Login with your favorite social network:

[lundie46]

Heis some of these children who does not need certainly to work challenging for great grades, and I see him pondering he might do precisely the very same for the ACT. How can I get him to commence to see the significance of learning for the examination, without having putting unnecessary anxiety on him?

[Nilay]

I don't know that it is important If he is getting good grades with minimal work, then he obviously knows the material.  I was the same way - high school was a breeze for me.  I took both the SAT and ACT with no preparation at all.   Unless he has some sort of actionable deficiency(such as writing under a time limit), the best bet is the old recommendation - get a good night's sleep.   Let him take it on his own - if scores less than either of you are expecting, then you can examine what can be done.  He may blow it out of the water and be done with it.   If he is a kid who takes pride in his intelligence, he'll know if he should have scored higher.  If that's the case, he can take it again and prepare for what he had trouble with.   If you really are concerned, get a practice test for him to take to verify or strike down your concerns. 67alecto 77 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Acharon]

One option you might try is to have him take a practice exam.  If he does well, then no worries!  On the other hand, if he doesn't do well enough to get into the school(s) he is applying for, this in and of itself should be an incentive to study.    Speaking as an academic myself, part of me does not like the idea of studying for such tests.  They are supposed to be a measure of knowledge and by studying you are not necessarily getting a true result.  So, another benefit of taking a free practice exam is to get some sort of gauge as to how much has been learned.    There is a large debate concerning how valid such tests are in the first place.  They are designed to be crude proxies to IQ tests(which contrary to public opinion are valid measures of IQ).  I say this to merely point out that if one of his reasons for not studying is that he is smart enough not to have to study, this can easily be verfied or falsified by taking a practice exam.  Until you get some data neither you nor he knows whether your respective positions are valid.  He cannot be sure he does not need to study and you cannot be sure that he does.  Of course, before taking the practice test you should both agree to live with the results.  Determine what score he needs and make a simple arrangement: he scores better than that, he doesn't need to study; he scores worse than that, he does.  My guess is that he'll be doing some studying!  Not because he's not very bright, but because the tests can be tricky in spots and a little preparation doesn't hurt.  In spite of the noble goal of the test, there's a little more to succeeding than simply having good grades.   Having said all of that I would point out as a college professor that there is way too much emphasis on grades by students.  If your son's position is, he doesn't have to study because he gets good grades the question he should be asked is whether he can put into practice the knowledge that those good grades indicate he has.  There is no necessary correlation betwen good grades and knowledge.  Ideally, good grades do indicate that one has the knowledge and can use it but this is not always the case.  There's nothing worse than getting good grades in math and not being able to figure percentages(like calculating a tip in a restaurant).  There's nothing worse than getting good grades in history and not understanding how the Civil War still affects politics in the United States.  There's nothing worse than getting good grades in English and not being able to write well.  You get my point!     

[Weifield]

I don't think studying for it helps, but you can take it again and maybe learn from it. We had a student to who took... it every year until she got a perfect score. Shasha 77 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Farall]

Thats a tough one. Being a high school teacher I really empathize with you.  I would say go over with your son the scores he needs to get into the schools he wants.  Dont sugar coat it let him know exactly what he needs to do and the consequences of failure.  Maybe take a little field trip and let him see what a manual labor job looks like on a nice hot summer day. Mhoward39 77 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Hazaiah]

Being a high school teacher I really empathize with you.  I would say go over with your son the scores he needs to get into the schools he wants.  Dont sugar coat it let him know exactly what he needs to do and the consequences of failure.  Maybe take a little field trip and let him see what a manual labor job looks like on a nice hot summer day.