By Emma 
If your teenager is taking the ACT soon, you’re likely overwhelmed and looking for ways to help your child. The ACT is one of the tests used to determine college admission and is essential to your teen’s academic career, so it’s natural for you and your teen to be nervous about the exam.
Helping your child study for the ACT can ease your fears about the test and ensure that your teen is prepared for this milestone. Here are some of the ways you can assist.
Get a Thorough Understanding Of the ACT
The most important step you can take in helping your teen is understanding the ACT. This exam can be stressful, but if you know what to expect, you can relay this information to your teen and relieve some of the anxiety they may be feeling.
The ACT is one of two standardized tests used to determine college admissions. The test is accepted by all four-year undergraduate colleges in the U.S. and is a multiple-choice exam that includes four subjects. The ACT can be taken with or without a writing section and math, reading, and English sections.
The ACT takes around three and a half hours, and students are permitted to take breaks during the test. If your teen is taking the ACT Plus Writing test, the entire exam will be four hours. The day of ACT testing usually takes up to five hours. This test is administered six times each year in the United States and U.S. territories and Canada and Puerto Rico. In other parts of the world, the ACT is available five times a year.
Your teen will be given an overall ACT score of 1 to 36. Individual scores are given for Reading, Science, English, and Math. Students are given a score from 1 to 12 for the Writing Test and a combined Writing/English score between 1 and 36.
Work With Your Teen to Set a Goal
It’s essential to work with your teen to set attainable goals when preparing for the ACT. Since you know the score ranges, you can use this as a guideline when your teen is taking practice exams. You can download practice tests from the ACT website or enroll your child in the best ACT tutoring online classes to make sure your child understands and is comfortable with the material. Research your teen’s top college choices and prospects to see the average ACT score accepted at each school. This will also help your child set a goal to help them stand out from the colleges they prefer.
Keep in mind that each child has different academic strengths and weaknesses. Don’t compare your child’s practice scores to anyone else’s. Depending on your teen’s personality, you may want to push them to reach their full potential or offer more encouragement to keep them motivated as they practice.
Establish a Practice Schedule
It is possible to motivate your teen to receive a high score on the ACTs. The more they are exposed to the information, the more at ease they will feel on the test day. Allow your teen to take the practice tests as often as they need to feel less nervous about the ACT. You can also create flashcards for your teen with vocabulary words or math problems or utilize space in your home to look similar to the ACT testing site. Time your child when they’re taking the practice exams, so they’ll know whether they need to spend more time in a particular section of the exam.
It’s also a good idea to offer an incentive to your teenager. While you may feel a sense of accomplishment when your teen passes the ACT, your child will likely need a different type of reward for succeeding when it comes to studying and understanding concepts. Choose an incentive specifically to your child and offer them rewards each time they complete a milestone during the ACT study and exam process. This will motivate your teen not only for the ACT but also in other aspects of academic and social achievement.
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