@tutumom2001 I heard people say for the science section of ACT, don’t read the test, do analyze the charts directly. Some say it is not a real science test, but more a reading (analyzing graph) test. I am not sure if that is true or not, but maybe if you DD prepare it differently, she can nail it.
@Darcy123, Congratulations to your DD for a happy score! I think when curve is out of wack, the score is not predictable thus can cause large fluctuations. S20 experienced the same during the June SAT snafu. His 2 tests were within 7 days (June 2 SAT, and June 9 ACT). Of course he “decided to choose” June SAT to forget to bubble 3 questions. ~X( Otherwise, the scores might be comparable.
Thanks for the encouragement guys! She SAYS she studied for it, but I have not seen any evidence of this. I may go get a good peek at her study guide to see if the spine has a crease.
@whataboutcollege Thanks specifically for the insight about analyzing graphs. I’ll pass that along to her. She will have to take the ACT at least one more time because the school gives it to all juniors in the spring.
@Darcy123 Congratulations on your daughter’s score! Sounds like the 35 is a direct result of score skewing.
I think PSAT results come out in December through the high school @bgbg4us
My kids would agree with @whataboutcollege on the science portion. Read the question find the answer in the chart/figures - answer all the questions you can that way then go back and read for any remaining questions. My son completely ran out of timing reading the science passages first. My kids didn’t do a lot of prep, but they did do one timed test and it really helped them figure out how to time manage which is much more critical on ACT vs SAT. We’re waiting for the PSAT results, but my son will most likely ditch retaking the ACT to concentrate on the SAT as he struggled with the time constraint.
D got a 33 on science, 35 on the other three sections, but somehow it’s still listed as 35 composite. Weird… she’s on cloud nine that she doesn’t have to take it again! Now all that’s left are AP’s and SATUSH.
@tutumom2001 your comment that you may go look at DD’s study guide to see if the spine has a crease made me laugh. Recent story came out about an NFL team that didn’t think their quarterback was studying the game film thoroughly, so they sent him home with some blank tapes (back in the videotape days) and when he came back talking about how he watched all the blitz packages, they knew he hadn’t “studied”.
I know using practice test to predict PSAT result was iffy at best, but really his practice score made me have some slight hope. DS20 is my younger of the two, so we will stay with SAT. They both did a free assessment and their SAT and ACT are equivalent. We are no prep course family as well, but I am going to pay DS for his score improvement compared to his PSAT. He had 1280 last year. I think he can be as good as his sister, if he only tries.
D got 1280 sophomore year and 1500 junior year. I think her index was 224. She also applied for TASP after an email invitation. Some of your kids may be getting the invitations in the email. That was the first indication we had that D must have scored well enough before the release of PSAT score. She was in the interview round, but wasn’t selected. Best of luck to the kids who are in the running for NM!
@fencingmom : “Also, the science portion of the ACT is a poorly designed section of that test. Most admissions departments know that and evaluate accordingly. MIT does not even consider that score when evaluating applicants.”
Apparently all of DD’s friends who took the ACT were complaining about the science section. I mentioned @whataboutcollege 's suggestion regarding the graphs, and DD said that there was a lot of vocab that she hadn’t studied. But, honestly, I think her ADHD kicked in and she just didn’t finish anything. She mentioned having to read the passages 3-4 times to answer the questions. But, she had taken her medication, so who knows. She’s also a slow worker.
Congratulations on the ACT scores @typiCAmom@Darcy123 @tutumom2001
fwiw, DS’ two friends who took the recent ACT all suffered the science section, both are very good students. So it might just be unlucky.
@makemesmart, thanks. After D’s STEM-oriented classmate with AP Chem under her belt and taking AP Physics has scored worse than my science-averse-only-regular-classes kiddo, I now have a theory: kids who tried to comprehend the PhD-level text wasted more time on the text itself, while D just focused on the few questions she could answer without understanding the context, and so did better than some other kids who are way smarter than her when it comes to science. She’s just glad she is done.
For those whose kids took the ACT in Oct, Apparently we should be able to see something called an ACT Student Report that shows each sub-score horizontally across the page and has information about it. I can see my D’s scores online but not in the format that the ACT email we got today seems to indicate we should be able to see. Anyone know what I’m talking about?
@CAtransplant, I too got an email about the report and wasn’t able to access it. However, D took ACT with essay and her full score won’t be available till the 23rd. Maybe then…
@socaldad2002, congratulations to your daughter, it’s a good first score, especially impressive is the progress she made in the last few weeks. I almost wished mine scored lower so it would teach her a lesson about importance of studying (or dangers of lack of thereof), but her luck continues. One day it will bite her below the back…
@typiCAmom my daughter’s Writing score showed up yesterday so your daughter’s might be there by now as well? But I still don’t see how to see the report.
There is a “Download student score report pdf” link at the right top corner of the “View Your Scores” page. I think the link showed up after the email notification.
