The last time my son took the ACT, Fall of Senior Year, he did not do any prep work and stayed up late, and was not really expecting to do any better. But as soon as he came home he said the test was easier and he felt good about, he said he thought he did well on Science. It turned out to be correct, so he was really happy.
I don’t think he could’ve scored much higher. His math score stayed consistent the whole time, and he would’ve needed that score to get up to 34-36 range to make a difference, which was never going to happen. Anyways, he was happy with his score, it was well above the average for his school and allowed him to be considered at all of the schools he applied to.
I’d have her take it again, even if she doesn’t prep a ton for it. The kids learn and mature so much from Junior year to Senior year. There isn’t a reason not to take it again, unless it stresses her out, or she knows the score is good enough to get her into her #1 school choice. Also, if she takes it again and gets a great score it might open the door to some merit $.
Good luck to her.
PS. I am pretty sure my son19 will be test taking thru the his senior year, unless he scores a very unlikely 1500 plus first attempt. I think he’ll end up doing better with another year of math under his belt ( taking pre-calc now) and he needs to get better in English,grammar skills.
My daughter could go either way still on whether she will be one and done or not. Her test anxiety could make more than one necessary. Added in, her weakest skills are in the reading section and that’s harder to study for, from my research. Prep helps but some of it for her is going to be the luck of the draw on reading passages. Some types, particularly older passages in social sciences, are harder for her to really get and then the anxiety just makes her brain freeze.
They say the best way to improve in the reading area is to read more… but with her coursekoad she can’t add additional reading. I’m just hoping between her own prep and her AP Lang and APUSH, that her reading skills will improve without adding more to it.
Echoing @RightCoaster’s recent response to @OrangeFish, and adding that not only is a 30 ACT not “average”, it’s 95th percentile. (Actual average is 20.8.)
College Confidential is not populated by a representative sample of college-going students and their parents, and being here can mean that one’s perceptions of what counts as normal stats can be skewed by the sort of clientele the forums attract.
I just went back and looked at D’s score from taking the SAT in 8th grade for CTY (she qualified for CTY on verbal only). She’s gotten 70 points better in math in three years and 110 points better in verbal. So while I also have been thinking each year that “just one more year of school” will raise her up, it really hasn’t been rocketing her skyward.
I guess everything is relative, but my D was thrilled to get a 30 ACT to go along with her B+ average. She got some scholarship offers and was accepted at every school she applied to.
S19’s SAT weaknesses seem to be understanding literature and accurately copying a correct answer to the grid in. I think he can fix one of those issues before the actual test.
@eh1234 FWIW, S19 finds it easier to complete each reading passage and circle the answers in the book and then transfer them onto the answer grid. Keeps him interested in the passage and he thinks it helps him not make mistakes when penciling in the answers.
@OrangeFish Just to add another data point, my D15 got in to UVA with a 29 ACT (I can’t remember her SAT, it was a little better but not a ton). And she has been on the dean’s list every semester there. In her case she did have great grades and some interesting internships.
@OrangeFish 30 is not at all average. S17 was accepted to all 7 of his schools, with merit, with a 26 superscore. Average grades (low by CC standards lol), decent rigor, solid EC’s and I think some quirk factors that helped at schools that looked a bit more holistically. He also didn’t apply to super competitive schools.
@eandesmom (and others planning to hang out on the 3.0–3.4 thread), a question: My D19 has a GPA decently above a 3.4 to this point, but what one might call a “mixed” transcript (read: a couple Fs to go with all the As). I don’t want to be one of those who barges into 3.0–3.4 threads and hijacks it with what is, in context, impolite bragging, you know? But she isn’t targeting the sort of schools one would expect of a student with her GPA, so I’m not quite sure where I really fit, you know? So, input?
Heh, yeah, and my kid has a 3.8 GPA but PSAT so far is only 1240, so on some days I feel in the average group and others I feel in the accomplished group. I have the feeling he could get much better SAT scores with practice, but finding the time and steeling my spine to be a nagging mom is my problem.
2 full weeks of 11th grade completed here so far. It’s going well. She is in love with AP Chemistry, Physics and BC Calc. Her favorite seems to be whichever she is telling me about at the moment. She really likes the AP Lang teacher and was raphsodizing about her today. She enjoys her tech class when the teacher isn’t using it to recruit for robotics. Her Spanish teacher told me at open house that she has a knack for the language, which d19 and I rolled around laughing over since it’s been her biggest stress and the class she is least confident in. Of course, his comment did make her rethink her perspective. APUSH isn’t going to be a favorite class but the teacher is nice and appreciates hard workers, so she should be ok.
So basically, I feel like she’s found her footing, mostly, and we shouldn’t have too many more tearful, stressed out mornings.
Has everyone else adjusted well to the school year? I know most have been back a bit longer.
@mom2twogirls DS17’s ACT scores improved with AP Lang and APUSH - Reading section from 30 to 33 (June of Junior year) and English from 29 to 33. It could also have been from multiple (3) testing experience. He did say AP Lang was helpful. His first math was 36 but later ones were 33 and 34 as he makes silly mistakes such as writing down 2+4 and then circling 5.
Will anyone be starting a subpar slacker thread ? Because frankly the perception of average on this page is way off the mark and somewhat insulting to truly average students .
D seems to be adjusting well. She is happy with env. sci., which tbh sounds like a hippy class with not a lot of rigor. It might just be the teacher, who’s very crunchy. The APUSH class is her favorite. She got A+'s on two recent essays and the teacher actually emailed her to congratulate her and tell her she scored higher than anyone else in the grade. She was doing virtual cartwheels.
Of COURSE, we couldn’t just bask in that for a while: The same week she got a 72 on a geometry test. STEM stuff is definitely her Achilles’ heel. She’s now started tutoring.
She’s a drummer in the house band and they’re performing at the school coffeehouse, which will be great. (She’s also teching it). And then the musical starts.
She and her dad are visiting West Chester U outside of Philly for their fall preview day on Saturday. I’m so bummed I have to work and can’t go.
@dfbdfb - how does your D have a 3.4-plus GPA with Fs?? I used some online calculator that told me my D has zero mathematical chance of reaching a 3.5, and she’s only gotten two Cs…
@Gatormama: 2 Fs in semester courses out of a total of 18¾ credits (1 credit=1 one-year course) taken freshman and sophomore years (eight regular courses each year, plus 3 minicourses each year of ½ or occasionally ¼ credit each) plus one minicourse earlier this year, with the other grades being all As, except for 1.5 credits of Bs.
@Gatormama those are exactly the kind of grades (A+ in social studies and scraping through STEM) that I had in high school! Somehow, my kids are STEM people anyway.
My weekend highlight was that she was stuck on an AP Chem question and while I couldn’t really answer it, just by reading the question I could tell her what stood out to me as an odd detail that might mean something to a person who really understands chemistry. Apparently I was right and what I pointed out to her helped her figure out whatever gobbledegook she needed to know to get the answer.
Hahah, I’m the same way. I stopped being able to keep up with her after algebra. Biology, I slept through in ninth grade and somehow the teacher gave me a D. (I was a horrifically bad student the first two years). I am unable to help her in any STEM subject. I freeze just looking at the questions, though, so good on ya for being able to stick with it enough to see something odd!!