My ACT essay is on Saturday and I’m afraid I am feeling quite unprepared. Today I spent a good chunk of the afternoon reading and re-reading the big fat ACT prep book and taking a couple of the sample tests. Right after this post I’m going to write down another practice essay. I have also been reviewing the relevant chapters in all four books on studying and test taking that Dad got. All of the books are different, but they do agree on one thing.
Cramming is a no-no.
So apparently I’m doomed. Therefore I’m telling myself that I should just plunge into it Betty Blonde style with a smile on my face, a Black Warrior #2 pencil in my hand, and a song of hope in my heart. Easier said than done. In reality I feel like I’m wading barefoot into a dragon infested swamp with only a 10 year old calculator and a fading memory of pre-algebra and elementary grammar to help me pull through. Bleh.
In other, happier news, this one book that Dad bought, How to Become a Straight A Student (I forget, do you italicize, underline, or quote book titles?) by Cal Newport, is really interesting and fun to read. Basically it’s about the title. It tells you how to schedule your day, find good places to study, write a really good reasearch paper, and it gives you lots of tips on making good use of your worktime so you can have more time for fun activities. It’s actually made me really excited about going to college! That sort of balances out all my bad feelings about the ACT.
I gotta go finish up that essay… I’ll write more later this week.