By Amanda Tennant, staff writer
At Indian Trail High School and Academy, the Hawks are becoming familiar with their new schedules and routines as a new semester begins. Yet despite a fresh start, an uneasiness has fallen over many juniors due to a new testing policy requiring all juniors to take the ACT on March 3.
Delana Johnson, an ITHS&A communications junior, is currently one of those students.
“I definitely feel overwhelmed to be honest. The ACT is a big test,” said Johnson.
Therefore, with the ACT slowly approaching and uneasiness heighting, Art Preuss, counselor at ITHS&A, comments on anxiety from students as well as offers juniors advice on how to approach and study for the ACT.
“[The students] realize the importance of the ACT score and the impact it has on colleges they get into. It impacts scholarship money they get too. With all that pressure, you start worrying about how well I am going to do,” said Preuss.
Fortunately, an abundance of options for practicing the ACT will be offered at ITHS&A.
“The counselors will have a free study guide, it is a previous copy of the ACT so students can take the test and time themselves. The answers are in the back. Students will get a sense of what the test will be like,” said Preuss.
According to actstudent.org, practicing with an ACT booklet has proven to be a very beneficial way to study for the ACT. However, for students who don’t study well independently, other options will be given.
“We will have someone from Sylvan here during study halls and every period students can go and have access to that,” said Preuss.
For the test date, Preuss recommends that stu- dents be prepared and have all supplies ready the night before as well as getting a good night’s sleep because as noted by actstudent.org, attitudes, emotions, and physical state may influence your performance.
According to act.org, only 25 percent of high schoolers meet ACT’s college readiness benchmarks. Because of this, Preuss reflects on the importance of the ACT and doing well on it.
“It takes a concerted effort from all. The teachers, the parents, the students. We all need to be ready for that next level. It takes hard work and it takes motivation,” he said. “We need to have every student in the building see the importance of an education because the more educated you are, the more opportunities you will get in life.”