ACT Prep

The awesome thing about being an adult when you get home from the all-night flight from Hawaii, is while the kids have to go straight to school, you can come home and crawl in bed. Which is what Dan and I did until 11:30.

Chris and I had a meeting at Huntington Prep tonight to begin his ACT Prep course. We've often told him two things: 1) It's not a contest between what Courtney and Marty got and what he gets. We just want him to get HIS best score. 2) The prep will teach him how to take the test better. It's not so much about learning new material, its understanding how to test. Taking many practice tests will help and the specifics that Huntington can offer are very valuable.

I'm totally sold on Huntington -- they helped Courtney and Marty both raise their scores by 3 points. I love their method and the way they present it.

At our meeting, the guy first asked Chris what score he would like and why. Chris wanted 26 because that's what his dad got. Then he had Chris re-look at some questions on the practice test he took at Huntington. 1 or 2 in each section. He had Chris read the question and then the guy helped him understand what they were asking and how to notice things that will help him find the answer. I was so impressed at listening to Chris answer the questions. He really knows how to break it down and think through what he's being asked and had the vocabulary to describe his thought-process.

The purpose of this exercise was to show Chris he already knew all the information being asked on the test. He just needed to learn strategies for timing and how to pace himself. Also to think about what is being asked and not get sidetracked by two answers that both look right.

At the end, he asked Chris if he could get ANY score he wanted, what would he want?

I was silently pleading Chris would go with the score Courtney and Marty got. Not because I wanted him to get a high score. But more because I wanted him to believe what I know -- that he's as smart as they are and just as capable. Chris thought about it a minute and then wrote down the same score that Courtney and Marty got. YAY!! I was SO proud that I got a little teary!

We set a goal that the guy felt was able to be accomplished by the April test. Then he said it was up to Chris to decide if he wanted to continue with tutoring after that and reach for the higher score. He'll be going to tutoring twice a week for a couple hours each night.