Son19 took the ACT yesterday, and after 2 weekends of standardized testing his brain is mush. He said he thinks he might like the SAT better. He thinks he did better on SAT math vs ACT, and wasn’t feeling great about either test’s English sections. He also said that the Science section was more difficult than expected, he said it was a bout a subject he didn’t know much about and they used confusing wording and terminology. He’s a very good science student, so he was bummed that section caused him some issues. He also thought the ACT moved fast, maybe too fast. But that was the first time he had taken an ACT test, he had tried a few PSAT’s, a few SAT practice test, and the SAT last week- so he might just be feeling more comfortable with SAT at the moment.
The point of ACT Science section is that you do NOT READ.
You are supposed to look at graph/chart/tables and go to questions directly and answer them. What was the trend, did the plot show increase or decrease? What was plotted against what?
When I looked at the ACT Science section, I was like, wow, what an interesting experiment! I wonder what the outcome was? … If you begin reading into the science of it, and want to learn something from it, you will run out time and not have any time left to answer the questions.
So, you have to LOOK at the charts, (stop wanting to learn about the science) and READ QUESTIONS immediately.
No one, not even scientists, will fully understand the esoteric science wordings directly taken out of science reports written for specialists.
I wonder why the ACT science section is set up the way it is. What is it testing? How would anyone know that you shouldn’t read the articles? If you’re going to test how to read a graph, just do that. Don’t try to throw the kids off by having these long articles that aren’t needed to answer the questions. S19 hated the ACT. He took it in middle school through Northwestern’s NUMATS program and we also had him take a practice test with Kaplan after freshman year. He was so irritated that he couldn’t finish the science or reading sections when he obviously could have gotten all of the questions correct with more time. Why is going fast an important thing? And why do kids have to learn all of the tricks needed to finish the science section? How does that show college readiness?
He stuck with the SAT. The reading passages are more difficult but kids get something like 30 seconds more time per question. There’s almost always one or two science sections on the reading portion of the test. And you have to read I order to get the correct answers. I feel like the SAT tests the things that are important. The ACT seems to be the test where kids learn a bunch of tricks to score higher.
ACT is fast paced as you can see If you compare the number of questions and time for SAT and for ACT and calculate time allotted for each question.
ACT questions are easier as it does not allow time to think, but there are more of them. You have to keep focused for a longer stretch of time, and the cost of simple error is high in ACT.
SAT
Section #Questions Time (minutes)
Reading 52 65
Writing 44 35 (grammar)
Math 58 80 (two sections)
ACT
English 75 45 (grammar)
Math 60 60
Reading 40 35
Science 40 35
Lol. ACT doesn’t “allow time to think”. That was exactly the problem. S19 overthinks everything so, for him to just race through problems at lightening speed, was not a good match. And I’ll say it again- I don’t see why the ACT is a good predictor of who will do well in college. Don’t we teach the kids to be deep thinkers? To edit and re-edit papers? Not sure what quickly answering a bunch of multiple choice questions shows about a student. I think many colleges agree since they do not even consider the essays on both tests. Who cares how fast a student can organize their thoughts and throw it down in such a short amount of time?
I think as parents, whichever test our child scores higher on is the “better” test.
I think S19 (who has taken a single ACT practice test compared to 2 PSATs, 3 practice SATs and one real SAT) seems to be pretty good at both tests but I think he could score higher on the ACT if he has a good day.
Since both tests are timed multiple choice tests, I’m not sure either one really allows the deep thinkers to show their stuff.
LoL. I really enjoy those texts in the tests.
I took the ACT with DS17 and was enjoying the reading section texts so much that I only finished half the questions in allotted time. lol.
With Science section, I was again enjoying reading about interesting science and ran out of time. So I answered the questions with my knowledge after quick glances on the graphs and got 35 or 36.
Both the SAT and ACT texts are very enjoyable to read for adults with college education but are hard for high schoolers as they are not used to reading such texts. I read about Navajo code talkers in SAT reading section couple years ago, and it was a very interesting read as I had never learned about them before.
The ACT science section is more about analyzing data than Science. It tests ones ability to cut through noise and focus on the data relevant to a particular question. Much like the real life of work that I have experienced.
There are lots of good books including some young adult and children’s books about the Code Talkers, @paynfoward, if you want to read more than an SAT passage. There was also a movie that I think was called Windtalkers that came out around the time our kids were born or a little later.
S19 who is a math/science kid, will have taken 6.5 years of social studies by the time he graduates: 2 years of world history including APEuro, 2 years of AP and IB Geography, 1 year of APUSH, and 1 year of IB Theory of Knowledge, and .5 of USGov. AP Gov is not an option at our school yet. I sure wish .5 of Alaskan history were an option, @dfbdfb, because that sounds interesting. Our state requires specific state history in 7th grade.
