Overview
Preparation Activities
Recommended Timeline
Descriptions of Test Preparation Solutions
The Recommended Procedure for Long-range Preparation
Overview
ACT firmly believes that the most important prerequisite for optimum performance by students on the ACT tests is a sound, comprehensive educational program. Each year since 1987, ACT has evaluated the average ACT score for seniors who have taken various combinations of course work in high school. Regardless of GPA level, gender, ethnicity, or family income, those students who elect to take four or more years of English and three or more years of course work in mathematics, science, and social studies earn higher ACT scores. ACT believes, however, that selected test preparation efforts, can be beneficial to students. ACT considers such efforts as supplements to, rather than substitutes for, sound academic preparation.
The ACT tests are designed to measure important knowledge and skills that students have developed over a period of many years. All four of the ACT tests—English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science—are curriculum-based. The four tests assess the students' skill in applying the content knowledge and reasoning skills acquired in their course work to materials like those they will encounter in postsecondary education.
Preparation Activities
The ACT tests are based on the curriculum in four major areas of instruction in American high schools and colleges. ACT believes, therefore, that the most effective preparation for students who want to score well on the tests is to apply themselves fully to the learning activities provided as part of their school's program. Students' performance on the ACT tests may also be improved, however, if they take specific steps to prepare for the tests. These steps fall into two major categories of test preparation activities: (1) activities aimed at improving test taking skills that are not directly related to the scope and content of the tests and (2) activities involving review and instruction in the knowledge and skills measured by the tests.
Test preparation activities of the first type—improving test-taking skills—are likely to be most helpful to those students who have had little experience in taking standardized tests or who are not familiar with the format of the ACT tests. Students are more likely to perform at their best on a test if they are comfortable with the test format, know appropriate test-taking strategies, and are aware of the test administration procedures. In this way, extraneous factors that might adversely affect a student's performance on the ACT tests can be minimized.
Test preparation activities of the second type—instruction in the knowledge and skills measured by the ACT tests—range from a short-term review of the content covered by the ACT tests to extensive instruction over many weeks or months. The effectiveness of short-term preparation, frequently referred to as "cramming," depends on how recently students have received instruction in the knowledge and skills being tested. For example, high school students who have not taken mathematics courses for one or two years may benefit either from an intensive short-term review of the mathematics previously learned or from a longer-term systematic review of mathematics. If the review helps these students recall the knowledge and skills they have previously learned, then the students will perform better and the ACT tests will provide a better indication of their levels of achievement. Such review, however, will likely be of little or no value to students who have had continuous exposure to mathematics throughout their high school program or to students who have never taken the necessary course work. This latter group of students will likely benefit from more intensive instruction in the content area.
Long-term test preparation is best provided through high school course work in the areas measured by the ACT tests. Because the ACT tests are designed to measure the level of educational development of students at the time they take the tests, the ACT tests are sensitive to students' learning throughout their high school educational programs. Thus, to the extent that the ACT tests and the students' academic preparation emphasize the same knowledge and skills and the academic preparation increases students' knowledge, students are likely to score higher on the ACT tests. Increases in ACT test scores due to long-term instruction are consistent with ACT's intention that the tests be sensitive to students' learning.
Recommended Timeline
Long Range–Eighth/Ninth Grade
Complete the EXPLORE® assessment
Select and complete core/college prep curriculum
Medium Range–Tenth Grade Fall/Spring
Complete core/college prep curriculum
Complete the PLAN® assessment
Short Range–Eleventh/Twelfth Grade
Review prior core/college prep curriculum
Complete a practice test using the Preparing for the ACT booklet
Review sample questions on ACT's new student website
Descriptions of Test Preparation Solutions
Selection and Completion of Core/College Prep Curriculum
Each year since 1987, ACT has evaluated the average ACT score for seniors who have taken various combinations of course work in high school. Regardless of GPA level, gender, ethnicity, or family income, those students who elect to take four or more years of English and three or more years of course work in mathematics, science, and social studies earn higher ACT scores.
