What To Do After a Disappointing ACT Score
February 21, 2024Get Smarter Prep

What To Do After a Disappointing ACT Score

The sting of a disappointing ACT score can be overwhelming. Weeks of preparation culminate in a number that doesn’t reflect your efforts, leaving you feeling lost and unsure. But, take it from us, don’t let this setback doesn’t define your future. Here are some steps to navigate this situation and emerge stronger:

  1. Acknowledge and Process Your Emotions:

It’s natural to feel disappointment, frustration, or even anger. Don’t bottle up these emotions. Talk to a trusted friend, family member, or counselor. Allow yourself time to process and accept these feelings before moving forward.

  1. Analyze Your Score:

The ACT score report provides valuable insights into your strengths and weaknesses. Review each section carefully, identifying areas that require improvement. This analysis will be crucial for shaping your future study plan.

  1. Re-evaluate Your Goals:

Reflect on the reasons behind your initial ACT goal. Was it driven by college aspirations, scholarship opportunities, or external pressure? Reassessing your motivations can help determine if a retake is necessary or if alternative paths can achieve your desired outcomes.

  1. Consider Retaking the ACT:

If your goal is a higher score, consider retaking the test. However, approach this decision strategically.

  • Identify the Next Test Date: Just like students lose knowledge over the summer (the summer slide) the same goes for the ACT. Typically, the very next ACT test date is best. Jump right back into it and prepare for the test so you won’t lose any knowledge you’ve already gained.
  • Revamp Your Study Strategy: Analyze your learning style and identify areas where your current approach fell short. Explore different resources like online courses, or private tutoring tailored to your specific needs.
  • Seek Expert Guidance: Our tutors can provide personalized support, diagnose learning gaps, and develop a customized study plan to address your weaknesses and maximize your score potential. They help you navigate the test and find new ways to better prepare while retaining what you’ve already learned.
  1. Explore Alternative Options:

Remember, the ACT is just one piece of the college application puzzle. Many colleges consider a holistic review, including your GPA, extracurricular activities, essays, and letters of recommendation. Explore these areas and showcase your strengths to create a compelling application.

  1. Maintain Perspective:

The ACT score is not a measure of your worth or intelligence. It’s simply a standardized test with inherent limitations. Don’t let it define your confidence or future aspirations.

  1. Remember, You’re Not Alone:

Many students face similar challenges. Seek support from peers, mentors, or online communities who can offer encouragement and share their own experiences.

  1. Focus on Growth and Improvement:

View this experience as an opportunity for personal growth. The journey of learning and self-improvement extends beyond a single test score. Embrace the challenge, refine your study skills, and strive for continuous progress.

By following these steps, you can navigate the disappointment of a low ACT score and emerge with a renewed sense of purpose and a clear path towards achieving your academic goals. Remember, resilience and determination are valuable assets that will serve you well throughout your academic and professional journey.

 

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Start Preparing for the ACT Now
October 27, 2021Get Smarter Prep

When to START preparing for the ACT

When should I start preparing for the ACT? That’s a great question and it’s different for everyone for a multitude of reasons, but for this blog’s sake, we are going to generalize when students should start the process.

There are a number of ACT test dates throughout the year, and some are closer in dates than others and can feel like they are back-to-back. Take the June and July test. These test dates are only 5 weeks apart. The state of Kansas offers the ACT to every public-school Junior on March 1st, but the next national test date is April 2nd. So, when should students start preparing for the ACT?

Students should start preparing for the ACT 4-12 weeks prior to the test date. That doesn’t mean start mid-March for the April 2nd ACT. Three weeks of private tutoring is not a sufficient amount of time to reach your goals. Let’s say a student wants to jump from a 21 composite score to a 25-26 composite score. Three weeks of private tutoring won’t do it! Plus, that puts a lot of pressure on the student! Start preparing three months in advance so you won’t have to rush, you can pick up the strategies your tutor is implementing, and you can fully understand the timing aspect of the test.

ACT Test Dates - Prepare Now

Prepare!

