ACT Test - How and When to Approach the ACT For the Best Possible Score

Start Early and Work Smart!

When to Start Thinking About the ACT Although the ACT is a test for high school juniors, wise students begin to prepare for it in their sophomore year. Currently ten different states administer a test called the PLAN test to sophomores. This is a type of 'mini-ACT' and gives students a report on how well they can expect to do the following year when they take the ACT. It accounts for the fact that there are some subject areas where sophomores are still not proficient, but should be by the time they take the ACT in their junior year. However, the PLAN test is not your only option for an early indicator on how well you can expect to do on the ACT.


Taking Your First ACT Test
If your school does not offer this test, you can still obtain an official ACT practice test from your guidance counselor or download one from the ACT website free of charge. Taking the time on afternoon to take the test, with someone watching the clock, is a wise idea.


All practice tests are not equal, however. Ensure that you have either an official ACT practice test, or one that breaks the Math and English scores down into subscores. This is not the norm with practice tests you buy in ACT study guides at a bookstore, though some do have the subscore breakdown.


Understanding Your ACT Score Report
Whether you get an official score report from an actual ACT test or just score a practice test yourself, analyzing the results will provide you with some very valuable information. You will see in which areas you are strong and in which areas you need to focus some studying. "Just study everything" is a very ineffective plan, and your score report / score results will prevent you from wasting valuable study time in areas that did not negatively affect your score.


Time is on Your Side as a Sophomore!
By beginning in your sophomore year, you can accomplish a lot of preparation with just 5 minutes each day. Subscribe to an ACT mailing list, like the one at http://collegeexamtutor.com/ in order to get weekly or daily practice questions. By breaking it down into bite sized chunks, you can be very prepared and confident when test day comes around.


Now that you know what to do, go to http://www.collegeexamtutor.com/ to get free weekly tips and practice questions for the ACT!

College Tuition - How to Save 40% at a Big University

All college graduates have three things in common. They have a degree, are looking for a job and have just spent a LOT of money on their education, even if they had scholarships or financial aid. For the overwhelming majority of them, it means that they need to get a job to start paying off student loans. But there is a way to enter the work world without as much financial pressure: like 40% less debt because you spent 40% less paying for college.

A Degree From Absolutely Any University at 40% Discount

Think about a big name school, such as Northwestern University or the University of Michigan, which charge around $40,000 per year in tuition. There are two ways to get the same degree; one costs $160,000 for four years and the other will cost you about $90,000. Both options have you walking across the same platform in the same cap and gown with the same leather bound folder with your degree. The difference is $70,000 in savings!

The way to achieve this is by completing all of the general education requirements during the first two years at a local community college and then transferring to the big name university for your junior and senior years. Your degree will be from the big name university, but you will have saved about 40% in tuition.

But Is the Education Quality the Same?
Absolutely. Unless you are majoring in a technical field, such as engineering, most all degree programs have the same basic general education requirements: English, Math, Social Sciences, etc. At the big schools, these freshman level courses are generally taught by teaching assistants and/or have a lecture class format. A lecture class format means that 200 to 300 students sit in a lecture hall and listen to a professor 2 days a week and then, if it is a science class, for instance, they break up into smaller groups for a "lab" that is supervised by a teaching assistant. Teaching assistants may be upperclassmen or graduate students. The fact is that the general education classes are all pretty much the same, regardless of the school. Introduction to Psychology is Introduction to Psychology whether you are at Yale or the Community College of DuPage.

Don't Make a Big Mistake....
It is not always as easy as just taking a freshman English class at a community college and automatically getting granted transfer credit from the big name university. The courses have to be the same. What generally happens is that the school you wish to transfer to will examine your transcripts and look up the course descriptions for the classes you took. Only if the course descriptions match the required courses at their school will they consider that you fulfilled the requirement. An English Composition class is NOT the same as an English Literature class.

For this reason, it is absolutely imperative that you get the actual course descriptions of all the required general education classes from the school you wish to attend and compare them with the course descriptions at the community college. A phone call to an admissions counselor is also a good idea!

One Last Thing

Finally, make sure that you investigate the school's admission requirements for transfer students. You will need to keep a very high GPA to transfer into the more prestigious universities, and their admissions guidelines may also be such that involvement in extra-curricular activities will be required. Investigate what is required and then make a plan to fulfill those requirements. By "beginning with the end in mind" you can fulfill the general education requirements at about a tenth the cost of the university that you will graduate from.

But choosing the school and paying for it are only half the battle. Doing well in the critical first semester is key to ensuring a successful college career. At http://www.CollegeExamTutor.com/7-Keys.htm you will find a great resource to ensure that you hit the ground running at college. It's a one hour DVD course called "7 Keys to College Success" complete with a study guide and checklists to help students arrive on campus Day One prepared to succeed!

Nine Tips to Succeed in College

Learn these 9 things and you won't be caught off guard your freshman year!

1) Expect to be homesick. No matter how much you hated living with your family with all the rules and siblings bothering you, it is normal to miss home and feel lonely. You are in totally different surroundings, with different people and a lot of stress. Don't beat yourself up when homesickness hits; rather expect it and give yourself permission to feel sad and lonely, knowing it will pass.

2) Expect to be overwhelmed. It's okay to feel freaked out. Everything is new and you will feel like you are overloaded with new things. Again, don't worry about it: expect it and it won't take you off guard and knock you off your feet.

3) Remember that it's a totally different game with different rules. It will take a while to learn the ropes, and that's okay.

4) Get plugged in socially. Join a club and watch the bulletin boards for "freshman mixers" or other events that will introduce you to a lot of other people.

5) Find a mentor. If you are living in a dorm, there will be an upperclassman who is an RA (Resident Assistant) whose job it is to give out information and be a contact person for you. Don't be shy about going to the RA with questions, and see if you can find another upperclassman that you can go to with the millions of questions you are going to have.

6) Attend the orientations for freshmen. Yes, they are boring, but they have a lot of important information. You will have enough questions and concerns even if you do attend, so don't blow this off!

7) Plan on everything taking more time than you think it will. If you could crank out a 3 page paper in 3 hours in high school, expect it to take 4 or 5 hours now. Everything is different, and as the saying goes, 'the thing about ignorance is that you don't know what it is that you don't know."

8) Make a friend or acquaintance in every class. If you miss a class or think of a question afterwards, it is important to have someone in the class who you can ask to share notes with.

9) Ask "dumb" questions. Every freshman is intimidated, and many will be glad that you asked the question so that they didn't have to!

Going off to college can be frightening, as there is a huge adjustment to be made. For a great way to prepare academically as well as socially, visit http://www.CollegeExamTutor.com/7-Keys.htm and find out how to get some peace of mind during that difficult and critical first semester.