MCHS hosts an early ACT on Feb. 8 to better prepare students for the ACT coming up in April.

As MCHS has made the switch from the SAT to the ACT for standardized testing this year, MCHS is hosting many additional ACT tests to allow students to get a feel for the test before the mandatory ACT in April, as well as letting students utilize the “super-scoring” feature that the ACT has.

“From my experience as a teacher, The ACT is a slower paced test,” says English teacher John Aubert. “From my point of view, the ACT is more rigorous in terms of adding a science section that’s more studying on the students, that’s more to assess in terms of scoring.”

In addition to the Feb. 8 ACT taking place, MCHS has been hosting Warrior Prep Sessions on Tuesdays after school and weekends.

“We have several teachers who are trained to deliver this ACT prep,” says College and Career Counselor, Curtis Menke. “There’s different sessions, and students can pick and choose the sessions that work best for them.”

“Part of it is geared at content and part of it is just geared at test taking skills, which, I think, is just as important,” says Menke.

This preparation allows students to more easily transition from the SAT prep that they’ve been doing for years to the ACT prep.

“I would say the written portions can be a little bit more ambiguous,” says Aubert, “because a certain school curriculum has to cover all of those preparation techniques in the years building up that some schools might not necessarily develop until junior year of high school.”

“Some places will super-score,” says Menke. “So, maybe one day you do better in reading, then next time you do better in math. This allows for schools to take the better scores from each section and create one ‘super-score.’”

Test scores these days have tended to help more with scholarships than admissions, but either way students will benefit greatly from taking the ACT.