If you no clue what you might get on an ACT, take a free practice test. We offer them every Saturday morning! It’s a great way to establish a baseline score and see what you might score on an actual ACT. Once you have a baseline score, our college experts can determine the amount of assistance you will need to meet your goals. For anything over a 4-5 point increase, a 12 week tutorial would be your best bet.

Our tutors understand that life happens and test dates sneak up on you. That’s why we do offer shorter tutorials such as 4,6 or 8 week tutorials. We see excellent results with shorter tutorials as well, but if you can prepare as much as possible, why wouldn’t you?

We also offer an ACT Prep Course. This course is designed for students who enjoy a small classroom setting (between 3-6 students) and feel comfortable learning with a other students scoring in a similar ACT range, specifically between a 19-26 composite score.

Bottom line: look at the ACT test dates that would be a good fit for you, decide on a date, take a look at the calendar and make sure you give yourself enough time to fit in a full tutorial (4-12 weeks depending on goals).

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A Road Map to Success
September 25, 2019Get Smarter Prep

A Road Map to Success

High school can be confusing for many reasons, but at Get Smarter Prep, we want the road to success to be clear. That’s why we’ve created a Road Map to Success to help students put their best foot forward and easily navigate the college preparation process. From Middle School to the career you’ve always dreamed of, we are here to help you along the way.

Road Map to College

Middle School

Starting in Middle School, specifically seventh grade, students may be invited to be a part of Duke TIP, which is for a program for students who qualify for the 7th Grade Talent Search by scoring in the top 5th percentile on grade-level state standardized tests. If you are chosen, it will give you opportunity to be recognized for your academic talent and give access to multiple resources to help students connect with contests, scholarships, and other programs.

The eighth grade is when you want to start thinking about High School placement tests. If a student has been in a private school or home schooled and going to a public school for the ninth grade, then you must take a High School placement test. Check with your school and see if they offer the test, chances are they do.

If studying simply overwhelms you and you have no idea how to tackle subject tests or need direction learning how to properly study, then study skills tutoring is a great fit for you and something to consider. Now is the perfect time to obtain the skills it takes to study efficiently and properly.

High School

It’s time to dig into your classes and put your best foot forward. Every grade will count towards your overall Grade Point Average (GPA) and be a big part of what colleges and universities look at when considering applicants. 

Freshmen:

Freshman year is a great time to start putting together your resume. Make a note of all the different clubs, organizations, volunteer groups, and awards you receive throughout your high school career. Starting your resume as a Freshman will give you a clear view of what you’ve accomplished and save you time from trying to remember what you’ve done throughout your entire high school career. 

Sophomores:

If you are taking Pre-Calc or Calculus a good time to take the ACT/SAT is at the end of Sophomore year. Otherwise, plan key activities, take leadership roles within clubs, start thinking about visiting colleges, and make sure you are concentrating on your grades. 

Juniors:

If taking Algebra II take the ACT/SAT anytime your Junior year.  Get Smarter Prep offers multiple options for test prep including our ACT Course, Semi-Private Tutoring, and Private Tutoring.

Do not slack on your grades. We know your Junior year is super busy, but earning good grades throughout the year is so important! By now, you should have great study habits and effective time management, therefore your grades should be steady.

Seniors:

If you haven’t gotten the ACT score you need for the school you want, you have a couple more opportunities to achieve your goal. Once you’ve grabbed the ACT score you’ve been studying for, start the college application process. Don’t forget to maintain your good grades, volunteer, and of course, have fun! 

Sometime between your Sophomore and Senior year, you’ll want to start think about the college application process, from building a college list, to crafting your best essays, to submitting the button on your college applications. Students often find it helping to take a career/major assessment that will gauge your learning style, interests, personality, and career focus. A counselor will go over the results of your assessment and discuss possibilities and paths through your feedback and conversation – discussing careers, as well as possible majors.

Your Road Map to Success doesn’t have to stop after high school nor should it stop after high school! After you get into the college of your dreams, there are other options such as preparing for the LSAT, GRE, MCAT, GMAT or just study skills tutorials. Get Smarter Prep offers classes and private tutoring to help our students succeed through all walks of life.

