Most students will take the ACT at least once sometime between their sophomore and senior years of high school. Most students will actually take the ACT more than once; some opt to take it even four or more times! Why? Well, there can actually be some real-life impacts of a strong ACT score. But in order to get there, a significant amount of preparation and planning usually needs to take place. There are specific steps you can be taking during certain times in high school to help set yourself up for ACT test success.   

Along the same lines, there are certain steps you should also be taking to prepare yourself for what lies after high school. While it may not quite seem relevant for a high school sophomore to be thinking about the transition to college, you’ll be surprised how quickly those couple years will go, and you’ll soon find yourself sending off college applications. This can all seem very overwhelming, but if you think ahead, you’ll be able to put yourself on a gradual timeline to ACT and college planning success.

The Starting Line: Sophomore Year of High School 

Let’s be honest, freshman in high school are too busy worrying about the big, scary upperclassmen and finding their way to their classrooms to even consider thinking about what comes AFTER high school. I mean, they just got there! So, freshman year is really about getting accustomed to high school life (and also making sure to get decent grades in your core courses). It’s really not until sophomore year (and usually more toward the end of it) that you’ll want to start giving some thought to the ACT.

What is the ACT? Well, the ACT is a college entrance exam, and most colleges and universities will require you to include your ACT test score with your college application. The ACT is a really particular exam that tests student knowledge across English, math, reading, science, and writing. But the ACT isn’t an easy test to defeat in just one swoop — it takes a lot test prep and studying to make sure you test to your full potential. What’s great about the ACT is that you can take it as many times as you want. Sure, you may not WANT to take the ACT four times, but it’s possible that that could end up being beneficial for you. It’s definitely a plus that you don’t have to just live with your initial test score. You can learn from your test scores, study harder, plan longer, and increase your scores across individual sections and the test as a whole.

Pre-ACT: That’s where sophomore year of high school comes in. This is when you’ll likely get your first taste of the ACT. Many schools now offer a designated school day when sophomores will take the Pre-ACT. The Pre-ACT is basically a shortened ACT test with fewer questions and time constraints that are slightly less intense. This pre-test comes directly from ACT, the makers of the regular exam, and is scored on the same 36-point scale as the full test. Because of this, your Pre-ACT score will be a good starting line for ACT trends and test prep planning for when it comes time to take the real test. The Pre-ACT is a great resource to give you a general idea of your strengths and weaknesses across the four sections, as well as a broad idea of your composite score potential.

For students whose schools do not offer a Pre-ACT, sophomore year is still a great time to consider this step. You could see about ordering a real Pre-ACT exam booklet or explore resources online or ACT prep books. While these alternate resources may not provide data that is quite as precise, you’ll still be able to see trends and overall strengths and weaknesses. At The Prepared Student, the first step for students who have not previously taken a Pre-ACT or a real ACT is to take a full practice test. This ensures that we have adequate background information to create a test prep plan that will be effective and targeted at the correct areas that need growth.

 

Summer Between Sophomore & Junior Years

ACT Test Prep: The summer between sophomore and junior years of high school is the perfect time to start thinking about consistent ACT test prep. Once you’ve taken the Pre-ACT and have an idea of your current situation, it’s time to start thinking about your goal situation and prepping to make sure your ACT score fits within that future goal. What do we mean by goal situation? Well, do you have an idea of what schools or types of schools you might want to apply to in a year and a half? That’s a good place to start. Even if you don’t know exactly what schools you want to apply to, if you know that you want to go to an academically rigorous school, or you hope to go on to medical school someday, or you know that you want to go to a private liberal arts college, these are all good places to start. The bottom line is that your ACT score should match up with the general ACT scores of students at the schools where you plan to apply. If you can get some general idea of this range, it will help you gauge a goal for your ACT test prep. This keeps you from feeling like you’re wasting your time – you’re working toward something that’s going to help you get into your dream school!  

Tutoring: Every student is different and has unique strengths and abilities. Tutoring that caters to these strengths is going to be more effective than cookie-cutter tutoring that is made for “everyone.” We encourage students and families to consider one-on-one tutoring for ACT test prep for many reasons. One-on-one tutoring is focused on one individual student and building his/her content knowledge while also identifying strategies and building confidence for that specific student. Because of this, students will often see more rapid progress with one-on-one tutoring than with group test prep classes or independent test prep. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise considering tutoring can be focused 100% on an individual student’s prep plan and gives the student access to an ACT expert that can guide the way, answer questions, and review areas of difficulty as many times as needed.

