ACTS TEST PREP
  • Home
    • Mission
  • Bootcamp
    • ACT Subject-Area Camps
  • Materials
  • Blogs & Events
    • Chris Howse's Blog
    • Kim Cole's Blog
  • Contact

Life in Quarantine

5/31/2020

 
We are two full months into quarantine. It's hard to believe that it's only June. I've joked that I'd planned to retire from being a classroom teacher this year, but didn't intend to become a shut-in this quickly. Thankfully, I adopted a cat in February, not knowing that she and I would be home together all this time. Chris and his wife are enjoying spending time with their daughter, who is home due to her college closing temporarily. My youngest nephew and his girlfriend have moved home from New York with two semesters left to go in culinary school for the same reason. We are in that age group with a foot in each world. Elderly parents on one side and young family members working hard to get ahead and start a career on the other.

Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this crisis. There is so much uncertainty, and no one thrives when their lives are in an uproar. This crisis won't last forever though. Things will get back to some kind of normal eventually and I'm concentrating on spending this time getting ready for good times to come. Our school seniors had a belated graduation last weekend and I bought myself a retirement cake. The daughter and the nephew are working jobs and staying busy until they can go back to school. Chris and I have had the honor of coaching three groups of prospective college students preparing for the ACT this summer. Once this Zoom bootcamp ends we will be gearing up for one last bootcamp this summer, just before the July ACT. Chris will be going back in the classroom when schools reopen in August and I will be devoting myself to ACT prep. Ladybug the cat will continue to work on becoming my full-time assistant. We hope to see you on Zoom!

2019 State ACT Conference

12/12/2019

 
Kim spoke to a packed room full of teachers and administrators about her book 'Why Your ACT Advice is Wrong' yesterday in Tuscaloosa. What a great crowd! She shared tips and shortcuts and discussed how the ACT has changed and how many old tips no longer work. 
​
There is more change ahead, starting in September students will be able to take one portion of the ACT at a time and create a superscore. That is a major game changer. Score reports will still show one complete test and the new superscore category to cater to schools which may or may not accept the super score. The individual test will only be available as an online test. More details to come as they are made available.
Picture

2019 Fall Bootcamp

10/1/2019

 
Wallace TRIO and ACTs Test Prep partnered for a second bootcamp just in time for the October ACT. We met lots of new students, some who had wanted to attend the summer bootcamp but couldn't because of scheduling conflicts. Several students were about to spend a generous amount of money and commute to Birmingham for ACT tutoring when they learned of the TRIO bootcamp scholarships. Chris and I were both thrilled to see so many eager students ready to work hard to prepare for college! What a great experience!

Bootcamp Wrap-up

7/16/2019

 
Our first bootcamp was a huge success! We gathered with the students and their parents for wrap-up night with food and speakers to congratulate our kids. This is the article describing that night:

Wallace State's TRIO Talent Search wrapped up their first-ever ACT bootcamp with a celebration on Thursday night. Around forty local students spent three grueling weeks preparing for the July ACT with Kim Cole and Chris Howse. 

Proud parents showed up to hear Mechelle Baker speak about the requirements for Wallace's Nursing program. Most programs welcome everyone and have little or no entry requirements, but Wallace's health care programs require a minimum of 18 on the ACT. Not all applicants are accepted, even with the minimum score and a good GPA, because class sizes are limited. Mrs. Barnes stressed the importance of good ACT scores to ensure acceptance into competitive programs and four-year colleges.

Wallace Success Coach Coordinator Christine Wiggins came to congratulate the students on their hard work and wish them luck on Saturday's test. She also spoke about the importance of the ACT scores, but at the same time, encouraged the students to see it as a necessary trial and not a reflection of them as a person.

Kristi Nyquist gave the most touching talk of the night when she explained how Talent Search empowers students to attend college who might otherwise get lost in the maze of college and scholarship/grant applications. Talent Search is a free program for Cullman County students that takes them on college tours all over North Alabama, helps fill out college applications, and assists students in locating and applying for scholarships and grants to pay for college.

Bootcamp week two

6/24/2019

 
Picture
Our TRIO Bootcamp is going great! Forty-plus students are getting a leg up on the July ACT test. Due to a room scheduling conflict the first week of bootcamp was held on the twelvth floor of the Bailey building at Wallace. We enjoyed a huge, fancy classroom with an amazing view. This week we are back on the fifth floor of the Bailey building and it is good to be home.

Chris is on the road again

4/29/2019

 
Chris Howse was a keynote speaker at the AEA Conference in Montgomery last Friday night. He talked about Fairview High School's rise from a 'D' school to a 'B' school on the strength of their ACT scores. Check our social media feeds for the full story!

AEA Journal Article About Chris Howse

3/18/2019

 
This month's AEA Journal has a nice write-up about Chris Howse's presentation at the AEA Huntsville Conference last January. Read the article here.

Kim Cole's eBook is Now Available on Amazon

3/9/2019

 
Picture
"I've spent a lot of time examining the tips and strategies I teach my ACT students over this last year since I partnered up with Chris Howse. We have been testing strategies with his daily ACT classes at Fairview High School. Sifting through reams of data has invalidated some old goodies like 'plug in answers' on the math test and 'don't read the passages' on the science, so it was time to address some of the outdated advice tutors and teachers are giving students. I believe everyone who reads the book will come away with new ideas of how to help students make a higher score on the math and science portions of the ACT."
~Kim Cole

Why Your ACT Advice is Wrong by Kim Cole

Wallace Future Foundation Prep Class

3/5/2019

 
Twenty students came out on a cold Tuesday night to learn from Kim Cole how to increase their ACT science scores. Half were high school students and the other half were Wallace State Community College students who need certain scores to be accepted into programs like Nursing. Two of these were older ladies who are going back to school after being out for quite a few years. The group had a great energy and was wonderfully enthusiastic! ​

Chris Howse Presenting at the AEA Conference

3/2/2019

 
Picture


Chris Howse presented Fairview High School's story of going from a 'D' to an 'A' on the state report card to the AEA Conference in Mobile on March 2, 2019. Last year's ACT scores went up dramatically.  He worked with the data team to institute a school-wide program to bring ACT prep into every course and inspire the students to keep practicing and use his tips and strategies on the test. Through a lot of trial and error over the past 5 years, as well as combing over mountains of data and test analysis, he firmly believes the d 2 b program can be duplicated in other schools.

Copyright @ 2021 ACTs Test Prep
ACTs Test Prep is privately owned and is not affiliated with ACT.

 Free background photos from pngtree.com