Post Messenger Recorder -

In your lifetime, you have probably heard the famous English proverb, "Practice makes perfect," but in Belleville, juniors are more closely following the words of American Football Coach Vince Lombardi when it comes to prepping for the ACT test coming up in March. Lombardi's famous words, "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect," holds true when we see how Belleville students are preparing for this important standardized exam.

The ACT test is a standardized test used by colleges and universities to ascertain what students learned during their high school years. It is an exam that typically 10th through 12th graders can take and helps them prepare for success as they leave high school. For colleges and universities, individual student results from the ACT aids these institutions in the areas of recruitment, placement, and offers necessary tools to help guide their future students' academic planning. As high school students take this standardized exam, it also offers high school counselors the opportunity to help their students consider their options – many students who might not have thought they are college-bound choose to explore the possibilities of higher education when they go through the preparation process of taking the ACT.

Last Saturday, 23 Belleville High School juniors gathered in their high school library to take a practice ACT test. However, this is not their first experience with taking this exam – last March, these students took the same Method Test Prep sections on the statewide ACT day in March of 2020 as they began to "perfectly" prepare for this examination. Saturday's test was an alternate version to the virtual test they completed a year ago in March. It allows students to immediately view their scores after completing each test and so this is an incredible tool as students hone their study skills.

Their Principal, Heather Schmitz, commends her students' dedication to accepting every opportunity to better themselves: "I am so proud of the juniors who portrayed their academic dedication by participating in their second ACT practice test on a Saturday during this school year. These tests help us to inform your teachers where to focus lessons in order to best prepare you for the upcoming state test."

Knowing where you are at helps students strategize where they spend their time studying, or equips them to ask for extra help in content areas in which they are having more difficulty as they attempt with each practice session to better their scores. Preparing for an exam like this in increments does help students feel more confident when the actual test day comes. They feel supported and know how to manage their time and navigate the exam in a way that plays to their strengths. With their last session on Saturday, January 29th, students were able to see their steady progress in each content area (English, Math, Reading, and Science).

For Belleville High School students, ACT test preparedness expands beyond just these practice "test" days.

"Since creating a partnership with Method Test Prep in 2017, the high school has tried to incorporate ACT preparation into core classes during students' junior year. Those that work through the program have realized a 3-point improvement in their composite scores from start to finish. That will help some gain entrance into their preferred colleges, while increasing scholarship dollars from universities for others. The administrative team has adapted this process over the years - introducing a pencil and paper component to match the test type on the statewide ACT day in March. As a district, we are proud to offer these opportunities to our students," says District Administrator Nate Perry.

Belleville's march toward academic excellence for their students takes careful planning, and teachers, staff, and administrators alike hope to offer their students every opportunity to do great things with their futures through both the test preparedness and curriculum choices made. They truly understand what Lombardi was trying to say when you have to not just practice, but practice perfectly. The planning and process is strongly in place for Belleville's students to succeed and they know it by showing up early on a Saturday morning to sit down and take a practice ACT exam. They recognize that by taking this practice test allows them one more chance to give it their best shot when the real day comes. Students will continue to practice through this program until the state ACT test is given on March 8.