Instructors: Marni & Thomas Herrington

Instructor Information:
Office Telephone: (662) 202-4911
E-mail: tmherri1@olemiss.edu

www.thomasherrington.com

Contact Information:

If you have questions concerning the content of the course, you may contact the instructor directly using the email link in the "Communications & Tools" tab. NOTE: Whenever sending an email, please be sure to indicate your Course title and number in the subject line (ie, AP Art History).

Course Description:

This course is designed to set up a structured environment to help students study for and practice taking the ACT. This course will cover all angles of the ACT test and is designed to not only provide information on what the test covers and instruction on how to do the material, but also to provide helpful hints on how to be a better test-taker.

Currently the Mississippi Department of Education is allowing students to use a qualifying ACT score in lieu of state tests (SATP II, PARCC, etc.) in order to meet graduation requirements. This course is designed to help students improve their ACT scores, but passing this course does not fulfill requirements set by MDE.

No Required Textbook:

Any ACT Prep book you find will help augment the material in this course. If you are set on buying a book, be sure to look for two things: content and practice tests. Some books brag about 8 practice tests, but if you look closely you will find only four are in the book and the other four are online which you have to register for and then get spammed the rest of your life. Others have a bunch of tests, but little content. Find the book you want and read the reviews and go for it. The Princeton Review is a good balance of both, but they will probably try to sell you something if you just give them your email with no restraints.

The Princeton Review, Cracking the ACT: 2018 edition

ISBN-10: 1524710733

ISBN-13: 978-1524710736

The ACT is made up of several different areas of study - English, Science, Reading and Math. There is also an optional essay portion. Any school textbook on these subjects will provide information that will help you on this test. An English I or English II textbook would be most beneficial because it covers grammar. As for the math section, it covers basic math all the way through trigonometry, so any books that cover these topics may be found helpful.

Another suggested 'text' is to access discoveryeducation.com. Log in using the information provided to you when you enrolled in this class. This set of videos will help you understand math really well and is a good change from the text of the book.

It is the student's responsibility to order his or her textbook if you choose to get one. Online textbook retailers such as Amazon.com, ABEbooks.com, or Half.com usually provide used textbooks at economical prices.

Course Objectives include (but are not limited to):

1. Students will review material covered on the ACT.
2. Students will learn new material covered on the ACT.
3. Students will learn testing strategies that are unique for the ACT.
4. Students will practice for the test by taking online quizzes.

Course Outline:

This course consists of 23 instructional modules (or chapters).

1: Introduction to the ACT

2: Triage

3: Guessing and POE

4: Taking the ACT

6: Sentence Structure and Punctuation

7: Grammar and Usage

8: Rhetorical Skills

10: Basics

11: Arithmetic

13: Geometry

14: Graphing and Coordinate Geometry

18: The Four-Step System