I've actually never taken the ACT so I can't speak from experience, but the math is so damn easy on the SAT I just wonder how they can screw the rest of it up enough to not get an 18 (if the ACT is anything like the SAT). But, I really shouldn't critiscize, I don't really know what kind of background most of these guys come from, although I can understand how a guy from Carol City couldn't make an 18.
I had a friend who, no lie, took the test 3 times to make a 17. The high school we went to was one of the best in the state and got a little national recognition. However, our Junior High (4-8th grade) was so pathetic that out of a class of 60 kids I graduated Jr High with, only 9 made it to college. Atleast 50% never made it through High School. It wasn't just that they didn't teach you anything, it was the attitude they instilled in you that it just didn't matter and you got beat up for having good grades. It's a shame, but a lot of good athletes come from bad areas with schools just like this and the ACT/Sat is not as much an indication of IQ as everybody thinks. Also JVincent, ACT math is totally different from SAT. SAT really stresses the english part, where as ACT stresses the math more and is more difficult.
now only it requires algebra 2 and geometry. Its still hard, because they don't give you nearly enough time to do it. If I had as much time as I needed...I think I would have scored well into the 30's. But instead I scored a 28 three times.
I hated math--it bored me to death. Calculus was an elective at my high school. Since I hate math so much, and was bored by it, I surely wasn't going to subject myself to that....er.....subject.
I like others knew people who had high GPA's and were smart people but would get a 20 on the ACT. This is at a school that should prepare them too. Some people just don't test well.
If anyone thinks the ACT is hard now they should have had to take it 20-30 years ago, harder test and shorter time frame. Like all national trsts it has been dumbed down some.
Interesting... I can't really agree or disagree with you since I'm not old enough to either: 1. Have a kid old enough to be taking it 2. Have a kid at all 3. Know someone in education to clarify
I graduated from high school with a 3.9 and from LSU with a 3.4, but I only made a 22 on the ACT. My high school did not teach standardized testing skills at all--and there are definite "tricks" to taking a standardized test. Timed standardized tests like the ACT also put many at a disadvantage. I took the ACT at the end of my junior year, just after taking chemistry. The first questions on the science portion of the test were physics related. I turned the page to the chemistry section, and time ran out... I would imagine that his school doesn't teach kids to take the test. As a teacher, I've learned a lot about standardized tests since my high school days, and I can teach most kids to do well on them. It's all about knowing the format of the test in advance. Kids from low-performing schools never are taught those sorts of things.
