On February 21 the juniors were able to start our On To College ACT Prep with John Baylor. It will be a 6 week course that happens every Monday consisting of 2 hours and 30 minutes. Throughout this time we will be learning study skills and how to gain a high ACT score without having maximum levels of stress.

The donors of Mercy have been able to support us in this preparation by helping us take care of the costs. Mercy is one of the few schools that are able give students access to this chance of a lifetime.

This first 30 minutes consisted of John easing us into the ACT prep. He explained how his system works and how it has brought up multiple students’ ACT scores. He tried getting to know our names and little personal information about us, such as knowing what we want our future colleges to be or our future careers. He made up little jokes, trying to keep us constantly engaged and getting us to be comfortable with him. After getting to know us a little, he then jumped straight into the first section of the ACT prep.

The first section that we started on was the English portion. He taught us multiple tips such as, “Most of the time the shortest answer is the correct answer”.

It is never a dull moment with him. To make sure everyone was not dozing off, he would walk around and point his laser at us. We finished the session with a homework assignment reviewing what we learned, due next Monday. Overall he made the experience very enjoyable for all of us students.

Since I am able to take this course, I will be using it to my full advantage and taking in as much information as I can. This is making me slightly excited for the ACT, which would have never happened without this amazing opportunity given to us by our donors.