ACT Boot Camp participants ready for higher scores
Published 6:22 pm Friday, June 10, 2016
Boot camp: The Upward Bound program at the University of Montevallo hosted an ACT Prep Boot Camp this past week as a part of a six-week residency program for high school juniors and seniors.
Contributed | University of Montevallo
Preparing for college is never easy. It takes a high grade point average, knowledge of college admission timelines and most importantly: a high ACT score.
However, 50 students taking part in the University of Montevallo TRIO Upward Bound program are getting a head start on preparing for this crucial standardized test.
Rising juniors and seniors taking part in the Upward Bound summer residency program at UM live on campus for six weeks of their summer break, learning skills in classes taught by certified teachers that will make them stronger students.
The University of Montevallo TRIO Upward Bound program is a federally funded pre-college program serving high school students in Chilton, Bibb and lower Shelby County schools.
Two weeks of the program are specifically dedicated to an ACT Prep Boot Camp, where students attend classes from 8 a.m. to noon each day and have evening tutoring sessions to learn tips and strategies to score higher on the June 11 ACT exam.
The key objective of the ACT Prep Boot Camp is for participants to become familiarized with the format and timing of the test, allowing for higher scores and opportunities for more scholarships. Students also earn incentives for the extra effort and increased scores.
Sharon Gilbert, director of Upward Bound at UM, believes the summer prep camp allows the program to better assist its students during the school year.
“Our goal is to have all of our students college-ready before they enter their senior year,” Gilbert said. “That way, they can focus on college scholarships and admissions.”
If scores from the camp are consistent with previous years, many of the participants will have composite scores high enough to qualify for scholarships.
“Since 2008, when we began scheduling students in ACT Prep classes using textbooks, we have had 100 percent of our students raise their ACT scores—increasing scores by at least five points,” Gilbert said and added that some of the most successful students have reached composites as high as 32.
