2020 Blog
December 30, 2020Get Smarter Prep

Closing the Chapter on 2020

As we near the end of 2020 (finally), I’ve been thinking back on what this year has taught me. If not taught me, then reinforced what I already knew, but needed to work on. I’m sure this list will look different for everyone, but if I had to guess, there may be a few items on my list that you would find on yours as well. 2020 was a year of many hardships for the entire world, but I am grateful to look back and reflect on things that mean more to me now than 12 months ago.

  1. Be more patient.
  2. Learn something new.
  3. Revise. Plan. Revise. Plan. Revise.
  4. Be more respectful of others.
  5. Listen.
  6. Educate Yourself.
  7. Find joy in the smallest of things.
  8. It’s okay to take a minute for yourself.
  9. Keep working hard…it will pay off.
  10. Take time away from the news and social media every now and then.

 

What’s your top ten? Does your list look different? Challenge yourself to look back at this year and write down what you’ve learned so you can use what you’ve been taught to move forward. We are excited and hopeful for 2021. We hope you are too! If you’re thinking about taking an ACT in 2021, reach out to us and let us know how we can help you prepare.

Read More
The Future of Us
December 14, 2020Get Smarter Prep

Get Smarter Prep Partners with The Future Of Us

Get Smarter Prep is pleased to announce a partnership with The Future of Us, a local non-profit that provides character-based scholarships to high school students from underfunded and under-acknowledged communities.

 

Starting in 2021, Get Smarter Prep will provide up to seven scholarships to well-deserving students for either one of our ACT courses, if applicable, or One-on-One Private Tutoring. The Future of Us will choose a student who they deem will benefit the most from receiving ACT prep.

 

Get Smarter Prep and The Future of US are both passionate about helping Kanas City metro students achieve their dreams by supporting them through ACT prep.

 

“We are so excited to team up with The Future of Us and help local students reach their ACT goals. The ACT is one test, that without help from a tutor, can quickly become overwhelming and take up a lot time,” said Marketing Director Jill Purcell. “We have numerous strategies to make the test manageable and help beat test anxiety.”

 

The purpose of extending ACT preparation is to provide local high school students, who would not otherwise have the chance to complete ACT prep, the opportunity to reach their own goals and attend college and/or receive scholarships to make college more affordable.

 

About The Future of Us

The Future Of Us was founded in Kansas City, Missouri by three Ruskin High School graduates. Each of whom went on to graduate college where they identified a disparity in the amount of collegiate opportunities and support for students from more affluent communities than their own.

The Future of Us wants to strengthen the financial and structural support network in communities lacking collegiate influence. They invest in students by offering finances, time, guidance, leadership, support and encouragement for their academic goals. For more information, please visit their website.

Read More
Focus
December 2, 2020Get Smarter Prep

Focus

This year has been rough for a thousand reasons! Let’s think about last January, which seems like a million years ago at this point. Students went back to school after Winter Break, some were already prepping for the February ACT, other students were active in sports and living their best life.

Fast forward to mid-March when the world paused. In-person school was done for the year, all extra-curriculars were canceled, Continuous Learning started at the end of March, beginning of April, and quarantine began.

Even when school started back up in September, it began three weeks later for most student. Some schools went hybrid, some went virtual, and a few, more rural schools, went in-person. So how can students get ahead and keep track of everything they are supposed to accomplishing this year?

Focus

Focus on the goal. Whether that means getting the ACT score you need for your reach school, excelling in virtual school, or taking the ACT for the first time. Set goals and start slowly moving towards the goals you’ve written down. Goals usually aren’t accomplished overnight. They take time.

If there is one thing we’ve all learned from COVID-19, it’s that we can’t plan more than a month ahead at a time, sometimes not even a week! That doesn’t mean your goals are squashed. There may be obstacles along the way, but if you’re passionate about those goals, they will slowly come into focus. Keep moving forward one step at a time.

We’ve had students who’ve studied for an ACT and the day before the test, their test site cancelled the test due to COVID-19. Those students put in 8-10 weeks of prep to be hugely disappointed hours before their test. However, they kept on going. They kept on preparing, they came into Office Hours, they studied and were diligent about taking the ACT. Every one of those students ended up taking an ACT months after they first started studying, but they did it. Their focus and drive led them to accomplish what they set out to do.

If you need help setting goals or need tangible steps to accomplish those goals, contact us! We are passionate about helping and empowering students achieve their best.

Read More
June 19, 2020Get Smarter Prep

ACT Section Retesting Revision

The ACT has announced that the previously-planned September launch of Section Retesting has been postponed. According to ACT, this “will enable us to increase testing capacity for those who need to take the full ACT test.” Due to the cancellation of the April ACT, and many test centers being unable to host the June ACT, many students have been unable to take their planned ACT test date. While the ACT is “preparing for greater testing capacity for July 18 testing,” it is likely that some test centers will again be closed. Information about test center closings will be announced by the end of June.

In the meantime, postponing the individual Section Retesting will allow more seats for students to take the full ACT exam. Section Retesting is currently expected to launch “later in 2021.” When Section Retesting is launched, students will have the ability to retake individual sections of an ACT, instead of retaking an entire exam. This option will require that a student first take a full ACT test, and they will be able to take up to three sections at one time. Also of note, Section Retesting will only be conducted as a computer-based exam and will not be available to students by the traditional paper method.

While we expect that Section Retesting will be beneficial for some students, due to the uncertainty of this timeline, we encourage students not to rely on this option being available in time for their particular application plans. Instead, students should focus on preparing to take the entire exam until we know more about when Section Retesting will be available.

Read More
What's Next for Students?
June 16, 2020Get Smarter Prep

What’s Next for Students?

With so many things happening this year, you might be left saying, “What’s Next for Students”? 2020 has been the year of change for so many reasons, but many high school Sophomores and Juniors are wondering what are they supposed to do now? Do they take the ACT? If so, which test date? If they do not take the ACT, is that okay too?

Let’s start with moving forward. The April 4th ACT was canceled and many locations across the country also canceled the June ACT. Those students who were signed up to take the test on those dates were pushed back to June or July, respectively. The July national test date isn’t hugely popular, although many of our tutors think it’s a good choice for students who don’t want to compete with studying for the ACT while in school.

The September 12th ACT is a great test date for students to aspire to since they will already be about a month into school at that point and will be able to get back into the swing of studying and applying themselves scholastically.  As far as test prep goes, our courses start July 21st in preparation for the September test. Since prep begins in the summer, students have more flexibility with their schedules for about half of their total test prep.

ACT Test Date Prep Start Date
September 12th  July 21st
October 24th  September 3rd

Another option for students to consider is waiting until the fall/winter to take the ACT in either October or December. Keep in mind, test prep at Get Smarter Prep for any ACT is generally eight weeks in length. Make sure your schedules are cohesive with studying and prepping for a certain ACT date.

Test Optional

For the class of 2021, is the ACT necessary? For some colleges and universities, the answer is no. Due to COVID-19, certain schools are reconsidering the ACT for the class of 2021 for college acceptance. However, that does not take into consideration Merit-Based Scholarships. Those scholarships will still be based on your GPA as well as your ACT score. Keep that in mind as you consider whether to take the ACT.   

The bottom line for high school students moving forward, is to do your own research. Some colleges will be test optional, some will not. Some colleges will accept students from the class of 2021 with or without an ACT/SAT. Still, other colleges will only offer Merit-Based Scholarships with a certain ACT score. Each school is different, so make sure to look into every college on your list and see what their requirements are before making a rash decision.

Read More