to improve your score on a retake.

College Exam Tutor offers an ACT prep course that takes only 4 hours, has guaranteed results, and can be taken online or with DVDs. For more information, visit http://www.collegeexamtutor.com/3-ACT-Mistakes.htm