TLDR:
- Normal ACT Scores can Win Merit Based Scholarships. . . Here's How
- Get Started Early - Take the ACT before the start of your Junior year
- Allocate time - Find some way to train for the ACT (private test prep, group training, online resources, etc.)
- Have a unique plan - Every student is different so find the plan that works best to get your best possible score
Video Transcript:
Most people know that with a good ACT score, you can get a scholarship. But did you know that you don't have to have a stellar, out of this world ACT score to win big money? Even normal ACT scores can be attached to winning money for college. In this video, I'm going to give you some specifics about how much money is allocated for every ACT score. And at the end, I'm going to give you some tips to reaching your peak score because, I promise you, once you see the opportunities that are out there, you're going to be really motivated to get the highest ACT score you can.
What you're going to see is a case study that I did for 13 different colleges and scholarship programs that are out there. And I averaged all the results for them, and I did this in 2017. Now, what I'm talking about here, are merit based scholarships and nothing else. Merit based scholarships are based on your GPA and your test score, whether that's SAT or ACT score.There are lots of other opportunities out there, but I'm just talking about merit based scholarships here. That being said, let's dive in and look at those dollar amounts.
I was really motivated to make this video because, I was training students once and I saw a girl on a retired practice test basically, raise her score one point. She went from a 25 to a 26. And I was just chatting with her about it and she was, honestly, disappointed about it. It's like, "I've only raised on point. I've only got a 26." But I was just like, "A 26 is an amazing score. It's a great score, there's a lot of great opportunities out there." So, that really set me on this path to spend probably, 15 - 20 hours compiling a list of data to create a case study to show you what each ACT score is worth.
And so, this document that you're looking at right now, is the result of that case study. So, you can download this below, so don't worry about having to take meticulous notes or something like that. But as you go down, you're going to see all of the schools and programs that I looked, they're right here, you can see all of them here. I went to all of these school's websites, did a lot of research. Aggregated all the data, and then over here on the right side is, the average dollar amount for every ACT score. Right out the gate, I want to make sure we're all on the same page here.
These are merit based scholarships. Merit based scholarships are scholarships that are based solely on your ACT score or SAT score and your GPA. But there are a lot of scholarships out there. There are tons of scholarships out there, and you can win money for ACT scores in different ways, other than just merit based scholarships. But, the merit based scholarships are the easiest ones to get because it's just GPA and ACT score. So, over here on the right side, you're going to see all of the averages for each of these school's scores. A couple things I wanted to point out are, you can look here, a 19 to a 20, is about a $2,600.00 jump, which is huge. That's incredible. Think about a summer job that your student would have to make $2,600.00 and just, a single point will get you that. If you look at a 22 to a 23, we're looking at a $3,800.00 jump. A 24 to a 25 is a $3,100.00, a $3,000.00 jump. And it goes on and on and I'll just kind a let you look there. Again, download this, check it out. Check my sources, all of this stuff because, these are great opportunities.
Okay, so you got to see the case study and I hope that you're really motivated to go out there and get your highest ACT score. Here are three tips for you to get your peak score.
One, get started early. And I'm not saying, get started in third grade or preschool or something crazy like that. But I think at the end of your Sophomore year, definitely at the beginning of your Junior year, is the perfect time to start building a plan to get your highest ACT score.
Number two, make sure you allocate time, energy and resources to your ACT score. And there's lots of different things you can do. You can tutor with a teacher, you can go online and get resources or even, a lot of free resources online. You can go to the library and get a book, you can take one of the classes that are offered at lots of different organizations. TorchPrep's one of them, that we have private tutoring and we also have group training. But it is really important that you do something. Do something to raise your ACT score.
And the third thing that I will tell you is to have a plan that is unique to you or your student. I have a really good friend, her name's Judy. A couple years ago she had a Junior in high school and they were trying to get the highest ACT score that he could possible get because, they wanted every opportunity to get all the scholarships that are out there. So what Judy did, is she went online and she bought a book called, "The Real ACT Prep Guide", it's a great book. It's the only book that is published in collaboration with the ACT, which means, all the tests in it are retired tests and it's really valuable. It's the textbook that we give in our courses, it's a part of all of our course materials for all of our classes.
But anyway, so she had her student take these practice tests in the book. Every Saturday morning, Judy had her son sit at the kitchen table, take a full-length ACT on his own, timed himself, grade it and work through every missed question. He did that for three weeks in a row, she paid him $20.00 a day. He ended up with $60.00 and a great ACT score. I think this is a great example of how simple it can be and how important it is to allocate that time, energy and resources to do so. So there you go. Three tips to do that. There's a lot of other great resources out there from TorchPrep to start working through this, but I just ... I encourage you to do something, get started early, have a plan. And reach your highest ACT score. I hope that every one of you can win some big money for college.
Resources:
What's your ACT score worth? -https://info.torchprep.com/act-scholarships
The Real ACT Prep Guide - http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test-preparation.html
Printable ACT Practice Test - http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf
Private Test Prep -https://www.torchprep.com/private-test-prep/
Group Training - https://www.torchprep.com/courses/#select_city
Make sure to check out the rest of our other videos to find even more ways to beat the ACT and reach your goals in the pursuit of college.
