Why an ACT or SAT Preparation Elective Course Should be Required by Nikayla

Why an ACT or SAT Preparation Elective Course Should be Required by Nikayla - June 2025 Scholarship Essay

An ACT or SAT preparation class should be required for all 11th grade high school students during their first semester of 11th grade. This course should be required whether students have made a decision about attending college. The course should be offered to prepare students for the next phase of their education, help assess the students’ preparedness for the test, and allow time for remediation as needed prior to students taking the test usually in the spring of their 11th grade year.

First, an ACT or SAT preparation course helps prepare students for the next phase of their educational journey. The course should be designed so that it covers content students have learned up to that point and it should also begin some instruction on advanced concepts students will learn in their second semester of 11th grade. The course should use repetition and consistent practice to reinforce content areas to ensure mastery before taking the test. The course should also include a preliminary practice test to determine what the student knows and then there should be periodic timed practice tests throughout the semester to ensure students are familiar with the pacing of the exam. By the end of the course, students should be prepared to take their final timed practice test, which should give them a baseline expected test score.

Next, if the ACT or SAT preparation course is designed with repetition and practice as its foundation, students, counselors and parents can assess the student’s readiness for the test. Throughout the semester, the course should reinforce concepts that help build students strong and weak areas. The course should also use ongoing practice during class and it should be required outside of class to build students’ skills and help develop test-taking strategies. Content should be separated by subsections for English and Reading and separated subsections for teaching should also be used for the various types of math covered on the ACT or SAT. This approach will help improve the students’ preparedness for the course.

Finally, a student taking the course their first semester of 11th grade allows time for remediation. Fall and winter breaks can be used to reinforce weak areas that still need to be developed. With this strategy, students will have a clear understanding of where they stand in terms of the content mastery and can continue to use spring semester to improve content understanding and to develop test-taking strategies to help them prepare for the ACT or SAT.

Having a required ACT or SAT test preparation course would have helped me study. I am trying to study on my own and have gotten the exact same score on the SAT twice. Now, I am trying to study for the ACT to take the September test. If I had a high school course in the first semester of my 11th grade year, I think I would have been better prepared.