Don't Force It: How to Get into College without Losing Yourself in the Process

Live Coaching: Anxiety about the ACT

Share episode

In today’s episode, I sit down with one of Signet’s admissions consultants, Brittney, and her cousin, a high school junior, to explore practical strategies for moving through her anxiety about the ACT and actually getting started with preparing for it. We discuss performance-boosting approaches—from targeted study plans and tutoring to exploring test-optional admissions and building a well-rounded college application.

Get a copy of the book Overcoming Test Anxiety here: https://www.bit.ly/4h1jyhS

Sign up to join our live coaching session and receive personalized insights!

Access free resources and learn more about Sheila and her team at Signet Education at signeteducation.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilaakbar/.

Student:

In real teenage fashion, I've been putting it off as much as I can and trying to not think about it too much, because it hurts to think about but so that's why I'm here.

Sheila Akbar:

You Hi folks. Welcome back to the podcast. Today, we have another live coaching episode that I'm really excited to share with you, because I know it is going to be so relevant to so many students out there, whether they're juniors or younger. So today, one of my consultants who works on my team, Brittney had reached out to me a couple weeks ago. She is helping her cousin through this process. And of course, you know, I encourage all of our consultants to help whoever they can and then reach out to me if there's something they need more assistance with. So Brittney reached out to me with some questions about the act that her cousin was having, and I was like, You know what? Let's just talk it out. So Brittney and her cousin were gracious enough to join me on the podcast to talk through soup to nuts, what's been going on, what's the goal? What are the challenges, and what are we going to do about them? So take a listen. So let's start with some background information. What year of high school are you in?

Student:

I'm a junior in high school.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, and how's that going so far?

Student:

It's going good, a little stressful. Obviously, the pressure of having everything be somewhat well enough to be presented to a university is a little bit much, but it's good pressure.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, great. And I mean, Junior year is the hardest. So, you know, you're not alone in feeling that. But of course, this, like question of standardized testing, makes junior year so much more complicated, right? Not only are you taking the hardest classes you've ever taken, probably more of them than you had in your schedule before, you're also doing this thing outside of school, that legitimately could be another class on its own, right? So give me some of the background on like, what you've done so far with the testing question, how you decided on the ACT and where things stand right now.

Student:

Great. I have always been an anxious test taker. I really can't do too long of anything. And so as soon as junior year started, a lot of my teachers were talking about all the things that we would have to complete towards the end of this year. And I came home the same day and I was like, Mom, I need a tutor. I don't think I can do it by myself. And so we went to this company close to my high school, and they offer to let you take a two practice test, one sat and one act. And so I did just that. I did the SAT and I did not do good, and I did the act, but I did a little bit better on that one. Not sure why, but that's just what it was. And I went on a zoom call with the CEO of the company, and he sort of, like, goes through the whole thing and, like, explains, in many words why you are dumber.

Sheila Akbar:

Sure, that's not how you put it, but okay.

Student:

No, but like, nicer words, like, oh Sophia, you don't know what a comma is, I suppose. So that was that. And he has a course of action, like, he allows you to either have, like a one on one session with a tutor, or, like a group, sort of whatever, class. And so when it came down to it, and he was giving the numbers to my mom, it was just too much for something that isn't you aren't sure if it's gonna work or if it's not. He even said it himself. He was like, I can't guarantee that you're gonna learn everything you need to get a 32 or a 36 on this, a C, T by a month from now, or two months from now, or whatever it is. So my mom was like, you have to figure out a way to try and do it yourself. But I've been prioritizing school, because Brittany and I have been talking about that ourselves. So I've just been prioritizing my grades and teenage fashion. I've been putting it off as much as I can and trying to not think about it too much, because it hurts to think about but so that's why I'm here.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, well, thank you for that very comprehensive overview. And Brittany, I'm glad you're able to join. Okay, so just picking up from where you left off, that's exactly where I would start. Is a practice test of each let's see what each one shows us. And let me tell you, I don't think any teenager in America knows how to use a comma. You're not the only one. Like everybody. It's always those punctuation rules. They were like, Wait, I thought a semi colon was for quotations or something ridiculous, that it's absolutely not for. They just don't teach punctuation in school. So that's really common. But. Also an easy problem to fix. So I hear you that tutoring can be really expensive. I also hear you that it's something you're just like, should I invest time in this? Because I might not end up using this score. So let's actually start there, if we can, with some of the colleges that you're thinking about and what kind of score policies they have and what kind of score averages they have. So just throw out a few colleges that you're kind of targeting right now.

