A student wakes up to get ready for the ACT, they have a decent breakfast, grab an energy drink to stay awake for the test and head out. Before the ACT starts, they talk to their friends, asking them if they are ready to lock in.

In the year 2024-2025, the state of Illinois made a drastic change, switching from the SAT to the ACT. Although both exams are academic tests, the ACT and the SAT have many differences. This year, the ACT will be on Apr. 15 between 7:35 a.m. and 10:40 a.m.

“I only know the science portion,” science teacher at MCHS, Derek Poci says, “but we’ve had our sophomores prepping on the types of passages that they’ll see and how to attack each type of passage. What to look for when it’s this type of passage versus the other type of passage.”

There are many different subjects that the ACT students cover, so there are a few different ways to practice and prepare for the ACT.

“Well, it opens up a lot of doors in terms of post-secondary scholarship opportunities,” Poci says, “and it’s important in high school just to see where you rank and fall and see your areas of strengths and areas of weaknesses.”

Since the ACT is still slightly new to MCHS, testing results are still slowly improving compared to last year.

“Last year, I think the big thing was it was digital, ” Poci says. “So now the practice is digital too. I’m hoping that there were more used to the digital part. I guess in that aspect, they’re probably more prepared in terms of what I’m doing this year versus what I was doing last year. I’m basically doing the same thing so far, but we have an extra day, so we might do one extra day of practice. So I guess, from my point of view, this year’s class will probably be a touch better prepared than last.”

As the test went on and many students were focusing on finishing their final few questions, the bell rang. Signifying the end of the test, after that, all the students started packing up and meeting up with their friends, talking about how the ACT had gone for them.