EXPLORE–Eighth and Ninth Grade
Consists of a comprehensive set of activities including academic tests, an interest inventory, a student needs assessment, and a high school course work planner, designed to help eighth- or ninth-grade students consider what they want to do during and after school.
PLAN–Tenth Grade
Consists of a comprehensive set of activities including an academic test, an interest inventory, a study skills assessment, and a student information section, designed to assist high school sophomores in planning for the transition from secondary to postsecondary study in preparation for the ACT.
Preparing for the ACT Booklet–FREE
Describes the content of the ACT tests and includes test preparation suggestions and a practice test.
Sample Questions–FREE
Using Your ACT Results Booklet–FREE
Explains the ACT score report and offers suggestions on using the results. It also includes information about the College Readiness Standards, which are sets of standard-like statements that describe the types of skills and knowledge typically demonstrated by students who score in particular score ranges on the ACT. Provided free to students with their ACT score reports.
The ACT User Handbook–FREE
Manual intended to help high school and college counselors effectively use and interpret ACT results. Provided free of charge to high school and college counselors.
Sample Test Booklets
Retired ACT forms available for purchase and use by institutions.
The usefulness of test preparation activities depends on the objectives of the activities, the approach taken, and the students' educational backgrounds. Test preparation activities that are designed to help students develop test-taking strategies or to increase familiarity with how the ACT tests are administered may be useful if students are inexperienced in taking standardized tests. Short-term test preparation programs that emphasize the review and recollection of information previously learned may be helpful to students if considerable time has elapsed since students completed course work that covers the content of the ACT tests. Long-term instructional programs may be helpful to students who have not taken the appropriate course work. All students are likely to profit from the activities designed to increase student motivation to do well on the ACT tests.
The Recommended Procedure for Long-range Preparation
EPAS® Educational Planning and Assessment System
The EPAS system is a longitudinal system of programs that can help teachers, parents, and administrators guide students through critical transition points in their educational lives.
Beginning in 8th or 9th grade, the EXPLORE assessment directs students through the transition to high school with a formative process of career exploration and course planning. EXPLORE also provides baseline data as a starting point for monitoring students' progress through high school.
The second stage occurs in 10th grade with PLAN, designed to provide a midpoint review of career priorities and educational achievement while there is still time to adjust educational strategies. For all students, PLAN can provide directions for the last two years of high school to better prepare students for the next transition—from high school to college or from high school into the workforce.
Students planning to attend college participate in another EPAS component, the ACT. The ACT is a guidance, placement, and admissions program that helps students prepare for the transition to postsecondary education while providing a final measure of high school outcomes for college-bound students.
For students planning to enter the workforce, EPAS measures and reports students' workplace skills. WorkKeys® is a system designed to help students prepare for jobs by assessing workplace skills and then helping students develop those skills. Rather than a single test, WorkKeys is a comprehensive system for assessing, teaching, and aiding in the development of general workplace skills. Helpful to all students, WorkKeys can support immediate entry into the workforce following high school graduation.
In addition to each of the four transition points, EPAS recognizes the need for information about district and school academic programs and student performance.
To help meet this need, EPAS offers linkage reports—a service that assists schools and districts in organizing information, identifying strengths and weaknesses, drawing conclusions, and making decisions about educational performance.
The EPAS linkage reports make it possible to examine the performance of individual students, schools, and districts over time. linkage reports assist in answering the following questions:
- Do test scores indicate that students are meeting academic standards?
- To what extent are students' course selections and levels of achievement compatible with postsecondary goals?
- Are students well prepared to compete in the job market?
- How do our students compare to others with whom they must compete for scholarships?
- What are the trends in students' levels of academic achievement?
- What are the strengths or weaknesses in the quality of educational programs being provided to students?
- How well are students' needs for academic and career guidance being met?