COLLEGE READINESS - Issues in College Readiness - What Kind of Test Preparation Is Best?

Oct 9, 2026

The document examines which ACT test preparation approaches most effectively improve ACT scores. It contrasts short-term activities, such as commercial courses, workshops, and software (typically under 10 hours), with longer-term strategies centered on high school college-preparatory coursework. Evidence summarized through comparative research indicates that high school course taking yields substantially larger composite score gains than short-term cramming or coaching. It also notes stronger results when students complete higher-level subject courses beyond the recommended core curriculum.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Effects of Short-Term Test Preparation

Effects of Longer-Term Test Preparation

Conclusion

References

COLLEGE READINESS ISSUES IN COLLEGE READINESS What Kind of Test Preparation Is Best? Introduction The ACT is an achievement test—it indicates whats students are ready to learn next by measuring what they currently know and can do. Given the content and philosophy of the ACT, the approach that is most likely to increase ACT scores is high school coursework, because much of the knowledge and skills that are taught in high school are being measured on the ACT. The ACT was designed to reflect high school course taking, and as such it is a good measure of overall highschool preparation by subject area and of student readiness for college or work after high school. It would stand to reason that long-term learning in school, rather than cramming and coaching, would be the obvious best form of test preparation for the ACT. Earning high scores on the ACT is not simply a matter of innate ability or shortterm preparation, but reflects a level of achievement resulting from planning, hard work, and dedication. To test this assumption, we can compare the score increases achieved by students who participated in various short-term test preparation activities to those associated with the longer-term preparation that students receive in planning for and taking college preparatory courses in highschool. Effects of Short-Term Test Preparation Several studies conducted between the early 1990s and 2003 examined ACT score increases attributable solely to short-term test preparation activities using repeat test takers and cross-sectional samples of students who took the test at given time points. The typical student reported spending fewer than 10 hours preparing for the ACT. The greatest short-term benefits were associated with participation in commercial test preparation courses and test preparation workshops offered by local schools and with use of test preparation computer software. The next highest benefits of short-term preparation were those gained from use of selected commercial workbooks. (Other research shows that the effects of activities such as commercial test preparation classes and test preparation tutoring on ACT subject test scores were even smaller: score increases associated with these activities did not exceed one point for ACT English, Mathematics, or Reading [Briggs, 2001].) Effects of Longer-Term Test Preparation ACT research has continually demonstrated the benefits of taking longer-term, college preparatory coursework for increasing ACT scores, regardless of students’prior achievement in high school. As long as students enter these courses ready to learn, all of them can benefit. Increases in ACT Composite score associated with high school coursework are substantially larger than those associated with these short-term test preparation activities, regardless of the typeof activity. © 2005 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. IC 050805100 For example, taking the recommended core college-preparatory curriculum (4 years of English, 3 years each of mathematics, science, and social studies) was associated with ACT Composite scores of 2004 high school graduates that were greater than those of students not taking the core (ACT, Inc., 2004)—score gains nearly twice the amount of the increases associated with short-term preparation. Within each subject area, 2004 high school graduates who reported taking or planning to take certain higher-level courses achieved even greater increases in average ACT Composite score than those who did not. The largest increases were those associated with additional mathematics coursework over and above the recommended core curriculum. The results of these studies are summarized in the figure below. Score increases associated with the various activities are arranged in ascending order from left to right. Given that scores on the ACT are reported on a scale from 1 to 36, the degree of impact of these increases on ACT Composite score also increases substantially from left to right: sh

FAQs

What test preparation approach is argued to work best for improving ACT scores?

Long-term learning through high school coursework is presented as the best approach because the ACT is designed to reflect knowledge and skills taught in high school.

What short-term ACT preparation activities show the greatest benefits?

Commercial test preparation courses, workshops offered by local schools, and test preparation computer software show the greatest short-term benefits, though overall gains are relatively small.

How do longer-term high school coursework results compare with short-term preparation?

Longer-term college preparatory coursework is associated with substantially larger ACT Composite score increases, including nearly twice the gains compared with short-term preparation.

Oct 9, 2026

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