Student:

My dream school as of right now is the University of Michigan, and they're a very competitive school, and so they require you to have higher scores. But what Brittany and I have been talking about more recently, too is test optional schools and trying to maybe not put so much pressure on the grade itself and focus on the things that really do matter, like my grades, my extracurriculars, my clubs, this and that, and so that's helpful to not be so fixated on This one thing that can determine this or that there are plenty of schools that are test optional or don't. Aren't so crazy about the test grades, and that's comforting, definitely.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah. Well, technically, Michigan is still test optional, but it's so selective, especially for out of state residents, that a strong test score is going to be very helpful more in the sense that your competition is going to have it, so you kind of have to have something right. And I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I would guess their average ACT is something like a 33 or 34.

Student:

You hit it on the nose.

Sheila Akbar:

And do you want to share what your initial act diagnostic score was my

Student:

initial score. I think it was a 19. I don't even think I broke 20 yet..

Sheila Akbar:

Okay

Student:

I think I was just

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, yeah. Well, here's the true statement. I believe this with all of my heart, right? I've been doing this for 20 years now, I have seen it in action. I believe every student can improve their score tremendously, like you could go from a 19 to a 33 or 34 it's just going to take different students a different amount of time, right? And they've all got different things to work on, right? So in addition, for you to learn some grammar rules, I think there's a lot of like testing confidence that we would probably have to build right, and that can be tricky to do, especially on your own, when you would rather just avoid it than deal with this challenging, scary thing head on right so we can talk through like what I think it would take and how you can Set up your own study plan if you want to give it. This is what I often recommend to a lot of people who are like not scoring near where they think they need to score to make it useful. Is let's set an experimental kind of trial period of like a really intense three or four weeks, where you do all of the things, and you're practicing super hard, and you are really giving it your all, and then you take another practice test at the end of that period. And not to say that you should have gone from your 19 to a 34 in that three week period of time, but we should have seen some major gains, right? And that can either tell you if those gains aren't there, okay, I'm gonna have to work this hard for a whole lot longer. Can I do that? Is it worth it to me? And that may be giving you one sort of clear answer, but if you do this sort of three week intensive study period, and you see you went up five or six points, then you're like, Oh, hey, I can do this, and it's not going to be that bad. I just got to do a couple more of these three week sprints, right? And it could help you have the confidence to say, Yes, this is worth it. I'm going to go all in, and we're going to try to get this score right. So that's one way I would recommend doing it. But I will tell you before we talk about, like, you know, what to study and what to look at and all of these things, 16 point, you know, 15 point increase on the ACT is usually going to take students a really long time, right? The best tutors I know can get you six or seven points in maybe three or four months, right? At the same time, starting from a 19 probably means there's some fundamental test taking skills that you just aren't all that familiar with. And once you learn them, you might jump like 10 points, right? Once you kind of learn how to approach the science section and how to manage your time there, it might just open up to you, and all of a sudden you're in the high 20s, right? I've seen that happen too, right? So a low score like that, it's a little hard to tell exactly how long this is going to take. So I would recommend, like, like, really giving it your all and then seeing what happens. Okay, let's talk a little bit about you mentioned you have some test anxiety. Does this happen to you? Like, with tests for a regular class or only on sort of standardized measures?

