By Julia Conforti, staff writer
In March, all of the juniors of Indian Trail High School & Academy took the ACT exam. The ACT is a college entrance exam that is recommended to be taken during junior year.
Colleges not only look at an applicant’s GPA and after school activities, they also look at a student’s ACT score, so the exam is an essential test that can be a determining factor whether or not a student gets into the college of their choice.
The ACT is scored out of 36, despite the fact that each section of the ACT has a minimum of 60 questions. Students were given the score on the ACT’s grading scale, but were not informed how many questions they answered correctly.
Taking in how crucial this test is to a student’s future, KUSD generously paid the exam’s fee so that people who could not take the exam because of financial reasons could have the opportunity to take the test. Even if students were not planning to take the ACT or even go to college, they have a score in case they do decide to study at a university in the future.
A majority of teachers assisted their students in preparing for the ACT by giv- ing various practice tests and advice throughout the month of February, some even prior to that point. The effectivity of taking practice tests has been acknowledged by students who did have the opportunity to do so.
“The [practice ACT] gave them a good idea what was on [the ACT],” said English teacher Katie Phillips.
Now that students have received their scores, most teachers say that they are sticking to their teaching habits.
Help and preparation was given to students, especially outside of the classroom following school hours.
“We did hire someone from Sylvan (Learning Center) to come in and help students,” said counselor Joel Sinden.
Even after the districtwide ACT testing has passed, an ambassador from Sylvan Learning still stays after school hours to prepare those students who have decided to take the ACT exam in June.
Now that the ACT is out of the way, juniors have another requirement to fulfill: to apply for college in the fall of this year.