@Navy09mom i have 2 competitive children. studied for the act before junior year (after finished with Algebra 2) and took it and both scored perfect scores. I would NEVER and most college counselors would NEVER recommend taking tests earlier in high school, esp. freshman year. And, even though my kids got perfect sccores on ACT, both did not get NM off the junior year PSAT. And I would not classify the NMF as real money, unless one goes to a school that offers money for that - which besides USC and a few other schools are usually state flagship schools. Most schools do NOT superscore the ACT.