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Class of 2020
February 7, 2018Get Smarter Prep

To The Class of 2020

Your Sophomore Year is most likely going to be awesome!  You may start to think about college in the aspect that it’s not too far away and you have to start to prepare soon, but nothing really has to be done right now…right?!?  Actually, now is the perfect time to start taking action steps towards college.  Here are five tangible goals to achieve your sophomore year: Continue to do well in school, take as many AP classes as possible, join clubs and sports teams that interest you (don’t sign-up for everything!), develop a list of potential colleges you would like to attend, and lastly, take a practice ACT or SAT test. Let’s further break down those steps.

 

Step One: Continue to do well in school. This one seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, some high school sophomores seem to fall into a slump often pegged, “the sophomore slump”.  Students find their stride as sophomores and are content with their classes, schedule, and homework levels.  Some students tend to hit cruise control and coast through the year. After all, everyone knows you take the ACT/SAT next year and get “really serious” about looking at colleges as a Junior. Not true. Now is the time to focus on your grades to build the foundation you’ve already set as a freshman. Sophomores need to at least maintain, if not improve their grades to set the standard for the rest of their high school career.

 

Step Two: Take as many AP classes as possible. Taking AP classes is a great way to beef up your high school resume and challenge you throughout your high school career. These college-level classes are a great way to gain experience that colleges will recognize on your high school transcript. If you can maintain a good grade in these rigorous classes they are worth it.  However, if you find they are bringing down your grades, which will lead to a lower grade point average, then it may not be worth your time.  Know your limits and decide if it’s right for you.

 

Step Three: Join clubs and sports teams that interest you.  Let me preface, I didn’t say sign up for every club and sports team imaginable.  Only sign up for ones that you are genuinely interested in and you will enjoy. If you sign up for everything, you will get burned out, especially if you are keeping your grades up and challenging yourself with AP classes.  Start an activity resume you can use in a college interview and applications process. Activities are an intricate part of athletic recruiting and fine arts opportunities. Don’t be afraid to join a club that isn’t well-known or popular. If that’s what piques your interest, go ahead and join! Colleges will find a lesser-known club perhaps more interesting than a well-known club half of the college applicants are a part of. Stay interesting!

 

Step Four: Develop a list of potential colleges you would like to attend.  Start with local colleges, state colleges, ivy-league colleges, or just a college based on location! The point is to start looking to see which schools you may be interested in. Many factors play into deciding on a college that’s right for you, such as a college major, size of college, location of college, religious beliefs, your own ACT/SAT score and/or GPA. Create a list that is both realistic and challenging for you.  Resist the urge to settle for a school that’s so-so.  As a sophomore, you have time to increase your GPA, study for the ACT/SAT, take AP classes, and join clubs, but if you don’t have a list of potential colleges, what’s the point of working so diligently?

 

Step Five: Take a practice ACT or SAT test.  Get Smarter Prep offers Free Practice Tests every Saturday morning. There is no excuse not to take a practice test.  The purpose of a practice test is to offer a baseline score of where you stand with either the ACT or the SAT. Are you much stronger in the math section than the reading section?  Or do you score evenly in English, Math, Reading, and Science? How do you feel about the timing piece of the test? Did you feel rushed on the ACT, but not the SAT? Are you comfortable with the score you received on the practice test or do you need tutoring? These are all questions we can give you answers to after you take a practice test. Plus, it’s always a bonus to take a practice test before the real deal to become more comfortable and acquainted with the type of questions the test makers are looking for. Sign up for a practice test today. 

 

Is your sophomore year going to be the best year for you in high school?  Of course we can’t answer that question, but we want you to be aware of the potential your sophomore year has on your college process. Now is the time to start planning for your future. Good luck!

