On Wednesday, October 16th, it was the standardized testing day at West High when students took the Pre-ACT, PSAT, or the ACT WorkKeys which was ran by Nora Rayl the analytics and assessment coordinator at West High.
This day was very important for freshmen at West High. This would help better their understanding and learning what they should expect on the ACT in their junior year.
Rayl Said, “Taking the Pre-ACT is a really good way for the Freshmen to prepare for the ACT that they will be taking for when they are a junior.” Rayl also said, “A lot of times this is the first real test a kid has had to take and so just even knowing about scheduling your time and the pressure of that, is something important for kids to learn.”
While the Pre-ACT is important for freshmen, the PSAT can be just as important for the sophomores and juniors that sign up for it. For those who sign up for it, the PSAT can lead to big opportunities for them.
Rayl said, “If you read the announcements, it’s a PSAT/NMSQT, which stands for National Merit Scholar qualifying test”. Rayl said, “And that particular scholarship is pretty massive. It’s 50,000 plus”. Rayl continues, “ they’re offered through schools”, “they offer the scholarships to kids to get them to their college, because they want you there. Because A, you’re going to be successful if you’re scoring that high and B, it makes them look good”.
For the juniors who took the PSAT it can also serve as good practice for the ACT they take in February. The ACT can also lead to many scholarship opportunities for the juniors who take it.
Rayl said, “It’s done on the computer now, but that sends it out to universities and to organizations that offer all sorts of different scholarships. So when it asks if your parents went to college, there are certain scholarships that are for kids who have two parents that didn’t go to college”. Rayl continues, “a lot of schools pull just like the stem score, like, if it’s a technical school, they’ll pull just that math and science score, and they’ll offer scholarships based on that”.
When juniors go on to become seniors they take an important test called the ACT Workkeys, which helps them get better jobs which require you to take the ACT WorkKeys.
Rayl said, “Four weeks ago, I had a former student call me and he had been here two years ago and had applied to Spirit and they said well we need you to take the ACT WorkKeys before you can start and he said, well if I already have a score can I start today? Then they said yes you can start today.” Rayl also said, “So he called me, I printed his score and he got the certificate and he then took it to Spirit and he started that night.”
On the 16th when the seniors took the ACT WorkKeys, they experienced a national crash of the website they used for the ACT WorkKeys. Any senior who did not qualify for a certificate gets a chance to retest because of the national crash.
Rayl said, “ Yeah, there was a national crash of the Validus website, which is pretty crazy. She continues, “And so we pulled any kid who did not qualify for a certificate, any score that where that score excluded them from a certificate, and we’re going to offer them the chance to retest, just in case that craziness contributed to them being distracted or not being focused. And so it’s a huge opportunity for all of our students to be able to retest if they, you know, maybe missed it by a point or two.”
Even with the national crash of the Validus website, many seniors still got their passcards that they have worked towards since their junior year.
Rayl Said, “The pass card system where you get part of your hours off, your required to have the ACT, the Workkeys and there are several other things that are involved in that, I don’t know all of them because they are not really in my area”.
Even though the seniors did the ACT WorkKeys on Wednesday the 16th, and got the chance to earn their passcards, the seniors who did not make the qualifications for the certificate get another chance to retake it.
Rayl Said, “I will say to the seniors that were here Wednesday the 16th, you’re soon going to get an invite, and I would highly recommend that you take advantage of that invite and retest, because some of you were literally a point away from the next certificate.”
