When it comes to test taking, practice doesn’t necessarily make perfect, but perfect doesn’t happen without practice. The simple reality is multiple studies show that test prep increases SAT and ACT scores, and a crucial component of test prep is taking multiple mock tests.
At The Enrichery, students enrolled in our one-on-one test prep take a mock test every 4 weeks during our 4-month program. Unlike taking a practice test at home, our mock tests are proctored, meaning your student is taking a practice ACT or SAT under conditions that mirror what they’ll experience on exam day. We adamantly believe that repeatedly taking mock tests in a test-like environment is essential to improving test scores (along with keeping students accountable). However, these mock tests are not simply practice for the sake of practicing. They reveal a lot about how a student takes the SAT or ACT and how to maximize their score on test day.
Identifying Strengths and Areas for Improvement
If your student is prepping by themselves, it’s understandable that they will focus the bulk of their attention on their lower-scoring sections after taking a practice test. It’s likely the strategy they use when studying for a test in their high school classes. (Why would you focus on the Pythagorean theorem questions for an upcoming math test if you’re already doing well on them?) Here’s the thing: the ACT and SAT are not like the tests your student has been taking in high school.
To do well on these standardized tests, your student needs to understand the sections, subjects, and types of questions that the SAT and ACT ask. They need to understand what they do well on, where they struggle, and what strategies can nudge those highs higher and bring up those lows. Say, for example, your student is naturally drawn to reading. Your student and their coach might focus part of their attention on maximizing your student’s reading section score on the ACT. However, being a bookworm doesn’t guarantee that a student will do well on SAT questions that assess standard English conventions. A crucial part of mock testing—particularly the first mock exam—is figuring out the best way to increase scores for your student.
Finding Effective Test-Taking Strategies
Often, when thinking about how to do well on a test, we oversimplify what it will take to raise scores. Many people (understandably) believe that to do well on a test, a student simply needs to focus on getting all of the questions right from start to finish. That, however, isn’t an achievable goal for many students, and it’s an especially difficult goal to achieve on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT because the test makers are actively trying to create a bell curve for the exam.
When a coach at The Enrichery goes over a mock test, they’re asking students whether or not they were guessing on a question, they’re identifying questions a student nearly got right, and they’re checking to see where your student was confident that they had the correct answer. All of that information can help your student and their coach find strategies that maximize their score. That could be skipping over types of questions that are often challenging for them. It could be narrowing down questions to two viable possibilities. It could even be deciding whether the structure of the ACT or SAT is better suited for the way they take tests. But it isn’t possible to find (or try out) those strategies without taking repeat mock exams.
Developing Greater Confidence (and Lowering Test Anxiety)
It’s no grand revelation that familiarity increases confidence. If your student has participated in a competitive sport, they’re well aware of this fact—when you go over an action repeatedly, it becomes nearly automatic. Applying the test-taking strategies your student learns from their coach is no different, which is why regular mock tests are so helpful. Your student is becoming more familiar with proven test-taking strategies and is becoming confident in when and how to apply them.
Additionally, like in sports, practice gives your student a sense of timing. Like a quarterback sensing when a pocket is about to collapse, or a point guard intuitively knowing how much time is on the shot clock, or a swimmer pacing themselves, a student gets more familiar with their internal testing clock the more they take a mock SAT or ACT.
And, while it may not remove it entirely, greater familiarity and higher confidence can help lower test anxiety.
Along with weekly coaching and homework, repeat mock exams are an essential part of The Enrichery’s test preparation plan. If you or your student are interested in enrolling in test prep and taking an initial mock test, please contact us today!