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Guessing on Standardized Tests
November 9, 2015Get Smarter Prep

Guessing on Standardized Tests – LotD-R

Guessing on Standardized Tests – Letter of the Day Strategy

Many tutors use various strategies when it comes to guessing on the ACT – one of the most common strategies is the Letter of the Day Strategy. With this approach, if a student comes across a question that they don’t know the answer to (and can’t do any eliminating of other answer choices) or if they are running out of time and need to fill in bubbles – they use the same letter every time throughout the entire test. Guessing is a very important and easy concept for a lot of tests – particularly the ACT and LSAT, as many if not most students have trouble with the timing of these tests.

Using the LotD Strategy is considered to be the gold standard of guessing methods – as it gives you the best shot at getting one out of four questions correct on average (or one out of five in the Math portion of the ACT).

Randomly guessing is much riskier. You may have a chance to get more of the questions correct, but you also have a chance of getting all of the questions incorrect. **(You still technically have a 25% chance – 20% in Math – of getting the question correct – but the odds are now positioned in a much riskier manner, statistically speaking).

While the LotD Strategy is certainly a good, risk-aversion approach to guessing on standardized tests, particularly multiple-choice test, I think for many students it is found lacking based upon a given student’s performance leading up to the guessing. What if we can increase the odds of getting questions correct from 25%, on a four answer choice test, to 30-40%?

Regression Toward the Mean

In statistics, there’s a phenomenon call Regression Toward the Mean – which basically says that even when things are randomized, there’s a tendency for the average to be achieved over a larger sample size. For instance, if you are looking at just four Reading ACT questions, the odds that one of the answers will be A/F is ¼.  However, in such a small sample, it could be that it will be two correct answers or more. Or conversely, none of the answers could be A/F.

When looking at the Reading test as a whole, the sample is larger (40 questions total), so the odds that ¼ of the questions’ correct answers are A/F becomes more reliable, as the random variance has been reduced (not eliminated – as there can still be statistical anomalies).

What does this Mean?

What does this mean for a student on test day?! Particular students who are accurate with the questions that they’ve answered, but still have timing issues with particular sections (very common on many entrance exams), can improve their odds of guessing correctly by applying the aforementioned statistical concept.

For example, if a student has ten questions remaining in a set of 40 questions, they can quickly take inventory of the answer choices they’ve selected on the first 30 questions and guess the letter that has been used the least. If done correctly, the student should have a good opportunity to increase their accuracy in their guessing – which in the end will lead to a higher score.

The LotD-R strategy isn’t for everyone – and learning to quickly assess previous answers is a new skill that many haven’t previously practiced – but for some students, the strategy will allow for an improved score with minimal effort.

Test Prep

There are a number of ways to prepare for the test, including our ACT Prep Course, Semi-Private Tutoring or one-on-one Private Tutoring. One more question students need to ask themselves is this: Which test date is right for me? That’s a question only you can answer based upon your extracurricular activities, course schedule, academic readiness, and your ability to best prepare for the test.

Our courses generally start 8 weeks prior to the actual test date, so make sure you leave enough time to appropriately prepare for the ACT given your set goals. If you’re looking for a big jump in your composite score, you will need the full amount of time to prepare for the test. Schedule accordingly. If you have no idea what you would score on a standardized test and would like a good baseline to begin with, we offer Free Practice Tests every Saturday morning. Sign up for a Practice Test.

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Get Smarter Prep Logo
October 26, 2015Get Smarter Prep

Tips for Surviving College Essays

Tips for Surviving College Essays

Brace yourselves, kids! The Common Application went live on August 1. Of course, you already knew that. You’ve been chomping at the bit to get a peek at this year’s supplements for your top choice schools. Right? Right.

Of course, the Common App prompts have been posted on their blog since March, and many of them are the same as last year:

  1. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
  2. The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
  3. Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
  4. Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
  5. Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

These prompts are specific enough to help you brainstorm, but open-ended enough to allow for some creativity in how you answer. However, for many students, that essay is just one of many. Depending on your list of colleges (I’m looking at you, Stanford), you may be facing a seemingly endless list of writing tasks.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. How does one even begin? What is this madness? You know “what outrages me,” Wake Forest? The fact that I need to write forty-seven essays.

