ACT Improvement at Whitnall High School

For the second year, the Whitnall High School National Honor Society has created an ACT tutoring program on the Mondays and Wednesdays between March 12-21 in the high school library. National Honor Society decided to start this program last year to help improve the ACT test grades for individual students as well as overall school scores.

The fee to join was $10 to attend all four practice days. Each day focuses on a different portion of the ACT test with the help of different NHS volunteers. March 12 was ACT prep for the Reading portion of the test while March 14 was for the Math portion. The Science portion of the test was March 19, while the English portion was on March 21.

For this program, each NHS volunteer tutor had a required score of 28 on the portion of the test they would tutor. This enabled the students to get the best advice and help at their tutoring sessions because they would be taught by the NHS members that achieved exemplary scores in that section. In each session, there are over 10 volunteers in the library. Each NHS student is given about four students to assist regarding their assigned topic. This gives students the opportunity to work alone, with peers, and with specialized help. In addition, there are teachers in the room in case the NHS volunteer is unsure how to explain the reasoning for the correct answer.

Each student and volunteer is given an ACT practice test where practice problems are located. The volunteers were given this practice test ahead of time so preparation could be done. Volunteers are also provided with an answer key so that the tests will be corrected with the right answer no matter what. Students can get one-on-one help with the National Honor Society seniors for questions that they don’t understand.

Each set of NHS students in each subject has specific guidelines to follow so there is uniformity between the different tutors. For example, the science group dictates the first two portions of the practice test to do as a group so that students get the general idea of how it is done. Next, they dedicate the third part for the students to do on their own without being timed. For final portions, a time limit will be set so that the strict time schedule will help the students get used to being timed. This will account for all seven portions of the ACT science practice test. After the last four portions are timed, the group will come together to correct and explain incorrect answers.

Unfortunately, since there are only so many NHS volunteers, there is a limited amount of people that can be tutored for this program. This year, the spots were filled right away. At the tutoring sessions, both strategies and practice are used for the best overall preparation. Because of this, those who attend a tutoring session such as this one improve their scores significantly. For those in need of preparation for a future standardized test, such as the ACT, attending the NHS tutoring sessions next year would be a very beneficial choice.

Editor's note: As part of a partnership with Whitnall High School, Greenfield Patch will be posting blogs and announcements written by WHS students through the end of the school year. All blogs and announcements have been approved by the student's teacher.