As junior Eli Curran-Moore prepares for the ACT, he has made use of many different online resources, such as Silvan and Khan Academy.

“I took the practice ACT, from Silvan, and through a 30-day free trial on the website they offered feedback. So I used that to prepare for it. I also used Khan Academy for ACT prep online and that’s about it,” Curran-Moore said.

Junior Samantha Garcia said she has been studying for the ACT during College Possible sessions.

“I am in the program College Possible, so I go twice a week after school and we just do stuff out of the ACT prep book,” Garcia said.

According to Garcia, the ACT is important for applying to college, but it is not essential to take the ACT.

“I think it’s important, but I also think the test is kind of stupid because it makes or breaks you if you are going to college or not,” Garcia said. “You might not get into college (if you do not take the test), but I don’t think it’s a bad thing because the standardized tests we take are culturally biased.”

Junior Guidance Counselor Laura King said the ACT is important when planning on going to college and helps to compare students with other students in the nation.

“I do think it’s important (to take the ACT) for two reasons. One, it is a pretty baseline requirement for college and when students are considering colleges that they want to apply to and colleges they want to get into, the ACT is a key component that prospective colleges are going to use. The second reason is that the ACT gives students a baseline of nationally how well versed are they with the curriculum that they’ve been exposed to,” King said.

According to King, there are five things colleges look for in your resumé, but the ACT is still a main piece they focus on.

“The ACT, grade point average, letters of recommendation, the student’s extracurricular activities and the personal essay are the five components they will look into and the ACT is a pretty major one,” King said.

King said practicing for the ACT is important and there are many resources to help with preparation.

“If you have a particular score in mind, practice books are easy to use and there are many online resources available,” King said.

Junior Ilana Meisler said practicing for the ACT was necessary for her score to improve and she did this with the help of a tutor and multiple practice tests.

“I took several practice tests and worked with a tutor to prepare myself,” Meisler said. “It is important for me to practice because I needed to increase my score for it to be in the range I wanted.”