The Sage Informer

On Wednesday, April 2nd, Monticello juniors experienced one of the most dreaded days of the year; the day of the ACT. For many, this is an extremely impactful and stressful day for 11th graders as college is in sight and scores are crucial. Our own MHS juniors reflected and shared how they felt regarding the exam succeeding testing. 

Junior Margo Cassel shared a positive attitude towards the assessment and said, “The exam was about how I expected it to be. Obviously it’s not the most enjoyable thing in the world and it’s stressful, but I had to accept that it was part of high school and I was very relieved to get the test over with!”

Junior Ashley Stiverson had a similar perspective as she expressed, “I thought it went pretty well. I thought that the English, reading, and science portions were much easier than the math and I feel like I was really prepared for the writing section. I talked to a lot of my other friends who also felt the same way. Math is where universally we all kind of struggled.”

Some students didn’t feel as certain in comparison to previous tests. Junior Grace Johnson added, “I had already taken it in February and I thought the April test was a lot harder. I might retake it depending on my score, but lots of colleges are test optional, so maybe not.”

It’s universal knowledge that the ACT isn’t something you can cram study for the night before. Cassel shared her tactics leading up to the exam: “I prepared myself by participating in ACT prep questions in my math and English classes, as well as taking many different practice tests and doing work book pages in our ACT prep book provided by MHS.”

Similarly, Stiverson stated what she did to prepare: “We do have an ACT prep homeroom that I’ve been in and that’s been really helpful; that really helped me for the English and reading sections because it helped me come up with strategies on how to read quicker and understand what type of questions they’re asking me. I did a couple of practice tests but not much.”

This is the first year Illinois has mandated for high school students to take the ACT opposed to the SAT. Our MHS juniors had differing opinions regarding this change. Johnson said, “I think the ACT is a bit more difficult but I have only taken the PSAT before.”

Stiverson also wasn’t a huge fan of the alteration as she expressed, “It was kind of frustrating because we had been preparing to take the SAT our freshman and sophomore year. When we found out right before our junior year that Illinois was switching to the ACT, it was very upsetting but we were most likely going to take it anyway. It felt like we were rushed to prepare for this test even though we really had the same amount of time as everyone else.”

Cassel was optimistic regarding the shift and shared, “Honestly I don’t really care that we switched and it hasn’t affected me considering most of my teachers have been beyond helpful and guided me and my classmates through the process extremely well!”

Overall, our juniors braved through the exam and should be proud of whatever score they receive! 

Avery Hoffmeister, Staff Writer

hofav25@sages.us