Student:

It. Is really on all tests. It's not that I don't know what I'm doing, obviously, it's just that I get nervous about the time or how much time I have left, or sometimes, like, the information will just leave my brain immediately. And so especially with tests at school, it it does take me a little bit longer than some people that I know to just, like, study for one thing once for like, an hour or two, take a nap, wake up and then take the test. I have to, sort of like, spend the next few days, like looking it over, like making sure that I am okay with what I am doing. So that's sort of why I feel, especially with this bigger test, it's important to study earlier and like, take the time to really be bad at it now, because I will be better at it later.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, and that's smart. You're planning ahead. Let me ask you a few more questions. When you say you're you have to study for like, several days to feel prepared for a test. Do you ever feel like when you take the test like, oh, I studied way too much for this.

Student:

Yes,.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, okay, that's an important thing to gauge, because there are some students who really do need study for like, many, many, many days, and then they're, like, adequately prepared for the test. But there are so many students the especially these days, actually, this is, like, a well researched phenomenon. They call it study addiction, and it has to do with not understanding what is good enough like? What are we aiming for? What level of comfort do I have to have in order to do however well you want to do on the test? You know? How much should I study for that? And people have trouble calibrating those things right, and sometimes it's complicated by, you know, the teacher hasn't given you a clear idea of what's going to be on the test, so Oh my god, we got to study everything, because who knows what's coming right? Or, you know that processing this information just it takes you a little bit more time to get everything organized, so maybe you do need to say a little bit more. The other thing that can complicate it is some sense of anxiety and self doubt, right? It may have not come from any experience you've had in the past where, like, You did really poorly on a test, and now you're, like, traumatized by it, and you're like, oh, that's never gonna happen to me again. But it also may just be like, I see everybody else studying their butts off. So this must be really hard, so I better study that hard too, even if it's not actually that challenging for you, right? So it's influenced by a whole lot of things, and the clearer you can get on what those triggers are for you, the easier time you'll have finding a way to avoid them, or to like control for them, or even react to them. If you know some of these things are just going to happen, and you can't stop them from from happening, right? Like, if a teacher is not going to tell you what's on a test, you're not going to get them to tell you what's on the test. I mean, maybe, maybe you can, but if a teacher is set in their ways, they're just not going to change, right? But you know, you can find ways to control the things that you can control and feel more confident going in. There are a lot of studies also that show showing students research about test anxiety and its actual impacts on their test performance can help alleviate that test anxiety. Because the research I'm really simplifying this, the research basically shows that it has no effect. The thing that actually has an effect on your test performance is whether you know the material or not, right? Now, certainly you can get distracted. Your mind can feel blank, all of these things, right? A lot of behavioral things can come up that can affect your score. But there's this book. Actually, I'll put it, I'll put it in the show notes. But here it is. It's called overcoming test anxiety. It was just published by these two. One is a professor at Columbia, and one is a neuropsychiatrist who works in the Boston area. I know them both, and they've put all of this information together on like, Well, what do we do about this thing called test anxiety, right? And the one of the very first things to know is that nobody is born good or bad at taking tests, right? There's no such thing as a good test taker or a bad test taker. What it is is people have built skills based on what they've been exposed to to manage the challenges that are in front of them, right? And so exposure building familiarity with tests, right? The kind of tests that make you nervous is one of the best ways for you to overcome those feelings of of worry about about a test, right? But to get specific to the act, the more practice you do, the better you're going to feel about it, and actually, the more distance you put between you and studying for the test or you and taking the test, the larger it's going to loom in your head. It's going to feel like an even bigger deal, and it's going to be scarier and scarier, because you're not actually dealing with the reality of the material, right? Like we can be like, Oh my god, punctuation is so hard, but then when I tell you. You a semi colon only goes in two places, right? You're like, Oh, that's okay, I can handle that, right? So getting into the nitty gritty and actually looking at the material can be one of the things you just got to kind of rip the band aid off and get into it, right? And I will say that's why having a tutor, or even if they're not like an expert in the test, just someone who's like an accountability partner that could be a friend of yours at school who maybe is in a similar situation, and you just study together for an hour a week, or however long it is, right? And you're like, we're gonna face our fears together. We may not know what we're doing, but at least we're together, right? Little things like that can really, really help. So I'm trying to zoom out and think, like, strategically here, I do think the act is probably just going to add, at this point in your junior year, more stress than you need, and it will be a distraction from your school work, and you may not get a score that is worth submitting to a place like University of Michigan, right? You may come out with a score that would be a great score to share with any number of other schools, right, that may or may not be test optional. So there's that right. So expanding your college list is one way to kind of deal with this. And I know Brittany can help you. You know, thinking about that, and then, of course, just saying, hey, testing is not for me. I'm only going to look at these schools. Could be another way to do it. And as you've already mentioned, like really doubling down on your academics, your relationships with teachers, your leadership, your community service, your other extracurriculars can be your real way to kind of you know, it's not going to make up for something that may otherwise be a detriment on your profile, but it will show them your strengths, right? So I think at the end of the day that's going to be my advice is let it go. You don't need to worry about this, right? But I mean, you're still thinking about this, and I'm sure Brittany has shared this perspective with you. So tell me more about why you're holding on to it.

