This year, the administration chose to hold the American College Testing examination, or ACT, at the high school on March 23. As of 2016, Ohio state law requires that schools administer either the ACT or SAT test to juniors as one of their three diploma options, according to the ohio.gov website.

“The ACT or SAT could have been selected by us but our district chose the ACT,” guidance counselor, Adam Woessner said.

This year’s ACT brings no updates to the actual test, but there will be changes to the report students will receive with their scores.

“The actual score report has changed, just in the way it looks,” Woessner said.

The PreACT is a new test the school implemented this year for the sophomores because the majority of students choose to send their ACT scores on their college application.

“It’s something the ACT came out with and every school is allowed to offer that. We chose it and we are treating it very much like the PSAT in terms of cost. I believe it is 15 dollars to take the test and they are going to test at the exact same time as students taking the ACT,” Woessner said.

Some sophomores chose to take the PreACT because they think it is a good way to prepare for the real ACT.

“I’m doing the PreACT because I need as much practice as I can get and I think the test will show me how much I need to study for the ACT,” Susanna Kisker (10) said.

A student may feel prepared or unprepared for the ACT depending on prior experience with standardized testing.

“I would say I feel prepared because I took the PSAT earlier this year, so that was kind of a taste of the standardized tests we’re going to take,” Isabella Severino  (11) said.

Some teachers have been preparing their students for the ACT since January.

“I know some teachers are starting to prepare and others are not doing that much but my class does workbook pages here and there. The teachers are saying that as we get closer to the test we will spend more class time working on it,” Severino said.

Guidance counselor Adam Woessner says there are many outlets outside of school to improve a student’s score.

“There’s lots of free prep stuff out there that you can do on your own whether it’s books at the library, the learning express library through the state or the library through mdeca.  There are things you can purchase directly from ACT, all they way to finding tutors. We offer prep classes through Oakwood, so it can range. I think the best preparation is everything that you do here every single day and the course selection you choose,” Woessner said.

For some families, money can be a concern when it comes to hiring tutors or paying for classes.

“Obviously the price tag increases in figuring out what families want to do in terms of that investment they want to make. Here we have offered a fairly affordable ACT and SAT prep classes,” Woessner said.

The ACT can be a stressful ordeal but knowing the facts about the test and utilizing various resources can make the testing process easier.

By: Lauren O’Connell

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