It is test day stress. You have put pressure on yourself to get a certain score, and you look around at your peers; they look prepared. To top it off, last night you were scrambling to find your student ID and didn’t go to bed until 12. Isn’t sleep the best thing you can do to prepare for test day. Darn. You already feel like you are at a disadvantage. To make matters worse, you forgot a snack. After waiting for that one late kid to roll in at 8:07 and filling in bubbles for half an hour, the proctor finally writes the start and stop time on the board, and the countdown begins. Your mind is blank; this is where your preparation takes over.

Most students don’t take the ACT without preparing in some way. After surveying 40 students from Minnetonka, only eight said they took the ACT without any preparation. Although our parents reminisce about not studying, only a minority of students attempt this. The most common preparation at Minnetonka, according to the survey, is private tutoring. Twenty-five of the forty students responded that they have an ACT tutor. Twenty-three of those who had a private tutor said they increased their score.

At Minnetonka, the second most popular method of preparation is self-studying. Given that it is the least expensive option, the reason for the popularity of self-studying is clear. 13 of the 40 surveyed said they had self-studied to prepare for test day. One of the best things about this method is the flexibility. Timing is not as rigid, but for some that may result in procrastination. Another perk, you don’t have to pay someone hourly to sit next to you while you study.

I recommend taking an instructional lesson from a tutor or a class to learn some strategies, then apply it on your own by taking practice tests at home, rather than paying someone to assign them to you. One thing I heard again and again was that the ACT was not a measure of intelligence, but rather how good of a test taker you are. You can be the most successful if you learn how to be a better test taker from the professionals and practice on your own.

A big fear is that you take the ACT again, and get the same score, or worse. Three of forty respondents said this happened to them. On the other hand, most people saw significant increases in their scores after studying. Scores for two of those surveyed improved by seven points.

After being reminded that last year Minnetonka averaged 26.7 on the ACT, it is important to note that these students are generally not walking into the test unprepared. I talked with four Minnetonka students who achieved high scores and asked them to give me some insight into their test preparation. Here is what they said: