$56,000 at Oklahoma State (chose), $81,000 at Ole Miss
Chose: Oklahoma State
MaKayla was a senior with November application deadlines and a 21 on the ACT. So she signed up for the September test. The score she got would determine her college list.
She showed up that morning. The proctors took attendance, started the test, and then the testing center’s HVAC system died. Mid-section, they moved every student outside to picnic benches in the wind and direct sun. ACT eventually voided every score from that center.
October was MaKayla’s last shot before her schools started reading applications. Five weeks away.
Why most prep programs would’ve gone wrong here
The reflex after a testing disaster is to grind harder—more practice tests, more content drilling. That’s what cookie-cutter programs do.
It’s also the worst thing you can do to a senior who just had a panic-attack-level experience and now thinks she can’t score.
So MaKayla’s coach, Alina M., didn’t start with drills.
Week one was about reframing what happened. The September test wasn’t a failure. It was an aborted attempt that didn’t reflect a single thing about what MaKayla actually knew on the ACT. That reset had to come first, because no amount of practice fixes a kid who walks into the next test certain she’s going to bomb it.
Once she was steady, the work got surgical.
What five weeks of coaching actually looked like
MaKayla didn’t need a content overhaul. Her knowledge base was mostly intact. What she needed was targeted practice on the specific question types she was still missing, and a timing fix on Reading and Math so she’d stop leaving questions blank at the end.
An hourly tutor would’ve sold her 20 sessions over four months and called it a plan. She didn’t have four months. So Alina built her a daily personalized plan covering only the things she actually needed, and skipping everything she’d already locked in.
The structure mattered as much as the content. MaKayla logged in each morning and saw exactly what to work on, for how long, and in what order. No guesswork. No long Zoom sessions reviewing material she already knew. Daily Slack check-ins with Alina adjusted the plan in real time as new patterns showed up in her drills.
That’s the whole difference between coaching and tutoring. Tutors charge by the hour, so they’re paid to keep going. Coaches charge a flat fee for a finished result, so they’re paid to find the shortest line between where the student is and where she needs to be. With five weeks and one test date, there wasn’t a shorter line possible.
October test day
MaKayla walked into the October ACT 35 days after starting the program. She scored a 30.
From 21 to 30 is nine points. Most score-improvement programs claim three to five points over months of work. MaKayla did nine in five weeks because the program was ruthlessly narrow—only the question types she was still missing, only the sections where timing was costing her, nothing else.
What the 30 unlocked
One score turned a senior with limited options into a senior choosing between schools:
- Texas A&M—guaranteed admission
- Arkansas—guaranteed admission
- Ole Miss—$81,000 in scholarships
- Oklahoma State—$56,000 in scholarships
Total scholarship offers: $137,000+ across her acceptances. She chose Oklahoma State.
What MaKayla’s story shows
We work with a lot of students who hit a testing disaster, lose confidence, or feel like the calendar has run out. The pattern is almost always the same. The student knows more than she thinks she does. She’s missing the right structure and a coach who can tell her exactly what to focus on.
If your student has weeks instead of months—or feels like she’s already wasted weeks on prep that isn’t moving the number—that’s exactly the situation this program was built for.
What we did differently
- First week wasn't drills. It was rebuilding her confidence after the testing center disaster so she'd walk into October believing she could score.
- Diagnosed the specific question types she was still missing—not a generic content review.
- Built a daily personalized practice plan focused only on her actual weak spots.
- Rebuilt timing on Reading and Math so she stopped running out the clock.
- Stayed close in the final ten days because most score drops in week 5 are mental, not knowledge.
Coached by
Alina M.
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).