Chose: Villanova
Nik had already done test prep. Twice.
He started with a big-name prep class aimed at the SAT. It didn’t move him. So the family stayed with the same company, switched targets to the February ACT, and paid for more of it.
He went from a 23 to a 24.
By the time we met him, Nik had concluded that standardized tests were just not his thing. That’s a reasonable conclusion after months of paid instruction produces one point. It’s also usually wrong, and it’s one of the more expensive beliefs a junior can pick up, because it changes what they think is worth applying for.
Why we told him to wait
Nik played basketball. We told him not to start until the season was over.
That surprises families, because the instinct when a score is stuck is to begin immediately. But a student splitting attention between a season and a prep plan gets a diluted version of both, and the plan is the thing that loses. Better to start late and run a clean sprint than to start early and spend three months half-present.
So we waited out the season and then went.
Two tests, two halves of the exam
Rather than prepping the whole ACT twice, we split it.
April was Reading and English. June was Math and Science.
The reason is straightforward: a student can hold two sections’ worth of strategy properly in a compressed window, and can’t hold four. Splitting means each test date gets real, focused preparation on half the exam, and the superscore collects the best of both. Nik’s April work banked improvements in Reading and English, and June’s work went entirely to the two sections he hadn’t touched.
The daily checklist
The single thing Nik said made the difference wasn’t a strategy. It was that he always knew what to do next.
He got a specific daily checklist. Not a syllabus, not a reading list—a short, ordered set of tasks for that day. Sessions ran 30 to 45 minutes, which meant he could get one in from a hotel room on a travel weekend without needing a clear evening.
That’s what the big-name class never gave him. It gave him content, in a room, on a schedule set by the class. What it didn’t give him was a plan for the other six days of the week, and those are where the score actually gets built.
He also had direct one-to-one access when something didn’t land. Not office hours. A person.
The result
Nik scored a 31.
He texted Carson two words when the scores came out: “Carson, we did it.”
A 24 doesn’t get an application read seriously at the schools Nik was aiming for. A 31, alongside basketball and the small business he was running, put him in range at top-50 schools. He enrolled at Villanova, with scholarship offers from Clemson and several state schools he turned down.
What Nik’s story shows
Months with a national prep company produced one point. Two focused test cycles produced seven.
The difference wasn’t effort—Nik worked in both. It was that the second time, someone was accountable for the number, sequenced the work so each test date had a job, and told him what to do each day instead of handing him material and hoping.
If your student has already been through a program that didn’t work, that’s not evidence they can’t test. It’s usually evidence about the program.
"Carson, we did it"
— Nik
What we did differently
- Waited until basketball season finished before starting, rather than splitting his attention across both.
- Split the work across two test dates—Reading and English into April, Math and Science into June.
- Gave him a specific daily checklist so no session started with deciding what to do.
- Kept sessions short enough to fit in 30 to 45 minute blocks, including while travelling.
Coached by
Boosted Brains coaching team
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).