Kate wants to be a vet, and she’d found the most direct route there she could. Mississippi State runs a small early-entry program that guarantees its students a place in its vet school. It takes a small class each year, and Kate would be applying from out of state.
The program’s minimum ACT is a 27, and Kate had a 27. Her family’s understanding was that a competitive application needed at least a 32.
One section had stopped moving
Kate had been working toward this for a while. She scored a 23 on a practice test as a sophomore and reached a 27 by July of her junior year. Before that July test she took a five-day intensive class, four hours a day. It helped her English and Reading, but her Math stayed at 24, and she said the math on the real test felt unfamiliar.
She enrolled with us on August 10, about six weeks before the September test, and worked with her coach, Snaeha. Kate was Snaeha’s first student.
Six weeks, one section at a time
They started with Reading. On questions where two answers both seemed possible, Snaeha taught her to choose the one the passage supported most directly, which worked better for her than trying to rule the others out. Her accuracy went up most on the hardest passages, the science passages and the paired passages.
Next came English, where most of her mistakes were careless ones. They dropped once she started treating each practice test with the focus of the real thing.
The last stretch went to Math, working on timing and on staying calm when a hard question came up. In the final week before the test, Snaeha cut back on practice and had Kate rest.
The 32
In September Kate scored a 32, with English 31, Math 28 and Reading 36. Her Math went from a 24 to a 28, and her Reading went from a 29 to a perfect 36.
She needed a 32 for early entry, and she got it on her first test with us. The October test is still there if she wants more.
What we did differently
- Worked through the test one section at a time: Reading, then English, then Math.
- Taught her to pick the answer the passage supports most directly when two Reading answers both looked possible.
- Spent the last stretch on Math timing and staying calm on hard questions, the section her intensive class hadn't moved.
- Cut back on practice in the final week before the test so she went in rested.
Coached by
Snaeha
Every Boosted Brains coach has a perfect or near-perfect ACT score and has been personally trained by Carson Weekley (perfect 36) and Martin (Head of Student Success).