This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing the Minneapolis movie premiere of “Her Fight, His Name: The Story of Gwen Carr and Eric Garner” at the Edina Theater. As you may recall, Eric Garner was killed by the NYPD on Staten Island in 2014.  The documentary, which was part of the Minneapolis Film Festival, tells the story of Gwen Carr, Eric’s mother, and her yearslong fight for justice for her son.  While the documentary, which was exceptionally well done, would be remarkable to me in any context, the reason I was there is that the filmmaker was Flying Colors’ very own Jered Everson, part of our elite corps of math and science instructors. 

I remember meeting Jered nearly three years ago, when he met me at Flying Colors’ Edina office.  A graduate of Columbia University, Jered had been working as a healthcare consultant who decided to leave consulting and pursue his passion project, which was this film.  A remarkable math student (he took Calculus BC as an eighth grader), Jered has been able to help countless Flying Colors’ students with all levels of math as well as providing instruction for the ACT and SAT math and science sections.  In his own words, “Beyond a commitment to content mastery, he prioritizes emotional awareness, relationship-building, and a personalized approach in his teaching methodology.”

As the founder of Flying Colors Prep, I am grateful that Jered, a three-time Emmy winner (!!!) who has been a key part of our instructor team since 2022, is just one of nearly 50 extraordinary individuals who make up our unmatched instructor team.  Learn more about Flying Colors instructor team by clicking here.

You can stream Jered’s documentary by clicking here.

Ron Michalak
Founder, Flying Colors Prep

With September’s debut of the new, enhanced ACT on paper, the ACT is fully committing to its shorter exam that makes science optional and eliminates 44 questions from its “classic” exam.  To encourage students to embrace the new format, ACT is piloting a “bring your own device” program at several area high schools, where it will begin to test its ability to offer digital testing on a large scale format. While the digital SAT has already been warmly received by students across the U.S., with SAT test-takers outnumbering ACT test-takers by a 2:1 margin, the digital ACT exam has not been widely available in Minnesota, and many families have reported issues finding test sites with availability. 

In October, Academy of Holy Angels, Minnetonka HS and Sartell HS will offer the “bring your own device” option, though the Holy Angels site is already full.  In December, in addition to Minnetonka and Sartell, Lakeville and Delano High Schools will also offer the digital test.

Does digital ACT testing make sense for your student?  Flying Colors has prepared a chart, below, that compares the ACT’s digital test to the SAT’s digital exam, and can provide some context for parents and test-takers.

Access to digital versions of both the ACT and the SAT has been challenging in Minnesota, so Flying Colors encourages parents and student to plan ahead and register early to ensure access to the exam(s) of your choice.  We are also recommending for students targeting the ACT that they choose to take the test on paper, as there is very little practice content available in a digital format, while a reasonable amount of material is available on paper.  Please click here to register for an ACT, and here to register for an SAT.

Key Takeaways:

• In response to an increasingly challenging landscape, the ACT launched the “enhanced” ACT in April of this year.  The new exam aims to modernize the test and better complete with the all-digital SAT  
• The new test is shorter in length, has fewer questions, makes science an optional section, and is also available in a digital format (which is NOT widely available) 
• Content and question styles remain largely unchanged, but fewer questions mean more weight per question 
• Data from the ACT indicates that scoring between the “legacy” ACT and the “enhanced” ACT should be consistent, meaning that a student scoring a 26 on the legacy ACT will likely score a 26 on the new test.

Over the past month, Flying Colors’ instructors were able to test drive the ACT’s recently released practice tests for the enhanced exam and were pleased to find that the ACT’s content and question style was largely unchanged. Though there were fewer questions overall, the questions themselves, their primary focus, and the material they covered were all very similar to what is currently found on the ACT. 

The biggest differences between the current ACT and the new ACT were more related to proportions of question types. Within the English section, the ACT now has fewer questions focused on rules of grammar and proportionately more “rhetorical skills” questions, which typically deal with the expression of ideas and clarity of language. Math seemed to include more questions focused on algebra I and II, geometry, and statistics and probability. The reading test seemed to be the least changed, as that test continues to offer four passages, though each passage now has only nine related questions versus the traditional ten.  Similarly, science remained largely unchanged, though students now have 40 minutes to answer 40 questions. 

For Flying Colors, all of this suggests that students preparing for the current version of the ACT should be well versed in the types of questions and content observed on the new exam.

Interestingly, it will likely be what test-takers cannot observe that may shape up to be the biggest difference between the two tests.  Unlike the traditional, legacy ACT, which featured a fifth section in which the ACT “tested” questions for future exams, the enhanced ACT will now include up to 10 “experimental” or “field test” questions in a given section that will NOT count, but will be used by the ACT to test question “reliability and validity”. The English test will include 10 such questions, the math section four such questions, reading will have nine and science six.

