Going into summer, one thing that may be on the calendar for some Arrowhead students is the ACT.  The ACT is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States, and the next one is scheduled nationwide for July 14th.

Although sign up is already closed for the test taking place in July, students can now reserve a spot for the ACT taking place on September 8th on act.org. Whether a student is taking the July 14th test or the September 8th test, there is no better time to prepare than the present! For Arrowhead students, two ways to prepare for the ACT through school networks is the Method Test Prep program and the ACT summer prep course.

Method Test Prep is a free program that is accessible to any Arrowhead Student through the “Career Cruising” tab at the top right side of the Arrowhead high school website. On it’s website, Method Test Prep is described as “a self paced program that can built around your schedule.”

When logging into the student dashboard on Method Test Prep, there is a checklist of different Math, English, Reading, and Science Activities. They are split up into weeks 1-20 to evenly spread out the 25 hours of work available. There are separate quizzes and lessons based on certain subjects that students may struggle with, and in the end, a student takes 2 full length practice ACTs to get them prepared for the real deal.

Samantha Bittman, a senior at Arrowhead, has just started using the Method Test Prep program to prepare for the September 8th ACT.  

“I already feel like I am taking in a lot more information than my past studying for my first ACT,” says Bittman. “I like the organization of everything, and even if I am only doing it 20 minutes a day, I am getting something out of the quizzes and benchmark lessons.”

The second way to prepare for the ACT through Arrowhead is the ACT prep course provided in the first six weeks of summer. It is run Monday through Friday from 7:30am-9:55am in South Campus Lab A. Students can sign up for the course by logging into their Skyward Account and entering the tab titled, “Arena Scheduling.” There, students can select to add the ACT prep course to their summer school schedule. Although scheduling is closed for this session, the prep course will be offered in summer school schedules in the future.

Ryan Andrews, an English teacher at Arrowhead and supervisor of the ACT Prep course,summed up the main objectives of the ACT prep class.

“Our schedule varies from day to day,” says Andrews.  “The main goal of the class is to help students improve ACT scores and reach their goals.  In order to do this, we spend a lot of time learning about the test, formulating personalized test-taking strategies, reviewing test content, playing games, and taking practice tests. “

Andrews said that about 15-25 kids sign up for the class; this year, 23 kids are signed up.

“Enrolling in the summer ACT prep course is a nice way to force yourself to learn about the test and practice the skills necessary to do well on it,” said Mr. Andrews.

These two ways of preparing for the ACT are accessible and fitting to all students of any grade level at Arrowhead high school. As Bittman says “Both of these options are a lot easier than going out and finding a tutor, especially when you can access one of them in your own home.”