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| ACT Preparation Solutions |  It is considered that the most important condition for optimal 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. Irrespective 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 got higher ACT scores. It is considered that test preparation itself can be useful for students. Students’ attempts in this direction can be regarded as the future sound academic preparation.
ACT test were invented to evaluate 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 based on curriculum. The four tests measure 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.
The ACT tests are based on the curriculum in four major areas of instruction in American high schools and colleges. According to ACT the most effective preparation for students who want have high score is to apply themselves fully to the learning activities provided as part of their school's program. If students take specific steps to prepare for the tests, their results on the ACT tests may be improved.
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;
2. Activities involving review and instruction in the knowledge and skills measured by the tests.
Test preparation activities of the first type improve test-taking skills. They 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. Being satisfied with the test format, knowing appropriate test-taking strategies, students may show their best during the test. All that can minimize the external negative factors and increase the positive score obtaining.
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 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 learned before, 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 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. The ACT tests are sensitive to students' learning throughout their high school educational programs, as the ACT tests are designed to measure the level of educational development of students at the time they take the tests.
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.
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