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Get Ready For College

 

Sweating over your upcoming ACT test? Worried that your long 
list of extracurricular activities isn't impressive enough? None
of that will matter if you're not taking challenging classes in
high school. Your high school coursework is the best preparation
for college.

The number one reason to take the right courses is to prepare
yourself to do college work. It's true that colleges look at your
high school coursework when they decide if they will admit you.
But the best reason to take challenging courses in high school
and work hard in them is to make sure you won't need remedial
courses in college. It's a waste of time and money to take basic
courses in college that you should have taken in high school.

And the worst case scenario is you could become discouraged and
drop out.  Sure you want to get into college, but you want to
stay in, too. Dropping out happens more than you think. ACT
research shows that around one-fourth of college students don't
return for their second year of school, and only around half
graduate from the same school within five years. Many students
aren't completing their college degrees, and a big reason is that
they aren't prepared to do the work.

The class of 2007 high school graduates had slightly higher ACT
scores than classes from previous years, and there were more
students prepared to do college coursework in math and science
than in years past. But there are still many students who aren't
prepared for college courses.

Using students' scores on the math and science tests, ACT found
that only 28 percent earned a score that showed they were ready
for college biology, while only 43 percent earned a score that
showed they were ready for college algebra.

What can you do to get prepared? Take challenging courses in
high school, particularly working on high-level skills in math
and science. And work on your reading skills; you'll be doing
a lot of reading in college.
 
There's always time to make changes and improve academically
before college. Check your schedule and the courses you've taken
and visit with your counselor.