Student:

I feel as if I'm holding on to it just because I feel like I truly can do it. I feel like I might not. In my mind. I know that I'm not gonna have a perfect 36 and that's okay with me. It is. I mean, no one is that smart, okay, maybe there are, but that's okay.

Sheila Akbar:

But I will stop you right there, because this test is not about smarts. It's absolutely not about smarts,

Student:

Strategy all the other things, I suppose,.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, strategy, it's skill, it's practice, it's not smart, but continue.

Student:

And so I truly do think that I can do it. I I think that I have the determination, I think I have the the time, I have the maybe not patience, but I definitely do have the efforts to put in the time to do it, and there's no harm in trying. I feel if I'm really not getting anywhere that I should be getting, and it's just causing more harm than good, then I'll toss it to the side, and I'll say sayonara to my friend the act. But other than that, I feel like it's good to try. It's good to attempt, and that's where I'm at.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, well, I'm gonna reflect that back to you, because you've been saying like you've just been putting it aside, you've not been focusing on it, but at the same time you really want to give it a try. You're stuck in this limbo. And like I was saying earlier, I think you should really just rip the band aid off and let's set up. I can send you, you know, a more detailed sort of schedule, but let's talk through what a three week sprint might look like. You try it for three weeks. You give it your all, you do another practice test, and then you assess from there, are we going to continue down this road? Or are we saying Sayonara, like you're saying right now, what's on deck for the next three weeks for you? Like, do you got big exams coming up, or projects due, or anything like that? Would that be a good time for you to try this out?

Student:

I think it's best to start as soon as I can, because, like you said, to continue putting it off is not good for me. Like, the more I push it off, the more it's like, oh, it's in the distant future. It's okay,

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, yeah, but that future is coming closer every day.

Student:

Right. And now that it's winter and it's cold, like, it's time to huddle up in a library, get a pencil,

Sheila Akbar:

Buckle down, Hibernate with some ACT study

Student:

Right. A good cup of coffee and start doing that.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, okay, great. So here is my recommendation, and this is for everybody, no matter where they're starting with. The act is to think about it in three different phases, or like, focus. Says, right, your first phase is going to be to learn the content that you need to learn, right? And if you look on the ACT website, you can see a list of all the things that are tested. I mean, I will send you a list of like, what I know you should know. There is, like a math list of topics. There's, you know, the grammar list, whatever science don't worry about. You don't actually need to know. The underlying science is for a fraction of the questions that they rely on outside knowledge. I'll come back to what you do in science in a second, but get a list together of all the topics that you need to know, right? Study them, take notes on what you didn't know, and then find ways to practice that content. Right? You might not be looking at ACT type questions yet. You may just be looking at grammar worksheets that you find online or math. You know, there are Math Worksheets online too, reading passages out of whatever book that you're reading in English class right now, right? Like you don't have to go and find something else to read, just like practice the skill on the things that you're already engaging in in school, until you feel confident with enough of the material. And this is where it might get a little tricky enough of the material to get the kind of score increase you want to get right. And in three weeks, let's be, you know, let's be optimistic, but let's say we want to get three points increase across the board, right? We're not going for our full 14 point increase yet, right? And that means you don't have to learn all of the math topics, right? Tell me what math you're studying right now in school.

