At the beginning of January I began to take ACT classes with my mom. And after almost a month of these classes, I learned three main things:
On my first class with my mom, we began the reading section of the first practice test. I'm not kidding when I say that within 10 minutes of the test I began to cry because I felt very overwhelmed. My mind was simply on how much time I had left and all I could think about was scoring poorly. I feared that if I didn't do well, my chances of getting into a good university and receiving financial aid would diminish greatly. My mom calmed me down and explained to me that I had no reason to worry, and I could simply do what I knew. When I told her how unfair I | felt the test was because more than testing what I knew it tested how fast I could apply what I knew, she told me something that was very true. She said that yes, if I were given ten more minutes, maybe I could answer more questions, but there are people out there who can answer all of those questions under the given time frame. And those are the people that many universities are looking for. So to a certain extent, the test does measure your ability in Math, Reading, Writing, and Science, but more so, it measures your ability to think quickly and work well under pressure. |
Last week I decided to take a class being offered in the gym called Body Pump. As soon as the class had begun, I couldn't manage to keep up with everyone else because they were going so quickly and I wasn't used to the type of movements being done. But instead of looking at the class like a fun challenge, I let my brain take over. I got really anxious and I simply wanted to walk away. The feeling that I got in the class was the exact same feeling I got in the first 10 minutes of the | practice ACT test; a feeling of anxiousness. I think I feel this way because I tend to be a perfectionist, and I always want to be able to do everything perfectly. But what I've come to understand is that perfecting something you are new at takes time because no one is born an expert at everything. And sometimes, I have to accept that there is not always space for a perfectionist personality, especially in a test like the ACT where you have a time restriction. |
If the ACT practice tests have taught me anything it is the importance of reading. If I would have listened to my mom when she told me to get a good book instead of spending my summers watching T.V, I would have scored a lot better on the reading section of the ACT. Because like any skill, reading requires practice, and you'll find that the more you read the | better you get at it. In the ACT it's not only about being able to read quickly, it's about being able to understand what you read. And the only way to be able to read quickly and at the same time understand it is by reading. So trust me when I say that if there is any way to prepare for tests like the SAT or ACT it's by sitting down and enjoying a good book! |