ACT/SAT TESTS ARE A REFLECTION OF WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED IN HIGH SCHOOL

In school, you excavate and explore, you read closely, you think creatively On the ACT/SAT, the second you start excavating beneath the surface, you descend into a rabbit hole. The ACT/SAT is much more about attention to detail than it is about actual knowledge or critical reasoning. The ACT/SAT are also speed tests, and you simply don’t have time to leisurely work through the questions. The ACT reading is a 70- minute test that they give you 35 minutes to complete. The ACT Science is an 80-minute that test they give you 35 minutes to complete. When you walk into the ACT you have to turn yourself into a machine–and let your training do your thinking for you,

In school, you have teachers who like you, are invested in you, want you to do well, and be successful. This is what makes them good teachers. The test writers of the ACT and SAT–and we know these people and have worked with them—are like evil geniuses sitting around at a round table trying to think of ways to trap you, psyche you out, coax you into the wrong answers, and make you feel bad about yourself. Don’t take it personally; that’s their job. We have a student who’s at Northwestern and whose father is a physics professor at Northwestern. He decided to take the ACT Science–and he got a 22. Here’s a guy who knows more science than all of the ACT writers put together, and he got psyched out by the traps and unusual pacing demands of the test. Your job is to stay in the pocket, separate the wheat from the chaff, and use your training to turn these traps to your advantage. If all else fails, remember Michael Jordan and prepare for “winning time.” Always save something for the finish. Yes, even on the ACT/SAT, Be Like Mike.