Given this, students will be able to make far fewer mistakes in order to earn the same score.  The most glaring example of this is in English, where the student’s performance will be measured by just 40 questions (versus the current 75) due to the combination of a reduced number of questions AND the introduction of ten experimental questions.  

Students who have practiced on the legacy ACT should expect to see fewer easier questions on the enhanced ACT, particularly in English and math.  In math, which is the only section of the test  presented in a loose order of difficulty, i.e., from relatively easy to challenging, students should expect to see more challenging questions much sooner, though the loose order of difficulty remains.  

In terms of timing and pace, though the ACT has made a big deal about offering students more time per question, most students will feel much of a difference.  On average, across the test, students will be afforded about 6-7 seconds more per problem (six seconds more per problem in English and math, 14 seconds more per problem in reading, and seven seconds more in science), but most students are not likely to feel any less time constrained when taking the new ACT.

In summary, the ACT’s new enhanced exam has been introduced in an effort to keep pace with the changing world of standardized testing.  The move to add digital testing coupled with making its exam shorter can be seen as the ACT’s effort to evolve its test and to keep up with the SAT. It remains to be seen how students will respond to these changes, how similarly they will score between legacy tests and the new enhanced tests, and if the SAT continues to attract increasing numbers of students to its exam.

Flying Colors will continue to monitor developments in the standardized testing space, and will use this newsletter to keep you apprised.  To subscribe to our newsletter, please click here.

Have you heard the buzz about April’s ACT test?  Students are saying it was the most difficult ACT ever given:  “The math questions were impossible”, “…there was not enough time to complete all of the reading passages”, and even “…the smartest kid in our class thinks she bombed the science section”. These concerns will be repeated by students until the June ACT becomes the “hardest test ever.”

Test anxiety starts because many high school students believe their ACT or SAT scores can make or break their college dreams, and that can be a legitimate fear if a student is applying to competitive schools or hoping for a merit scholarship. Combine the pressure of getting into your dream college with rumors about how hard the latest ACT test was, and you get one result:  intense test anxiety. At Flying Colors, we understand the pressure students feel. That’s why a core part of our comprehensive test prep includes anxiety management–a key feature that sets us apart from other test prep companies.

Test anxiety is a common barrier for students that can keep them from achieving their true potential. When you have an important game, theater performance, or exam, your body kicks into overdrive. The brain sends signals to indicate that the stakes are high—your heart beats faster, your palms start to sweat, and you feel butterflies in your stomach. Your body is responding to your brain’s signals and doing its part to rise up to the challenge. If you walk into a test or step onto the field and your body treats it like just another random Tuesday morning, you’re not going to perform your best. Performance enhancing anxiety works to your advantage by improving concentration and focusing the brain on the task at hand. That is your body’s way of saying “OK, let’s go!” Neuroscience studies show that heightened awareness IMPROVES performance. 

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The Yerkes-Dodson Law Bell curve (below) illustrates that as arousal increases, so does performance, but only up to a certain point. When taking the ACT or SAT, students get into trouble when their arousal becomes too high, thereby inhibiting performance. By reframing the body’s physiological responses as positive through relaxation techniques such as breathing and visualization, students can keep performance anxiety at an optimal level and increase their chances of optimal performance. 

A student’s goal should be to maintain a healthy level of motivation and drive while taking the ACT or SAT without slipping into higher levels of stress. Flying Colors’ instructors use evidence-based strategies and draw upon more than 14 years of experience to empower students to minimize anxiety and achieve success. Students learn skills that are not only applicable to standardized tests, but that can also improve performance on academic tests or in sports, theater, public speaking, or any other performance-driven endeavor. 

Anxiety reducing strategies include:

• Familiarization with the content of the ACT and the SAT so students know what the tests can throw at them

• Strategic study plans and pacing strategies tailored to each student

• Regular practice tests that simulate test conditions to build confidence and test-taking stamina

• Coping strategies to calm the body’s natural stress reaction

Flying Colors’ goal is two-fold: prepare students for the ACT or SAT’s content and mentally equip them for the challenges of taking the tests. Our instructors help students create a game plan and execute it with confidence, so they can walk out of the test knowing they’ve achieved their target scores. 

KARE 11 News’ Gordon Severson spoke with Ron Michalak, president and founder of Flying Colors Prep, about the move to digital testing.  Click here to see the news segment.

Beginning on April 5th, the ACT will debut an enhanced version of its test, initially available ONLY online and only available at two test centers in Minnesota, both of which are full.  The new ACT will be shorter in length and will make science an optional section.  While most Minnesota students will NOT be able to access the new ACT until September, when it becomes available on paper, the changes to the test represent the most profound modifications to the ACT since it was launched more than 60 years ago.  Click here to view a webinar, led by Ron Michalak, the founder of Flying Colors Prep, on these changes.