December 2022 Scholar Blog

Hi! My name is Xavier Sparks. Being a member of the College LAUNCH Program truly means so much to me, and I’m so glad I get to share my experience at the December Saturday Summit with you all! My fellow College LAUNCH students and I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Kari Case this December, as she helped us prepare for the upcoming ACT this next spring.

To begin, Ms. Case introduced herself and went over basic information about the test. One thing that I appreciated, however, was that as she went through her explanations of the test, she always made sure to ask us if we had any questions or concerns. That definitely made me feel more engaged in the lesson and more valued because I could tell she truly wanted to help us succeed. Next, Ms. Case provided us with several question strategies (most of them I had not considered before) which gave me a new perspective on what I might do when taking the ACT next spring. 

The next part of this workshop contained practice questions which we first completed on our own and then we debriefed with Ms. Case. Throughout this session, we were able to ask her specific questions about the ACT practice problems, with all of that being intertwined with overall test-taking strategies.

Overall, this December Saturday Summit was definitely extremely beneficial. I learned how to use test-taking strategies effectively (application is key) and I also learned to skip around on the test when you are unsure of an answer. This new knowledge will definitely help me when I take the ACT next spring, and I’m sure it will help others as well to build their confidence when they take this test.