Reviews and Advice for the ACT
April 16, 2009 • written by Samantha Hartfiel
At least fifty Park juniors, and even a few seniors flocked to Hastings High School on Saturday April 4th at the early hour of 8 AM in order to take the renowned ACT exam. The ACT, which is the name of the test making company formerly known as American College Testing Program, is an important standardized exam, taken preferably in junior year and is necessary for admission into almost any midwestern college. The approximately 4 hour exam tests students in four basic categories: math, reading, english, and science, in timed intervals lasting from 35-60 minutes. Each of these sections are made up of a group of multiple choice questions, which are then scored on a scale from 1 to 36. Students may also choose to take the optional written portion of the assessment, which consists of a prompt in which students write an essay and is scored on a scale of 1-6. However, test takers must be aware that the ACT is a very difficult assessment and getting a 36 or a 6 is almost impossible. In fact, the average score in the United States is 21.
Since April 4th was the fourth opportunity out of five to take the test for the 2008-2009 school year, many juniors have already completed the college requirement. Navita Lakhram, a current junior, received a 24 on the ACT, which she took in February.
“The test was hard!” Lakhram exclaimed, “I suggest that students study! I did not study.”
Rebecca Holland, also a junior, was one of the students to take the test on April 4th.
”I thought it was kind of hard,” Holland stated “The science was definitely the most difficult.” Holland, who just took the test, will receive her score in approximately 5-8 weeks.The overall consensus of Park students seems to be that many students felt rushed in the reading section, which consists of 40 questions to answer in 35 minutes, and puzzled by the science portion.
However, for students who have not yet had an opportunity to take the ACT, there is still one more test date left for this school year. The exam will be held on June 13, 2009 at several high schools in Minnesota, some close ones being Tartan High School in Oakdale and Eastview High School in Apple Valley. Students must register before May 8th in order to pat the $31 charge, but a late fee will be added for those who register anytime between May 9-22, 2009. Also, for students who are unhappy with the score received of their test, it is possilbe to retake the test in order to raise the score.
FREE PRACTICE ACT EXAM
Saturday, May 2nd
9:00 am-1:00 pm
Location: Park High School Cafeteria
Spaces are limited!
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Word of advice to those taking the ACT, people may say the science portion is the hardest. IT IS NOT.
The science portion is asking you to read graphs. What intimidates people the most is that the graphs have more information than the questions require, and the subject matter looks like advance calculus. The thing is, you don’t need to know how the graph was made or what it’s about. all you need to know is how to find the point on the graph that they are asking for and answer the question. Just look at it as being just like reading a graph in elementary school, just with other lines on the graph that you don’t need.
On the science portion of the exam, they will not ask you how to solve advanced chemical equations. They will ask you to find the pressure of 1 in^3 of air at 46 degrees celsius using the graph associated. All you have to do is find 46 degrees celsius on the graph and see what pressure corresponds with that temperature.
The simple version is, you don’t have to know what an Candela is, you just have to look at the graph to find out how many candelas correspond to liters of fuel.
Thomas,
It’s not the graphs that worry people, although they can be quite complicated. It’s the fact that it is the last portion of the exam (not including the writing) and quite frankly, some brains are already fried at that point. It is all in how you look at it.