Student:

Pre calculus.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, so you've touched on all the all the content that's on the ACT, but let me ask you this as well, when you did the math section, did you run out of time?

Student:

I did not finish. In fact, I looked at some of it, and I think I turned the paper over, closed my eyes instead of Hail Mary.

Sheila Akbar:

Oh, okay, okay. You were like, overwhelmed, and you' re like, No, thank you. Well, it you get up the courage to look at that act again, you will notice that there is some math content that you probably learned in like sixth or seventh grade, and then there's some math content that you just learned last year or maybe a couple months ago right now, some people are more comfortable with that old content. Some people that's really rusty, right? They feel better about the stuff that they just learned, even though it's more advanced math, right? But as you look at those math topics, I want you to mark out, and I'm just using math as an example, you can do this in grammar as well. Mark out what you feel comfortable with and what you feel like, oh, that's rusty, or I've never learned this before, or this looks like a foreign language, like rate them, right? So you know where to put your attention. And the mix of topics. It's not like there are 10 questions on every topic, and it's like, evenly split like that, right? There's going to be maybe one trigonometry question. So if trig is not your strength, don't bother reviewing it. When you see that question, you know you're going to skip it right on the real thing, right? So we're going to kind of prioritize how to use your brain space on this content, right? So make your list. See what you're comfortable with. That might be something you want to show me, or show another, a tutor, or someone who's really familiar with the exam, so they can tell you, don't bother learning these things. Spend your time on this stuff, right? And algebra and geometry are the two kind of core subjects on the act so, like, those are the ones you're going to want to really know. And the other things, like the probability, the matrices, the trigonometry, like, don't worry about them, right? There's just a couple of questions, right? And I can do the same kind of proportional distribution of brain space with, you know, your grammar stuff and things like that as well. So that's the content phase, right? Maybe that's the whole first week. Maybe it's a week and a half. There might be a little bit more right of this blitz that we're going to do where you're getting a sense of the content, you are reflecting on how comfortable you feel with it. And you're practicing, you're studying and learning, you know, relearning the the material, taking your notes and practicing it in a non act format, so that you can feel really comfortable with the underlying knowledge that you need to be able to succeed on the test. Right? The second phase of this is where you start thinking about strategy, okay? And that's going to be things like on the English section. Don't read every line in the passage, just read the sentence, and I like to point out, read the full sentence from the capital letter to period that has anything underlined in it right there. They're going to be many sentences that you don't even need to read, because there's not a single question about it, right? That's going to save you a little bit of time and help you stay focused on whatever this thing is that you need to know. Right? There are whole test strategies. So that's like a specific English strategy. Whole test strategies would be things like using the process of elimination to make sure you're eliminating answers that you know won't work or. Guesstimating. You know, if there's a math question and it's like an angle and a triangle, well, you know, it's going to be less than 180 degrees, right? Anything more than 100 and we're not even looking at eliminate it, right? Or you might have strategies that involve, you know, using your paper to measure something on a math question, or when to use your calculator, not to use your calculator, things like that, right? And there are tons of prep books out there that have all these strategies, and they're like the same across the different I'm not going to mention any of them my name, but the different major publishers, the strategies are like pretty much the same. They might have a different name to them, but they're really kind of the same, right? So all of those strategies, you can get one of those books. There are plenty of websites that have really good act strategies as well. So you can, if you know you're struggling with a certain type of question, you can just Google strategy for triangle questions on the ACT and you'll find them, right? So then you learn all of your strategies, and now you're practicing on act format questions, right? And the ACT website has a bunch of practice questions. They sell a book that has like six tests, right? That you can like practice from if you do some Googling, and I again, won't tell you where, but if you do some Googling, you will find old official tests. And the Act hasn't changed all that much in the last, like 15 years. There are a couple of little changes, but not a ton, right? So you'll find plenty of practice material for that. And then the last phase of your prep is what I call performance prep. And actually, you will have been working on it from the start of this Blitz, but in the last sort of, you know, maybe six, five or six days of your blitz before you do your next practice test. I want you really focused on this. And that's all the stuff around your practice that's getting good sleep, fueling your body and your brain, moving your body right, not just like sitting and staring at a computer all day and then trying to take the ACT right? It's all of these sort of like healthy habits, so that you are prepared to perform at your best, right? And this is where things like managing your test anxiety would come into and of course, like to really deal with it. It's going to take longer than five or six days. But, you know, I could send you a copy of this book. You could read about it, and hopefully the practice that you will have done over the previous two and a half weeks will also help you feel more confident you know the material you need to know. You've seen all of these questions, and once you do enough questions, you'll realize they're asking the same question with different words or different numbers, right? You will be able to recognize these types, and you'll know what worked the first time you saw it right. And so that's all the performance prep stuff. And it also includes things like making sure that you have, you know your pencil sharpened, that you're practicing it on paper. If you're taking the paper test, right, print it out, use a bubble sheet like, feel what that feels like to answer the question on the test, and then bubble it in, right? So all of these little things can be really helpful in just helping you feel more confident that you're going to perform at your best, right? So I will write that up and send it over to you, and then you'll take a practice test, and then you're gonna tell me, Hey, I didn't have the stamina to do this thing for three weeks, or I realized two days in, like, this is crazy, but no, I can't do this right now. You know, you will have an answer, a clear answer, for yourself if you want to do this or if you don't, but this way, at least, you will have given it a real try, and you can sort of rest assured that you're not just, like giving up on something before you really even, you know, consider it.