Still waiting for PSAT scores. @ThinkOn’s and other comments on the dedicated thread have been helpful.
The social studies required curriculum for us is American Government, US History, World History and a half year of Economics, so 3 1/2 years of social studies. They also require a half year of health, so it pairs up neatly with Econ.
We don’t have specific Maryland history in school, because obviously Maryland is the biggest factor in all of the US History course so it’s covered. I joke. A little. They cover MD in the Civil War sections and there are field trips to battlefields and Federal Hill, and for Rev War and war of 1812 we can go to local historic sites. Actually, there’s a Maryland History Museum in Baltimore, I think there’s a field trip there as part of American Government.
I haven’t been taking the tests with the child because I’m scared of looking stupid and confirming the kid’s opinion that he will never need this information after high school. He takes the practice tests, then we sit together and go over the answers and discuss solutions to get the questions right. I haven’t put down money for a tutor yet, but if kid’s scores don’t improve I may have to. He wants selective colleges, we are going to have to invest some more money and time.
Our NY social studies curriculum is only in elementary. @ninakatarina I did some practice tests early on with my d and it made her happy that she kicked my butt in math. IIRC, I still beat her in the verbal sections, but wasn’t really a butt kicking.
Ahh, I was just rudely greeted with the “Come back on December 13 to see PSAT scores” from College Board, and an email from ACT suggesting that S19 send his non-existent ACT scores to colleges by Thursday of this week if he wants to use his free score reports. (His test was canceled).
Good luck to everyone who gets their scores today!
221 here in Illinois. S19 knew this PSAT did not feel as good as his SAT but, if Illinois stays at 221, he will have made it by the skin of his teeth. (Let’s all remember the PSAT in the fieldhouse with no breaks or water situation).
The interesting thing was that his reading section was perfect and that was his nemesis all summer. I think AP Lang really helped him prepare for it. He’s required to take the SAT again in March in order to graduate so I’m thinking his EW score may go up from his August SAT (740). All of his schools superscore so that would be a good thing.
@BingeWatcher different. He got four wrong on the PSAT! He only did one practice PSAT test and thought the problems on that test seemed enough like the SAT that he didn’t need any more studying. But, on the test, he said problems were worded differently. I don’t know that there was any way for him to study more effectively for the PSAT though. He reallly just thought all that studying for the SAT should have sufficed. We thought the PSAT was just an easier and shorter version of the SAT but he didn’t think that was the case with this particular test.
well my son sorta blew it. the PSAT weighs heavily on the reading/writing section, which his score went down fromn last year. Scored near perfect in Math though. Selection Index is 205. He took the SAT a few weeks ago and we are hoping that he would score close to 1500, but really doubting it now. With an uweighed GPA of an 89 (94 weighted), and barely any EC’s, need to readjust things.
Do all scores that are supposed to be released today show up at the same time? Don’t see my D’s scores and we are in IL so I assumed we could get them today. Edited: never mind…had to update her profile and now we can see them.
Thanks @sdl0625 I was able to figure out how to do that and see the scores today to prep my d. She missed it (the cut off) and did slightly better on the SAT she took a week later. I’m glad I saw it first so I can tell her after school today instead of her seeing it in the morning before school.
She did really well. 98% for the user profile is something to be proud of, but I know she will be disappointed.
D19 did take AP Psychology, but it’s only half a credit. She’ll likely take government and economics next year (half credit each). But that still leaves her with only 3.5 social studies credits. Her social studies problem stems from the fact that she went to 9th grade in one school district where social studies isn’t required for 9th graders, then she transferred to a school district where 9th graders do take social studies.
@BingeWatcher D19 found the PSAT math much easier than the SAT math. It’s not particularly close. She got 98th percentile on the PSAT math and 82nd percentile on SAT math in October.
D19 took the ACT on Saturday and would have been confident about getting her target score. Except she messed up in filling the bubbles. Apparently, she filled out the bubbles in the second to last column of science. When she got to the last column, she thought she was in the wrong column, so she started erasing the second to last column, and put the answers. (IOW, she answered questions 29 to 32. Then when she got to number 36, she filled it in as number 29 column instead.)
She had enough time to realize her mistake and correct it, but now she’s worried that the scantron machine will misinterpret her erased answers. She actually thought it was easy enough, but is worried that her score could be knocked down as much as 3 points if she didn’t erase completely.
Which would be a real shame, because she thinks she did really well in the English and math sections. But the best part about taking the ACT so early is that she has plenty of time to take it again (there will be seven more in the 2018 calendar year. Even if the December one is too late, there’s six more chances).
