1. Leave the guilt behind and live in the present moment
Teens, like all of us, can have guilt about what they should have done. The most important action is for them to forget about the past and move into the now. Feeling guilty from past actions whether justified or not does not matter. As parents, it is important for us to help them accept the now and start taking action that will increase their ACT score.
2. Practice better study habits
Many of the study habits teens have learned come from school. Although these habits maybe successful in high school they may not be for working on a long-term project like scoring high on the ACT.
3. Find support from a teacher, tutor, or prep class
Most teens need support to work at the level that is necessary to score high on the ACT so help them find a support person.
4. Get honest about your current ACT score
What is their current ACT score? Through the use of pretests, we document their current reading, math, English, and science scores. Teens need to know their current score and accept that this is true before progress can be made.
5. Put your phone in another room while studying
Research supports that every time we hear the ding of a text arriving or an IM our brain is affected. Distraction is a major issue for teens and we want to model and support them putting away their phone.
6. Set a score goal
What score do they want or need to achieve? Of course, all teens can increase their ACT score and they need to hear this from parents, tutors, and teachers. Once the score goal is set then the tutor or teacher can show them how to achieve at this level.