Student:

Yeah, right. I agree. Completely

Sheila Akbar:

Good. Brittney, What other questions do you have, or like things you want to add?

Brittney:

I think that's great. I love the plan for intensive prep. Because, to your point, like, you're really, I think, you know, Sophia is a example of, like, we've been talking for quite a while, I would say, like months, actually, like about even, like thinking about college prep and testing was like the preliminary concern. Like it wasn't even building a list. So it was actually, like, anxiety about testing first and then building a list. And I guess part of that, like, I'm curious for other folks who, like, might be listening to, like, how do you go as a junior? Like, building your list without knowing where you're at with testing yet? And then the secondary part is like, also to the point of, like, what else can you do in your junior year to not make up? Right? As we said, it's a factor. It's not everything. But what else can be done if you really can't get to that score and you do decide to throw it out the window?

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, these are. Both really great questions. So I'll do the first one. First. I usually like people to do that diagnostic process of the, you know, the two practice tests and deciding sometime at the end of their sophomore year, usually like the beginning of the summer, right after sophomore year end, so that you have a little bit more time to think about this. So usually it works out that we kind of know what we're doing around testing before we have to go into list building, right? So if you have a younger kid, or if you are a younger student listening to this, just, you know, get a get ahead of it, right? But there are a lot of students in your situation, not and not just because they, like, drag their feet or anything like that. I have a student who really loves University of Miami, and they just announced that they are going to go back to requiring test scores, and she has been like so glad that they've been test optional. She's only test optional. She's taken all these other schools that she loves off of her list because they're requiring tests. Most of them are in the state of Florida. And so she's like now, what do I do? I know that this is the school for me, but they need a test score from me. And so she and a lot of other people are in this horrible position where they have to decide, Okay, do I have to forgo the school that I know, you know, researched and I visited, you know, all these things I've had my heart set on it, or do I have to scramble to figure out, what do I do about testing? And I do think that there will be a number of other schools announcing testing requirements in the next couple of months, as they, you know, are finalizing acceptances from this year's seniors. They're like, coming to some answers about what are they going to do next year? And I am just like hoping and praying and saying it everywhere I can, that they change the requirement, not for this year's juniors, like those who are applying next fall, but that they change it for this year's sophomores, so that people have enough time, right? So if you're listening, please, please have mercy. Okay, so back to your question, though, Brittney, which was, how do you create a target score if you're still building your list?

