By Nicole Bergendahl, Staff Writer
As the American College Testing (ACT) season approaches, teachers at Indian Trail High School & Academy are strongly focusing on giving students the opportunity to increase their ACT scores.
Erik Herbrechtsmeier, a math teacher and ACT instructor at Indian Trail, suggests students form a group and go over problems together or use the resources the school provides. Herbrechtsmeier believes that juniors and seniors taking the ACT that are at a score of 18 or 19 can reach the 20 range if they set it as a goal.
“Having that goal I think is essential, and then once you reach that goal celebrate it,” said Herbrechtsmeier.
Math and English are the two departments that Indian Trail is focusing on the most. Teachers are giving practice tests throughout the school year so students can become familiar with the material.
Principal Maria Kotz said the school always has room to improve and has slowly seen a rise in areas of the ACT scores where students have struggled in the past.
“If you are not as strong of a reader you could read the question and get lost and not even understand what the question is asking,” said Kotz, emphasizing why it’s important to strengthen reading skills.
Websites such as www.act.org/content/act are a resource trusted by the school. Herbrechtsmeier also noted that the ACT academy website is good at walking students through the problems they should be capable of doing to get the desired score.
Sylvan Learning Center also conducts practice tests for any junior or senior that is interested. School officials stress that students should take time out of school to get familiar with the test problems.