<p>I am always getting 20 something on the ACT and I am so upset about this. I think I am not an average student because I can handle 6 AP classes easily and get a GPA 4.3. I talked to my counselor about this just last week. She couldn’t give me an answer but just told me to do my best.</p>
<p>But time is limited. I am a junior and there is only a few chances to take the ACT before applying to colleges. I have taken the test three times before and they are 22, 24 and 23. I want to get a 34, or at least a 30. I do want to let my parents and teachers down. </p>
<p>So is my case common? Is anyone in here having the same situation? Like do well in school but screwed up on standardized tests? (yeah, got a 1600 on SAT too). </p>
<p>This happens often in our high school. Advanced classes aren’t always advanced and many kids with great GPAs do poorly on the SAT/ACT as many topics are not covered in their math or English classes. In math, kids tend to memorize the math and do well on tests, but then forget. They don’t know the concepts of why they are doing what they are doing. Then, when they get into mixed questions (as on the SAT/ACT) they forget which “trick” to use when as it was all memorization and not real knowledge.</p>
<p>This may or may not be your problem, but it’s what I see around here and why we supplement our local ps heavily. My oldest two we even pulled to homeschool high school (successfully). What has happened to their equally academically talented peers is sad.</p>
<p>My best suggestion is to get a few study books and go through them carefully. Don’t start a week before the test. Start yesterday (figuratively, of course).</p>
<p>It would help more if we had your section scores. My suggestion is to get a tutor. They’re a lot more helpful than a class because it’s individualized (and you might be bored in it because it may be too easy for you) and it’s often cheaper.</p>
<p>If you know the concepts in your classes, then you should be fine. However, if your memorizing then forgetting, that’s when you’ll run into trouble.</p>
Huh? The ACT is hardly related to anything we do in school… It’s very broad.</p>
<p>Ckp: Have you taken the SAT (or at least a practice test)? If so, what’d you score? Sometimes, people have very contrasting results with the different tests. Maybe the SAT is more up your alley and you could do better on it than the ACT?</p>
<p>The ACT is supposed to be a test showing what has been learned either inside of school or outside of it. The math goes up to some trig functions and otherwise covers Alg 1, Geom, and Alg 2. The English covers grammar rules plus a little more. The reading covers vocab and understanding concepts in reading. Science is different and doesn’t really cover science, but understanding of science types of readings, charts and graphs.</p>
<p>All of these are supposed to be covered in school. Many, many moons ago my good high school covered them (and more) and many kids scored high. Today, where my kids go (or would go) to high school these classes are pretty much in name only comparatively. Kids at this high school score dismally on both the ACT and SAT. Kids who graduate at or near the top of their class and who have supposedly gotten A’s in Calculus (though no AP test) test into remedial classes at our local community college on a regular basis.</p>
<p>If you haven’t experienced the difference, it’s difficult to believe it’s there. But it is. It’s sad. I feel for the kids who are in lower academic schools. Some of my boy’s peers are equally as academically capable as my guys are, but one wouldn’t know it by junior year.</p>
<p>CCsite: Thank you so much for the site! I just knew that Wake Forest is on the list! I think I’ll give it a shot.</p>
<p>Seeking: Yes, I took SAT once and got a 1600 on it. I find SAT is way harder than ACT, so I will just stick with ACT rest of my year. Thanks for the advice though.</p>
<p>Actually, the ACT is a test used to measure if you’ve learned your highschool classes. It’s not an aptitude test but a test that covers predictable topics learned in highschool.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to imply that it wasn’t at all related to what we learn in school (I did say hardly…), but I guess my point was that by the time we take the ACT, most people are past those topics in their classes. It just seemed to me that your (Diagnostician) post implied that you need to study whatever you’re learning in school at that time to do well on the ACT. I just misinterpreted. :)</p>
<p>I’m aware it’s an achievement test, I post that all the time when people try to compare it to the SAT’s function as a predictor of college success.</p>