Improving your ACT scores

Note: This was my talk to St. Michael students on Monday, January 7, 2018

Good morning! What I am talking about this morning is most relevant to freshman and sophomores, and secondarily to juniors. Seniors, see if what I am saying is consistent with your experience. 

I want to talk about improving your ACT scores. We gave back your P-ACT scores just before Christmas that reflect your performance on the tests you took here at St. Michael in October. Juniors, you took the PSAT test just before Christmas, but you have also taken two years of P-ACT tests if you’ve been here since your frosh year. 

Whatever score you made on the P-ACT, relax——these scores are not sent to, or seen by,  colleges. But the P-ACT does predict what you might make on the ACT test in your junior and senior year, which is the test that determines college admissions and scholarships.  Some of you might have been excited about that projected score. Some may have been disappointed. 

Let’s talk about how the College Board makes those projections. 

Generally speaking, for every year of high school, the College Board predicts you’ll gain about 2 points on your composite score and subtests. How do they guess that? Because that’s what the national averages show—on average, if you make a 22 in your sophomore year, you’ll make a 24 in your junior year or 26 in your senior year. Not quite that simple, but close enough. 

It’s really important, though, to understand what “national average” means: It means that a typical student, with a typical work ethic, going to a typical school, taking typical classes, with typical teachers, will typically gain 2 points/year.

But it’s entirely possible that over the course of your high school career, you can beat those national averages by not being typical. First, you don’t go to a typical school. You don’t have typical teachers, and you don’t have to be the typical student. In fact, many of our seniors have far exceeded their “projected test scores” from their P-ACT test. Here’s how you can do that, too:

1) Most importantly, challenge yourself by taking good classes and striving to do well. Best way to improve ACT scores is to dig deep into your classes. We’ll be doing course selections for next year in the next month or so, and you’re going to have to decide between AP, Honors and non-Honors courses. To AP or not AP will be the question for some of you. What should you take? You should take whatever class you can work hard in an earn at least a B. Four year effect of taking those courses and working hard in them is huge. 

And in which part of the test can you improve the most in? The section that is your weakest score. So if you’re not as good in Math, for example, see that as an opportunity instead of something to avoid at all costs. (It’s a matter of perspective, like the two shoe salesmen who were assigned to Africa to see shoes. The first guy writes home: “No chance of selling shoes here—the natives don’t wear any.” The other guy writes home: “Huge opportunity here: natives need shoes. “ Be like this second salesman when it comes to your weakest subject—see it as an opportunity to substantially improve your ACT

2) Read, Read, Read—ACT is 3/4 a reading test, even in Science. The more we do something the better we get at it. Read good books. I doesn’t have to be Shakespeare, but it should be something that interests you enough to keep doing it. Get into books again. Audio books, too, if you’re driving somewhere, help.

3) Take 4 ACT practice tests. Want to know why many of these ACT prep classes are successful? Because they make you take 4 practice tests. The evidence shows that taking these tests in a simulated testing environment give your score a significant bump. But you don’t need to pay thousands of dollars for a ACT Prep course to make you do that—you can do it yourself!  (Here’s five old ACT tests here to practice on). You’ll be more familiar with the tests and a little less stressed.  That’s why we give you the P-ACT in freshman and sophomore year—that’s twice—and why we’re going to extend that to junior year next year, which will be 3 times. Take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and take a full practice test to simulate a testing environment.  

4) Sign up for our Analytical Reading class in junior year—We’ve created a one semester elective in the junior year that most of our juniors are taking. Mrs. Scimeca is a reading specialist, and she can help you with techniques on how to read the passages with greater comprehension and accuracy. 

5) Take the ACT three times.  I recommend once in February—juniors, you need to be signing up (January 11 is registration deadline for February 9 test)—once more in June, and one more time in either September or October in your senior year. Why 3 times? Three reasons: Practice helps you improve. Second, you’ll improve naturally with time. You’re 6 months older and smarter from February until October. And finally, some colleges allow you to “super-score” your ACT test. That means you get to choose your best scores from each of your sub-tests to create the best possible “composite" score. You can’t do that unless you’ve taken the test a few times. 

6. Easiest suggestion of all: The week of the ACT test, get 7-8 hours a sleep per night. Dr. Altermatt can tell you the physiological reasons that sleeping well improves your brain functioning, but all of us, I think, know the difference between waking up tired—almost like our brain is sluggish, filled with cobwebs—or waking up well rested, when our brain is alert, quick, aware. Being well rested could make as much a difference as 2-3 points.  

I see this difference in myself. Too bad we can't get a daily "brain scan" to see how quick witted we are. But a half a life ago, I used to play tournament chess, and even now,  I play about 20 games a week, 3 or 4 games/ day, on chess. com, usually 2 minute games. Chess.com gives you a cumulative rating each time you play: the better you play, the higher your rating. There are some weeks, that for whatever reason, I don’t sleep very well, tossing and turning in bed. During those weeks, my rating typically drops any where from 100-150 points.  But if I have a good week of sleep, I play chess much better, raising my score about the same amount. 

I wish I knew then what I knew now, because I would have been a better student in college. I did it EXACTLY the wrong way—I’d pull all nighters, studying for tests, sucking down coffee to stay alert—not knowing I was almost surely lessening the likelihood that I would do well. If that sounds like you, you’re much better off simply going to bed than pulling an all nighter. 

Get sleep, go to bed early and wake up early enough to do a little exercise before your ACT test to get the blood pumping, and you’ll be in optimum shape for the test that morning. 

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Let me end with this:  We can kill ourselves chasing for some elusive high ACT score, but God made us who we are. It’s our job to be the best possible version of ourselves we can be, but once we do so, we have to accept God’s will for our lives. Most of us are never going to score a 36 on the ACT test. Most of us will never get close. So we do our best, and then let life unfold. That’s the great adventure—not being 100% certain of our future. 

And a final word to seniors: Many of you are now making, or near making, the decision where to go to college.  Ask God to help you! Pray about it!  Don’t go to a college because that’s where your friends are going— even your girlfriend/boyfriend. Your relationship will survive different schools if a long term relationship is God’s plan for you. Ask God to show you the place which will help you become the best version of yourself. That’s where you’ll be most happy. 

Work hard, everyone!