Every spring South High School juniors are required to take part in the ACT. The ACT is a standardized test used for college admissions in the United States. The students were placed in their Advisory class sitting away from one another while taking their test on their Chromebooks for the first time this year. 

The ACT can be overwhelming for some students or be the easiest thing for others. This year it seemed to be smooth, a junior who attends South High School named Giancarlo Oregon (‘25) says “It felt a lot faster than the pre-ACT that we took freshman year and sophomore year. The sections felt easier this time. It went very smoothly for me. This year I even heard it was way easier than the PRE-ACT and many people felt confident in their answers”.

Before the Juniors take the ACT some students take the time to study and prepare themselves for this big test. When asked Oregon how he prepared for the ACT he said “I honestly didn’t prepare, although I should’ve been outside of school. In school, we did a lot of preparation in advisory.” 

A junior who also attends South High named Ellen Brulla (’25) says “I prepared for the ACT on methodized prep throughout the school year, I felt like doing that really was able to help me feel prepared and ready to take the ACT”. 

When asked about the outcome and their feelings towards it, Oregon (‘25) says, “It did not go how I wanted it to go score-wise. I felt like my score would have improved more if I had taken time to practice outside of school”. 

The score the students end up getting may affect everything for them or may not affect anything at all when wanting to get into a college. Brulla (‘25) says, “I plan to attend a four-year college after high school to pursue a degree in nutrition or business. My ACT score personal opinion does not reflect on what I want to do in the future”. 

Oregon (‘25) says, “Even though I am honestly still undecided if I wanna do a two or four-year college I feel like your score may help if you get a higher score but I don’t think it truly depends on your score”. 

The Freshman and Sophomores also get the opportunity to prepare for the ACT and get to take part in the pre-ACT. This helps them get prepared for Junior year when having to take the ACT. Oregon (‘25) says “ Some advice I would give to the freshman and sophomores is to take the pre-act and all the practice seriously even if it seems boring. In the end, it can help a lot with your score, and take every chance that is offered to you. I remember taking it for the first time and I really wish I took it seriously”. 

Brulla (‘25) says, “If I am being honest freshman year I didn’t take it seriously at all then sophomore year I started to take it more seriously when I realized how important it was to me.

The advice I would give to the younger grade levels before their ACT is to study as much as possible, but in the end don’t stress too much about it”.

This seems to be advice that underclassmen are taking seriously. 

Maxwell Oshefsky (‘26) says “Taking the pre-act my freshman and sophomore year helped me to feel more confident and prepared for next year when I take the actual ACT my junior year”.