Brittney:

Yeah, essentially. And also, like to your second point of your recommendation of scrapping it based on all of the things, like if a student is in that place, we talked about what else, but really, like, you only have a few months until you're applying, so that part.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, okay, all right. So to quickly finish the first answer is, from your initial diagnostic score, I usually add three to four points on an act for what you can expect after three or four months of prep and 200 or so points on the SAT for what you can expect after good, diligent prep, right? It's not just Okay. Three months have passed, and now my score is up. You have to work for it. So that's how I say okay, that you've taken initial practice test, you add this sort of buffer to it. Let's assume that's your target score. Hopefully you'll do even better than that, but that's a conservative estimate, and you can use that and compare it against the score averages at the colleges that you're thinking about to see. Should I go test optional? Should I really try to test and would this score be useful for them to see, right and for the people who really like to get into the data? The common data set for each college is a really great place to look, because not only can you see the average or the middle 50% many of the schools will also tell you, you know, a range of percentiles and what scores are at those different ranges. So you can really see how you kind of shape up next to their their enrolled class from the year before, okay, to your second question, Brittany, if you are going to go test optional and you are worried that it puts you at a disadvantage, what can you do right now? I'm going to give you a real shorthand on this, but my basic framework for thinking about college fit and college competitiveness is something I call the match pyramid. It's like a little triangle pyramid, and there are three layers of it. The bottom layer is academics, right? Your grades, the rigor of your curriculum, the classes you chose, as far as how much they reflect certain interests of yours, and preparation, your executive functioning skills, fall in there, and then your test scores fall into that bucket as well. And I'll just describe the other two layers of the pyramid, and then we'll come back to this academic layer. The second layer is what I call character. Colleges really care about fit and belonging, and one of the ways they can assess that is to see, are you going to fit with our culture? Do you bring something to our school that is something we're trying to grow in our student body, like a concern for this issue, or, you know, you're this kind of collaborator. You know, whatever your personal values and your character qualities are, they're looking to bring that into their class, to create some kind of culture and dynamic among the people that they're accepting, right? So that's the second kind of layer, and then the third layer is what I call the. Remarkable factor, which is very hard to describe, but you know what? When you see it, it's, it's the thing that just makes you so special and so you it's not an achievement. It's not like an award you won. It is just something that is so core to your personality and your way of being that, you know, with all those other three things, it it makes you just like, Duh, we have to accept this student. They're perfect, right? So short answer to what else can you do is work on those two top layers, right? It's not developing the remarkable factor. It's understanding what's remarkable about you, because it's already there. You just have to, you just have to reflect, then think about what it is, and then working on demonstrating those character traits, like identifying them, naming them for yourself, and making sure you show up with those values at your forefront of how you behave and how you treat other people, like how you're interacting with teachers and peers in the classroom or people in the hallway and your extracurriculars in Your community, like demonstrate those values that you believe in. And then on the academic side, it may be to work on it improving your GPA, right? Like taking more challenging classes next year, right? So that they can see you're really pushing yourself, even if those grades are not in by the time you submit your early applications, they can see you, you're pushing yourself to take a really rigorous course load. Maybe it's something over the summer that you do that is academic related, right? It could be an extra set of courses. It could be an academic program on a college campus. It could be a project with a volunteer organization or a nonprofit, but just something that shows you have, like the diligence and the executive function skills and the responsibility and the, you know, the proactivity to go after this thing that you're super interested in and that you really care about, right? I know that was super, super fast and Brittany. I know you know all of this stuff too, right? But hopefully it's really validating that, like, those are the things

Brittney:

Always hear it from two perspectives, at least, right?

