MathChat

I’ve been coaching many students on the ACT math test lately, and I’ve heard a myth from them and their parents that I’d like to dispel.

The myth is this: If you’re an “A” math student, you’ll ace the ACT math test, and you won’t need long to study for it.

This notion is absolutely FALSE,  for four key reasons.

1.  The ACT test has a challenging time limitation, and until you learn how to master the time factor, you will struggle with the ACT math test.
2.  The ACT math test requires you to remember a large quantity of math material, stretching all  the way back from PreAlgebra to Trigonometry. It’s quite possible to be an “A” math student who memorizes a lot of info before each big test, then forgets that info right after each test. If you’re that kind of “A” math student, you’ll struggle with the ACT because you’ll need to re-learn all of that math that you have forgotten.
3. In school you’re taught how to do the problems that come up on the test. And then you take the test on those skills. So as long as you study, you should have a good idea how to do those problems correctly. But on the ACT math section, the problems require you to figure out what to do right then and there. You have to “think on your feet” because the problems are often non-traditional in nature. So the ACT math section is testing your overall ability to think mathematically, not just your ability to regurgitate a bunch of stuff you have memorized.
4. On school math tests you focus on one topic at a time. For example, a test might be on three methods of factoring, and that’s all that you’re tested on at that time. But on the ACT math section, any given problem might require you to use math skills from seemingly unrelated areas of math. Example: one problem might require you to use geometry’s Pythagorean Theorem and also require you to use algebra’s rule for factoring quadratic trinomials. So you have to work in a more fluid, flexible way.For all of these reasons I always cringe when a parent calls me up and tells me that his/er child needs to bring up an ACT math score up by 5 points by studying “really intensely” in the last week before the test.

   In fact, my recommendation is that students start preparing for the ACT no later than the summer before their junior year of high school. That way students get an early feel for the challenges of this particular test, and they can make a plan for re-learning all of the info they need to re-learn. They also have time to learn the strategies they’ll need for this test.

In a future post I will share some examples of actual ACT math problems so you can get a better sense of the situations I’m describing. In the meantime, consider starting out with that idea of summer before junior year as the ideal time to get your child started studying for the ACT math section.