 

Junior Year of High School

Thinking back to my junior year of high school makes me cringe a little bit – I remember moving from AP Lit and Comp class to AP US History to Chemistry and French V and taking the ACT three times (THREE TIMES!). That’s not to mention varsity basketball commitments and participating in four school clubs. Junior year is probably the hardest, most important year for most high school students. This is the year when students usually enroll in higher-level and AP classes, start to meet with guidance counselors and mentors to discuss and plan college visits, AND take the ACT.  

Take the ACT: Ideally, junior year is when you will take your first real ACT test. There are ACT tests every September, October, December, February, and April during the school year. If you’ve been prepping all summer, you’re probably ready to give the ACT a real shot right away in September or October.

Retake the ACT: Once you’ve taken the ACT, you’ll have to wait approximately 10-14 days to get your official test scores back. Then you’ll want to review your scores in-depth— both the composite score (the average of all four individual sections) and your individual section scores. Maybe you’ll be satisfied with your first ACT score, but that is not the case for many students. Junior year is a good time to retake the ACT as many times as you need to so you can hopefully hit your goal score before you go into your senior year.

College Visits: The ACT and college transition planning go hand-in-hand. When its time to start thinking about one, it’s also time to start thinking about the other. As mentioned above, your ACT test prep planning will be directly affected by your college application plans. Maybe you have a good idea of the schools you are interested in exploring more, or maybe you have no idea. Either way, the first step is the same: Schedule a college visit.  

You definitely shouldn’t apply to any colleges or universities without first visiting them. Since you’ll begin applying during the fall of your senior year, you’ll want to spend some time during your junior year visiting some colleges. You can learn a ton about a school by visiting its website, watching its YouTube videos, and stalking its current students on Instagram, but there’s just no real way to know how the place itself is going to make you feel without actually going there. When I was a junior in high school, I visited a small school in rural Minnesota, thinking it was going to be my #1 pick. When I got there, I didn’t feel like my personality fit in very well with the overall feel of the student body that I interacted with AND I didn’t like how middle-of-nowhere the campus felt, so I didn’t even end up applying! Similarly, I visited a school in the heart of the Twin Cities and was overwhelmed by the amount of car traffic that I had to dodge through to get around campus. That school was out, too! These are the types of things you CAN’T learn without being physically present at a college.

You can learn great things from a college visit. Usually you’ll take a campus tour either individually or with a group of other prospective students, and your tour guide will be a trained know-it-all for the college. Ask this person every single question that you can think of. The more information you can obtain, the more informed you will be about the school as a whole. Where you decide to go to school is a HUGE part of your life – after all, most students will go live there for four years, so you want to make sure you make a decision that will be a good fit for you. Talk to your parents and your school counselors about setting up college visits on weekends or over school breaks.

 

Summer Between Junior & Senior Years:

It’s the summer before your senior year of high school. Chances are you have lots of plans to hang out with friends and relax during this time. Maybe you have a part-time job lined up. This can be a pretty laid-back time, which is really important to make room for between stressful, busy school years. But, for rising high school seniors who are unhappy with their ACT scores (or maybe have put the test off up until this point), the summer is a good time to focus on the ACT.  

Retake the ACT?: At this point in your high school career, if you are still unhappy with your ACT score, it’s time to keep on studying and prepping and taking the test again. There is always a June exam and a July ACT exam, offering a couple of opportunities for students still working toward their goal ACT scores to get there before senior year starts.

More College Visits: Perhaps by this time you’ll have already narrowed down your list of schools you want to apply to. Maybe you’ve even visited some of them already. That’s great! Use this time to visit schools AGAIN. You could schedule an overnight visit and let a current student host you. This would give you better insight to what life at the school is really like. And if you haven’t found that one school that steals your heart yet, keep visiting schools and keep an open mind. You’re bound to find one (or more!) that you’re excited at the idea of going to. No matter what stage you’re at when the summer begins, make it your goal to have a list of schools you plan to apply to by the end of the summer, and make sure you’ve visited at least some of them.

