This year as juniors we are faced with several standardized tests, ACT, PSAT, SAT, SAT2, the list goes on. These tests are important to our future and I know the majority of my friends feel that they will make or break your college admissions process. Many have already taken the ACT and many have private tutors they attend weekly. Each hoping to improve their score by one point, because that one point might be the different between acceptance and rejection.
In my family I have three sisters and one brother, none of them ever had an ACT tutor and only one of them took a class during their lunch period with about twelve other students. So, when I entered my junior year my mom and I had no intention of ever getting a tutor and had briefly talked about taking that same lunch time class. But, as I began to hear about all my friends tutors and that many had already taken the ACT I began to wonder if I was blowing the tests off or if I was unprepared. One of my senior friends took the ACT on five different occasions and I already knee deep in my junior year don't even know when the ACT test dates available. Then I wondered if a tutor really made any difference.
I do not know the answer to this question and I'm not sure where I can find the answer. When I was looking for reasons why tutors were unnecessary, I found tons of site listing all the reasons I should get a tutor. Although, all these sites were from tutoring agencies so they of course would provide "pro-
tutoring" information.
A part of me thinks that taking the ACT on five different occasions will not change your score, that the only thing you can do to prepare for this test is to become familiar with the format. After this, I do think that taking it five times rather than four times will not make a difference in your score. But, then again I have little to no information on the subject, but I do hope to learn more with the help of my college counselor, parents, teachers, and even you!
Some students need to prepare for weeks with an expensive tutor, some students walk in without any worries. Personally, I say: no tutor. Tutors are expensive and one can learn the concepts from a book. I glanced over at a 700 page book before taking the ACT this morning, just to refresh my thoughts. Take a test before the state-admitted one and see where you lie on the scale; that'll tell you if you need any preparation for the ACT.
ReplyDeleteI did go to an ACT tutor for a few weeks to prepare for yesterday's test. I thought it was very helpful! Although I could have just bought the prep guide instead, I feel like one-on-one time with a tutor gave me leg up. I was not nervous for the test and nothing unexpected came my way. Hopefully when we receive the scores, having the tutor will pay off.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you're saying and I'm very opinionated on this subject myself. I am getting a tutor after taking the ACT once without any tutoring just to see where I'm at. But honestly sometimes I think tutors a little ridiculous. Parents spend hundreds of dollars on these tutors. And that got me thinking. What about kids who can't afford tutors in places that are not as well off as the North Shore? Just to stay ahead of the competition I feel like you NEED a tutor. That if you don't have one you'll just completely fail. But that is not true because I would venture to say that half of all the people who take the ACT every year do not have a tutor. So that should say something about the having or not having a tutor.
ReplyDeleteZoe kind of got at what I was thinking too. We think we need them, and yeah they're helpful. They give you a taste for what the questions are like and the best test taking strategies. However, this tutor phenomenon is pretty recent, When my brother, 23 now who graduated in 2004 from New Trier, was going through this process it wasn't very common to have a tutor. Now your right EVERYONE seems to have one! But to Zoe's point, its not very fair. Not everyone can afford them..I thought it was suppose to be standardized, and only a select group gets that leg up?!
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