Juniors Dominate the ACT
By Alanna McKeown
Once a year the Pierce High School allows the juniors to take the ACT (American College Testing) for free. This test then serves as the state test required for all juniors by the Nebraska Department of Education.
A lot of time and effort are put into the ACT by both students and teachers. The ACT consists of reading, English, writing, math, and science.
Reading and science have a total of 40 questions in 35 minutes. In the writing part of the ACT, the juniors get 40 minutes to write an essay. The math portion they get 60 minutes to answer 60 questions. For English, the students get 45 minutes to answer 75 questions.
“Scared, terrified,” Sydney Kuper says about her thoughts going into the ACT. “A lot of pressure is getting put on you from parents, the school, and even friends. I feel confident in different subjects, but the other one’s I don’t feel so confident about. But I feel like practicing helps quite a bit.”
The ACT results take about five to six weeks to return to the students.
“I feel relieved most of all,” Kuper said after taking the ACT. “I’m still worried about it. It was really hard with a certain amount of time for each section. It really helps if you have good time management. But there’s nothing I can do now. It's over and now I just have to wait.”
What the students get on the ACT determines the scholarships they can get or even what school they go to.
“The ACT seemed scary at first, but when I sat down and opened the booklet I was relieved. I think the school making us take the pre-ACT and doing John Baylor helped me tackle the test and hopefully increase my chances of getting a better score,” junior Colbie Podany says.
Now we all should cheer on the next year's juniors while they prepare for the ACT and any in this class who plan to retake the test, which is offered in June, July, September, October, and December.
