The ACT Essay Changes (Again!)

Beginning this fall with the September national test date, ACT will no longer report the essay score (otherwise known as the writing test score) on a 1-to-36 scale. The writing score will instead return its original range of 2-to-12, with 12 being the highest possible score. We at Test Prep Gurus laud this development as ACT's experiment with using a 1-to-36 scale for the ACT essay caused a lot of unnecessary confusion for students and families.

It Is to Your Advantage to Apply to Fewer Colleges?

Contrary to popular myth, it may be to students' advantage to apply to fewer selective colleges, rather than more. The table below cross-references students' total number of college applications with the percentage of colleges to which they were accepted. The data was collected from Polytechnic in Pasadena, one of the country's top independent day schools. The conclusions below were presented at the 2016 National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) annual conference. 

College Ranking vs GPA & Test Scores

This graph depicts the general interactions between college rankings and GPA and SAT/ACT scores. 

We've found this graph can be a great conversation-starter for parents and students who are new to the college admissions process, just to give them a sense of the general landscape of admissions as it relates to GPA and test scores.  

Additional details about the graph:

Lower Left Quadrant (Low College Ranking, Low GPA/Test Scores): Remember, there are more than 2,000 colleges across the United States that fall into this category. If you want to go to college, there is a college out there that wants you!  This little bit of information can often be very helpful in ratcheting down the anxiety surrounding college admissions.

Upper Left Quadrant (High College Ranking, Low GPA/Test Scores): This is where we find the majority of denials.  If you're applying to a top-ranked school, it really helps to have competitive stats.  If your GPA and SAT or ACT score aren't competitive with those of a school's typical applicants (or it's a test-optional school), you'll very likely need to have another "hook." A hook is a trait that makes a student more desirable to a college, such as being a highly-recruited athlete, excellent musician, development case, debate champion, etc.

Upper Right Quadrant (High College Ranking, High GPA/Test Scores): We often refer to the top 50 ranked colleges as "Ivy-Like."  This term was coined by Deren Finks, former Dean of Admissions at Harvey Mudd College. We have found that this term is a useful reminder that it is roughly as difficult today to gain admittance to one of the top 50 colleges as it used to be to gain admittance to one of the Ivy League schools. If you are applying to schools in this quadrant, it really helps to have a GPA and SAT or ACT score that is in line with these schools' typical applicants.  

Lower Right Quadrant (Low College Ranking, High GPA/Test Scores): This is where students can find scholarship dollars. If your stats are higher than those of a school's typical applicants, you significantly increase your chances of receiving merit-based financial aid.  If you have a strong GPA and an SAT or ACT score to match, we would encourage you to ask your counselor about excellent colleges that don't have a huge brand name. You might be surprised at how much money some colleges will give you!

The Ivy League: Up there, in the top right-hand corner, you'll notice a red dot for the Ivy League. Given the difficulty of gaining admittance to these schools (plus Stanford, MIT, and a handful of others), they are quite literally off our chart. That is not to say that you can't get into one of these colleges; many of our students do! However, if you are applying to the most selective schools in the country it is often helpful to remember that an excellent GPA and a near-perfect SAT or ACT score are usually the minimum requirements for consideration. 

 

How to Use this Graph: This graph can be a great tool to kick-start a conversation between students, parents, and counselors.  Some questions we've found helpful for families in the past include:

  • Where do you currently see yourself on this graph?  

  • Where would your parents like you to be on this graph?  Why?

  • Where would you like to be on this graph?  Why?  

  • If you'd like to be somewhere other than your current position, what steps do you need to take to reach your goal? 

 

At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.

It all starts with 3 steps:

  1. Complete free mock ACT and SAT exams.

  2. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.

  3. Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.

Comparing ACT vs Redesigned PSAT Scores

The starting point for any program is to identify where the student is currently scoring. Test Prep Gurus offers free diagnostic tests for the ACT, SAT and other exams to provide a baseline score, which we expand into a detailed analysis of the student's strengths and weaknesses. The above chart can be used to compare scores from the ACT and the New PSAT to determine if a student is better suited to the ACT or the New SAT. 

Map of States Using the SAT or ACT for State Testing

State testing standards and methods are shifting dramatically, as states increasingly choose college-entrance exams to measure achievement.  Is this good?  Is this bad?  On the one hand, these exams were not designed to assessment high school academic achievement. They were designed to assess college readiness.  On the other hand, using the SAT and ACT in place of existing state exams means fewer total standardized exams for high school students -- and that is something we support.  

For more on this topic, please our post "Why Did the SAT Change?"

Does it Matter Which Test Prep Company I Use? New data says 'YES'

Does it really matter which test prep company I use?  Aren't they all more or less the same?  And if they're all pretty much the same, why not go with the cheapest option, or the easiest to schedule, or the biggest brand name?

These are fair questions.  But choosing between test prep firms is not like choosing between car dealerships, where two firms are selling the same Lexus and the consumer's only real concern is the price. Choosing a test prep firm is actually much more similar to choosing a lawyer or a doctor as there are often large differences in terms of quality and results from one firm to another.   

At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their grades and scores on the ACT, SAT, ISEE, HSPT, APs so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.

It all starts with 3 steps:

  1. Complete practice exams.

  2. Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.

  3. Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.