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah

Brittney:

I think that that's great. And I think for a lot of sick I think I'm thinking of my other juniors, too are in a really similar places, so we are at this point, like we're in, you know, February, at the moment, trying to figure out, like, understanding what those activities are and where there's an opportunity to like work on that remarkable factor, because it's different for every student, it's very unique. So you know who the student is, what they've engaged in, and to your point, like, what other opportunities can we find at this point that are useful for your application and to yourself in understanding the career, the the major that you might want to explore. But like finding the connectedness to your application now can be helpful, not just kind of picking a random thing, but like making it all aligned and strategic.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, I get a lot of families who come in saying, like, well, what should our strategy be? And I'm like, we won't know until about this time junior year, like, you got to do all the things that like really call to you, that are meaningful to you, that you enjoy, that put you around people that you just love being around, and you're inspired by. And then we'll look at it all as high school progresses. And then we'll say, You know what I see here? This is the connecting thread. And you'll be like, Oh, my God, that is me, right? You see it in hindsight, you can't say, Okay, I'm going to be the data scientist who studies politics, you know, when you're in eighth grade. No, we you don't know who you are yet, right? You have to have some experience and exposure to, you know, people and ideas. So, yeah, I think creating a really compelling narrative of, you know why you've done all the things you've done, what it is that motivates you, who are the people that you admire, and why? What kind of person do you want to be that can really be an amazing self awareness that comes across in your college application, and colleges love that.

Brittney:

And you know, you might not get there, like, in a month, like you said, like, same thing with the eighth like, same thing with the sprint for testing. It's like we may not get there by even the summer, but as we continue to, like, meet and talk and do lots of different activities about exploring those things, like, we will get there, but you might not have the answer, like, ASAP in your college journey process here, it's going to take quite a while to get there.

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, and sometimes the writing can be the thing that brings it out. Yes, totally. So, yeah, don't rush it. Don't force it. But, you know, keep your eyes open for it that your inner eye, maybe your third eye, keep it open and see what you can find. But you know, I'm, I'm excited to see what happens with this act Blitz. But even more important, oh, look at the face you're making. Maybe you shouldn't even do the A, C, T Blitz. Like, let's be honest with ourselves right now. Like, why are you gonna put your. Self through that. If you already know how you feel about it.

Student:

I'm just I'm ready, I'm excited, I'm excited, I'm excited. I think that I just need to change my perspective on the test altogether. And I think this is helping. It doesn't seem like such a bad thing after all, and it is doable, like we've been saying this whole time, and it is achievable, and it's something that I can do. So this was a good conversation to have. I needed it.

Sheila Akbar:

Okay, good. I'm really glad. I want you to capitalize on those feelings and that confidence. I will you know you're gonna have this recording so you listen to it again, if you start like wobbling, you know, I'll send you some resources too, so that you kind of know exactly what to do. And then let's check in in a couple weeks and see

Student:

Good idea. Keep me accountable. Yeah,

Sheila Akbar:

Yeah, of course. And like any questions you have, I'm here for you.

Student:

Thank you. I will.

Brittney:

Thanks, Sheila.

Sheila Akbar:

You're so welcome, guys. I just love helping people feel more confident about their own abilities, and I am excited, truly, to see how she does on this little blitz that we've set up. If you are curious about setting up like a test period for your test prep, please reach out to me. We do those sort of diagnostic tests for free, as do many other tutoring companies, and we can take a look at those and think about what you might need to focus on in that little Blitz to see the kind of results you're hoping for. And if you are in one of these situations, like the student I mentioned earlier, where all of a sudden, you know, you had, you were very happy about going test optional, and then, you know, one or more of your colleges decided to bring back the test requirements. Please do reach out. I'm always happy to help think through strategies and what you can do here, and how to weigh, is it worth it to do the test prep, or should we change our college list? Which is, I know, a hard decision to make in spring of junior year, so it takes a village. Let's help each other through this. If you have a question that you would like to submit anonymously or join me live on a recording to talk through, please see the show notes so that you can submit that information. All right, folks, we'll leave it there, and we'll see you next time bye.