Here are Ten Tips for surviving college essays to make your college essay writing experience less terrible. Trust me, it is possible.

  1. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes, inhale deeply. Exhale. Repeat. We’ll wait.
  2. Seriously, breathe. You skipped that because you didn’t think it was important, however it is. I promise. Your brain needs oxygen to come up with the words that make essays.
  3. Put this in perspective. These essays might seem like the most important thing ever, but they’re not even the most important part of your applications.
  4. Get organized. If you don’t have a solid college list, start there. If your college list contains 38 colleges, consider narrowing. Take stock of the essays you need to write. Make a list, or even a spreadsheet. (I know. I know. Trust me.) Include what school the essay is for, word count, and the prompt. Don’t forget essays for special majors, programs, or scholarships.
  5. Think about your experiences. The best essays are stories that only you can tell. Be specific. Your experiences don’t have to be huge, impressive accomplishments. They do have to be authentic and important to you.
  6. Are you still breathing?
  7. Connect ideas to prompts. Go back to your list. If you’ve decided you want to write an essay about how reading a certain book influenced your attitude towards life, where might that fit? Devise a plan that allows you to write less than 47 essays.
  8. Just write. You can’t revise a blank page. Set a timer for five minutes and don’t stop typing. Don’t hit backspace. Just write. It’s OK if you hate it. It’s OK if it’s terrible. Just write.
  9. Revise. Be ruthless. Cut superfluous words. You’ve got to get down to 650, or 500, or 250, or 50. You’ve got no room for anything that doesn’t have a purpose. Delete. Save your drafts. They might be useful later. Don’t get too attached to sentences. They might be beautiful. They might also be unnecessary. Go back to the prompt(s). Are you answering the question(s)? Get specific. Go deeper. Read it aloud to yourself. Does it sound like something you’d say? Record yourself. Play it back.
  10. Ask for help. It’s important that your essay be your story, in your words, but feedback is critical to any writing process. You might ask your teachers, friends, or family to read your essay and provide their thoughts. Get Smarter Prep is here to help, too. Our College Essay Writing course is designed to help you develop your ideas and write your best essays! Contact us for more information or to get started!
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Get Smarter Prep Logo
April 15, 2014Get Smarter Prep

The Willingness-Strategy-Increase Correlate

The Willingness-Strategy-Increase Correlate – It happens quite frequently – parents ask me how students can improve their test scores.  Well, from my observations of thousands of students, there tends to be an integral combination of student effort and the mastery of the methods, as well as the structure, of the tests that provide the best results.  It’s the value of both that will help a student achieve their ACT or SAT goals!  It’s not a matter of one or the other – it’s the two in cooperation that leads to the largest score increases!

We recently helped a student that worked harder than any student I have ever seen!  She was honestly more self-motivated than anyone I’ve ever met.  The trouble was, while she worked very diligently and was dedicated to doing something – she didn’t choose to take the time to learn the right way to approach the ACT. She had taken 6 actual ACTs and probably 20 different Practice ACTs on her own before coming to Get Smarter Prep – yet she wasn’t seeing the result she expected.  The old adage, “perfect practice makes perfect” was not something she had ever adopted.  When she took the time to learn the right strategies, her time spent practicing was much more fruitful.

Conversely, I’ve seen numerous students who are provided with an abundance of opportunities to learn the strategies necessary to do their best, but who are not willing to do the “heavy-lifting” of practicing and committing to them.  Many of the strategies will stretch a student in a way they’ve never experienced – and if they aren’t willing to commit themselves to the strategies, there will be little room for growth.  Because some of the strategies feel uncomfortable for a student at first, they choose to rely on their “school methods,” which are often times counter-productive on these unique tests.

ACT and SAT prep is always the most productive when students are able to commit to the two aforementioned things: adaptation to the strategies that are right for the test and spending time practicing the new concepts.  If students are able to marry these two concepts, they will be well positioned to realize the goal score they set for themselves.

Caleb Pierce is a Tutor and the Owner of Get Smarter Prep

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