The Prep Guide is shown to give a summary of the most up to date version of the test. Picture taken by Michael
Hastings Senior High School has decided that juniors will be taking the ACT on March 21 of this year. Some students have started to prepare while others don’t consider it to be a priority for them.
“As soon as school started I began studying for the ACT. I have been studying on Naviance and it has improved my score by seven, but my most improved subjects would be English and Reading,” junior Param Bhakta said.
Some teachers at HHS have started to help students prepare for the ACT. English has an ACT writing unit to help students with the writing portions on the test, and math has started to give problems on the C4L that students may have on the exam.
“I definitely feel like my English teacher is helping me, especially with the writing portion of the exam. He has been giving us practice essays and telling us what to do in order to do well,” junior Karen Navarrete said.
There are many students that are nervous about the ACT since many colleges look at your score in order to see who fits well into their universities. Practicing has been known to help students with the exam and raise their confidence level.
“I am pretty confident but I know that I need to improve on math and a few things here and there, but I am just ready to get it done,” Bhakta said.
Some people think that the ACT is not very necessary, but it is a tool that many students in the U.S have to go through. Juniors have to take the ACT since it is a state requirement, but there are some skills that could help them during the exam.
“I think some of the skills a student needs to do good on the exam would be having knowledge of the content, eliminating wrong answers, finding answers that are unique from the others, and what the test looks for in general,” Mr. David Witt said.
Many students get distracted by their phones while trying to study for the ACT. Social media has shown to get students off task and unable to focus on the importance of studying, but a few percent of students are able to put their phones aside.
“I am on Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter but when I am studying for anything, not just the ACT I don’t know how but I never look at my phone, and I think that is the most helpful thing for me,” Bhakta said.