 

Fall of Senior Year:

Retake the ACT (One Last Time?): The fall of senior year offers your last attempts to crush the ACT before you start submitting your college applications. There is always a September ACT exam and an October ACT exam. The scores for both of these tests will be posted within plenty of time to include these scores with your college apps (unless, perhaps, if you’re planning to apply early decision – check out the deadlines for the schools you’re planning to apply to, and make sure your planning and timeline matches these). For students who don’t obtain their ACT goal by the start of senior year, all hope is not lost! There are two more attempts at the test before regular college application deadlines.

Pros/Cons Chart of Colleges: You should now have your list of colleges you’ll apply to all set. You should take that list and create a Pros/Cons chart, which will allow you to compare and contrast all of the school options. This may help you to narrow down your list even further, getting rid of some that you were on the fence about and pushing others up more toward the top of the list. This is an important step, because it’s so easy to get an overwhelming sense of excitement when you visit colleges and you can get so engulfed in the fun of it that you may not really consider some very real negative details. Include things like cost, location, and course offerings on this chart. Ask yourself what is REALLY important to you in a college – are you looking for a specific major or minor offering? Do you want to make sure to stay close to home? Everyone is unique, so make sure you think about your Pros and Cons from YOUR perspective. (Side note: It can be easy to let Mom and Dad’s opinions influence your own, but this is YOUR future, so make sure you’re thinking about what you want as well.)

Compile College Applications: Now that you have your list of schools ready and application instructions have been posted, it’s time to start preparing your application packages. Now, there’s a lot that goes into a college application, so it can be an intimidating process to start. Each college will give detailed instructions for what you need to include, so start by writing down a timeline for making sure you get all of the requirements done. Give yourself more time to complete pieces like personal statements, application essays, and letters of recommendation. Things like requesting high school transcripts and compiling your parents’ information will take less time. Just make sure you’re getting a little done at a time – there’s nothing worse than waiting until the very last minute to do an entire college application.

Submit College Applications: Sometime in December or January (or earlier if you to decide to apply early decision to any schools) your carefully crafted college application packages that you’ve been working so diligently on will be due, and you’ll send them off (probably mostly electronically) to your schools of choice. Then, you’ll wait. And wait. And wait. The waiting part might make you anxious, but just remember how much time and effort you put into your application, knowing that you’ve submitted the best application possible.

 
The Finish Line: Spring of Senior Year

Hear Back About College Admissions & Make Your Decision: The letters from college admissions will start to roll in. Of the colleges you’ve been accepted to, you’ll have to decide which one is going to become your new home, and let them know! If you’re still stuck at this point and can’t decide which school will be the right choice for you, go back to your Pros/Cons chart and start from there. Remember, there are SO many things to consider when it comes to choosing a college. You need to consider academic difficulty, particular course offerings, tuition and overall cost, location and distance from home, opportunities for things like internships and study abroad, student body and class sizes, and so much more. If you still can’t decide, you could go for another visit or do an “unofficial visit” and just go explore the campus on your own again. One way or the other, you’re bound to come to a great decision.

Take a Deep Breath: You did it! You’ve conquered the ACT monster, written killer college application essays and personal statements, completed high school, and been accepted to a college or university that’s about to become your new home away from home. Way to go!

  

BUT WAIT…

[Optional]: Summer After Senior Year – Retake the ACT?? WHAT???? 

Now, during the summer after your senior year, you’ll certainly be busy preparing to make the leap to college next fall. There are so many packing lists to make, and dorm supplies to buy, and future roommates to coordinate with, so why am I still talking about RETAKING THE ACT? Haven’t you defeated the ACT monster and taken it for the final time? Well…maybe. Most of you won’t end up taking the ACT again after you’ve been accepted into your future college and you’ve graduated from your high school. BUT, it is still an option. This can be very strategic for one reason: MERIT-BASED SCHOLARSHIPS. Some schools offer automatic scholarships to incoming freshmen that have a specific combination of GPA and ACT score. Even if you’ve already been accepted to a school, it’s possible that increasing your ACT score could influence the amount of tuition aid and scholarship money that you receive from the school. Now, ideally this is something that you would know LONG before the summer after you graduate with your senior class, but we just want to make sure that this is something you know about. Even if you may not have any interest in thinking about the ACT again after all this time, what if one point could save you $6,000? We’ve had that happen to a student! She took the ACT again in July after she graduated and received a higher merit-based scholarship package from her new school. Again, we’re going to try and help you out to make sure you know about these details as early as possible, but sharing this tidbit may help just one person make the leap to college and also save a little cash!

Good luck, and happy prepping!

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