High school students are super busy. They are swamped with homework and studies, they join clubs and sports, and they attend events and games at their schools. These are all great things, but they take up a ton of time. How is a student supposed to throw another variable into their already packed scheduled? It can be tricky to find time for proper ACT test prep, but it’s very important that students make ACT test prep a priority if they hope to increase their test scores. If they don’t put in the time, it’s very difficult to see results that are anywhere near the results seen by students who put in the necessary time and effort.

High schoolers have a lot going on in their lives. They’re constantly running from school to sports practice, to theater practice, to part-time jobs, to hang out with their friends. Many parents admit that they don’t really see much of their teenagers with all of the activities and academics they constantly have going on.

In the same way that students are devoted to their sports teams or their clubs and making time for their friends, students need to be devoted to preparing for the ACT if they expect to reach their full potential scores. Students don’t dare to miss football practices or club meetings. In the same way, students need to carve out consistent time for ACT test prep and make sure to actually prepare and ready their brains for taking this important exam.

The ACT is not really the type of exam that you can study for in one night and instantly do well on…at least not for most students. Rather, the ACT is riddled with complex, confusing questions covering English, math, reading, and science, and, to top it off, there’s a pretty intense time constraint for each of these sections, meaning students need to be able to work through these questions quickly.

For this reason, ACT test prep usually includes some practice and drilling of content, but it also includes working on approaches and strategies to help students work through specific types of questions and overall work through the sections within the given time frame. This is a significant aspect of the ACT test that can be overlooked when students fail to prepare. They aren’t used to being examined on how quickly they can work through questions, so inability to answer all of the questions is a big factor at play in lower ACT scores.

Students who put in the effort and time to prepare for the ACT will see progress in their scores. This is a test that anyone can do well on if they take the time to prepare. Think about it. Students sit in class and learn about a certain concept for several days and several hours, complete multiple homework assignments including practice problems and readings, and take quizzes, ask the teacher questions, and more before they take a test on a topic at school. The same thorough process should be used for ACT test prep.

Not every student will need to or want to take an ACT course or meet one-on-one with an ACT tutor, and that’s totally fine. The great thing is that there are tons of resources out there in various formats and available for various prices, with many of them being accessible online for free. The main factor that determines a student’s success on the ACT is the time and effort that they put into preparing for it.

4 Tips for prioritizing ACT test prep

1. Start early

   We recommend that students start to think about the ACT at the end of their sophomore year of high school. Many schools now have students complete a practice ACT test during the school day at some point during their sophomore or junior years. This is a great start for thinking about the ACT, as it gives a general baseline score for each section of the test that students can use to gauge how much preparation they need. By starting to think about the test early, students can plan on when they will focus on test prep so that they incorporate it into their schedules, they can plan on which tests they will take, and they can ensure that they are not struggling at the last minute to get their ACT scores up before it’s time to submit their college applications.

   The Takeaway: Start thinking about the ACT at the end of sophomore year or beginning of junior year of high school, and make a plan for preparing and taking the test.

2. Know your schedule

   Many students are involved in activities and sports outside of school, but most students also have a time period when their schedules are more lax. For example, for a student who participates in winter sports, their summer and fall schedule may be more flexible than their winter schedule. Similarly, a student who plays high school football and runs track may find that winter is the best time for him to prepare for the ACT, as it’s the one season when he’s not constantly running from school to practice to meets and games.

   Knowing your schedule is an important part of ACT test prep because, as we mentioned, real test prep takes real time and commitment. If a student is too busy and tired to add in test prep but they try to do it anyway they are not going to see the necessary results to get them to where they want to be. Whenever possible, we actually recommend that students focus on ACT test prep during the summertime. This is a great time to work on the ACT because students’ minds are not busy trying to learn all of the things they’re being taught at school. A quiet mind that is focused only on the ACT is easily able to learn and grow more quickly than one that is constantly occupied with new information from all directions.

   The Takeaway: Think about your schedule, and incorporate ACT test prep into it strategically. Plan to focus on test prep during a slower season when you know you’ll have more free time to devote to it.

3. Explore different forms of test prep

   As we mentioned earlier, ACT test prep comes in many forms. Some forms, like Youtube videos and online flashcards, are completely free. Other forms, like in-person courses or one-on-one tutoring can be much more expensive. The great news is that, regardless of your budget, there are resources you can access to help you adequately prepare for the test, and even historically more expensive types of prep, such as tutoring and classes, can be available at more affordable rates now, with the help of online tutoring and self-paced classes.

   Next, think about your own learning style. Do you do better when you have someone to explain concepts to you? Or are you easily able to teach yourself? Do you need visuals or text explanations to ensure you’re learning new things? Use all of this knowledge to help you identify the best test prep strategy for you. Some students prefer to prepare solo, turning to ACT textbooks and practice questions and explanations and online tutorials, whereas others need the person-to-person motivation and support. The student who is uncomfortable making mistakes in front of someone is not going to be a good fit for in-person tutoring in either a group setting or one-on-one, and the student who is unable to self-motivate and ends up playing video games instead of studying is probably not going to be successful in prepping independently. Take all of this information and work with your family to identify a test prep plan to set you up for success.

   The Takeaway: Test prep is not one-size-fits-all. Think about your learning styles and come up with a plan that works for you and that you’ll be able to stick to.

4. Know your strengths (and weaknesses)

   No one knows you better than you know you. Take some time to think about what your strengths and weaknesses really are. Do you always do better in math classes than English classes? Do you find that your science homework always stresses you out and confuses you more than other courses even though you manage to get good grades in science? Do you struggle to understand passages that you read? Face these strengths and weaknesses without judgment and use them to your advantage.

   What do we mean? Harness your strengths and create strategies around them. Similarly, be aware of your weaknesses and prioritize the parts of the test that are easier for you. Whenever possible, you want to put the test in order of easy to hard for you specifically. That means starting with the science studies that you think look easier. That means skipping over any math questions that seem super difficult and giving yourself more time to work on those that you know how to work through.

   Similarly, work on your weaknesses leading up to test day. If you know that the reading section is going to be a struggle for you, practice that section frequently during your prep time. The more you practice the more prepared you’ll feel for test day.

   The Takeaway: Use your strengths to your advantage when exploring strategies and approaches, and work on bettering the areas of your weaknesses.