Skip to the content
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Join Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Tests
    • ACT
    • SAT
    • ACT Aspire
    • WorkKeys
    • End of Course
    • TSIA2
  • Programs
    • MasteryPrep Curriculum
    • MasteryPrep Boot Camps
    • TruScore Testing & Analysis
    • Professional Development
    • The College Playbook
    • Blended Learning Solutions
    • Texas CCMR Headquarters
    • Summer Programs
    • Florida Concordant Camp
  • Partnerships
    • COE Summer Programs
    • COE Parent Portal
  • Blog
  • Customer Resources
    • MasteryPrep Ready Platform
    • TruScore Online + Study Hall
    • MasteryPrep Events FAQs
    • Ebooks
    • ACT Mastery Teacher Resources
Menu
  • About Us
    • Our Story
    • Join Our Team
    • Contact Us
  • Tests
    • ACT
    • SAT
    • ACT Aspire
    • WorkKeys
    • End of Course
    • TSIA2
  • Programs
    • MasteryPrep Curriculum
    • MasteryPrep Boot Camps
    • TruScore Testing & Analysis
    • Professional Development
    • The College Playbook
    • Blended Learning Solutions
    • Texas CCMR Headquarters
    • Summer Programs
    • Florida Concordant Camp
  • Partnerships
    • COE Summer Programs
    • COE Parent Portal
  • Blog
  • Customer Resources
    • MasteryPrep Ready Platform
    • TruScore Online + Study Hall
    • MasteryPrep Events FAQs
    • Ebooks
    • ACT Mastery Teacher Resources
  • 855-922-8773

ACT Chalk Talk #23


What’s the best way to conduct ACT prep? “Four-I’s” reminds us of best practices that are essential to success:

1: INTERACTIVE

Test prep all too easily tends toward “drill and kill.” Nothing is dryer and less engaging than practice questions followed by practice questions followed by practice questions. Every unit should have an interactive activity, engaging hook, discussion, group work, contest, or game. A successful prep class is lively, not a snooze fest.

2: ISOLATION

If students don’t know how to correctly answer a certain type of question on the ACT, then they need plenty of practice with this question in isolation to have the chance to master it. The questions need to be varied (since the ACT almost never asks the exact same question twice), but the question category needs to remain constant. Without working a question type in isolation, students lose the opportunity to adequately learn content; as soon as they start to understand, they’re torn away to focus on a different subject. Interactivity and isolation are easily combined; if your class is deficient in a skill, provide an interactive lesson end-capped with ACT practice of that skill in isolation. (This is the same way we format our ACT Mastery curriculum.)

3: INTERVALS

Even if you work hard to limit your focus to the most essential ACT content, it can be a challenge for students to retain everything before the test. Use intervals (spacing or time gaps) to increase the likelihood that your students will remember what you covered with them. Introduce a topic and coach students to mastery. A week later, do more work on the topic and return to it again a month later. These intervals force the brain to push your lessons into long-term memory.

4: INTERLEAVING

Interleaving, in which students answer questions from multiple content categories, is the default in the world of test prep. It occurs every time you give your students mini-tests. Since the ACT requires students to answer a wide variety of questions, sorted randomly in terms of both content and difficulty, you have to strengthen your students’ ability to differentiate between questions and know when to apply particular rules or strategies. Use interleaving to make this happen. Interleaving is the opposite of isolation. One way to incorporate both is to provide inquiry-based activities with practice in isolation, then, at later intervals, provide interleaved practice. (Again, this is the way we format the ACT Mastery program and a large part of why it works.)

 

This chalk talk was adapted from Decoding the ACT: The Unofficial Teacher’s Guide.
You can learn more about Decoding the ACT here.

 

 


 

 

Written by: Craig Gehring, Founder and CEO of MasteryPrep

 




Other Test-Prep Solutions:
ACT Mastery
ACT Boot Camp
Professional Development
TruScore ACT Practice Testing and Analytics

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest

Leave a comment

mastery_prep_RGB_White_Stroke-200x49
Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Linkedin

Tests:

  • ACT
  • SAT/PSAT
  • ACT Aspire
  • End of Course
  • WorkKeys
  • TSIA2
  • ACT
  • SAT/PSAT
  • ACT Aspire
  • End of Course
  • WorkKeys
  • TSIA2

Programs:

  • MasteryPrep Curriculum
  • Boot Camps
  • Professional Development
  • Practice Testing & Analysis
  • MasteryPrep Curriculum
  • Boot Camps
  • Professional Development
  • Practice Testing & Analysis

Contact:

EMAIL: [email protected]
PHONE: 855-922-8773
FAX: 225-306-8211
Love our materials? Want to help make our materials even better? Send your comments, corrections, suggestions to [email protected]

View our Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2018 MasteryPrep. All Rights Reserved.

ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT Inc. ACT® Aspire™ is the registered trademark of ACT Aspire, LLC. WorkKeys® is the registered trademark of ACT Inc. Ring Publications LLC has no affiliation with, and is not approved or endorsed by, ACT Inc or ACT Aspire, LLC.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.

View our Cookie Policy