Does your student want to achieve, but struggle with confidence and anxiety?

Arianna worked with Miss Claire in a program RTC ran at a private nonprofit for promising low-income students. Arianna received RTC’s ACT curriculum and instruction in a classroom with three students of a similar level. She arrived at class ready to take advantage of the opportunity of private tutoring, with a goal of increasing her starting score of 22 on the ACT significantly. (22 on ACT is equivalent to 1110 on SAT.) Arianna also arrived to our class with a significant amount of test anxiety, a monster she would have to slay to be successful on her ACT.

Arianna believed her strengths were in the Math and Science sections. She quickly took to the strategies of these sections, wielding her pencil as a weapon against the test makers as she learned to beat the test. English and Reading were more of a challenge for her. Arianna comes from a Spanish-speaking home, and many of the English grammar rules didn’t sound as natural to her as they do to children who hear only English in their homes. Miss Claire had to do a little bit more work with her to shore her up on the English test, and Arianna worked hard to fill in her gaps. In Reading, Arianna was often overwhelmed by the amount of content she had to process in such a short time. Here, Miss Claire taught her the design of the test to help her break down the passages and question types so that they didn’t overwhelm her.

In their ACT class, the students also learned Mindfulness strategies in every lesson. These were very helpful to Arianna, who was very nervous about the ACT. She really took to the strategies, and she often enjoyed leading the class in them. Once, Miss Claire was called from class and arrived back a little stressed. Arianna, who has a very high social and emotional intelligence, immediately offered to lead the class in a breathing exercise so everyone could focus and calm for the lesson. Miss Claire was so appreciative of her intuition and kindness.

When Arianna went in to take her first ACT, she was very nervous. This was her “progress test,” her first opportunity to take an ACT. We ask our students to take an ACT during their ACT program, before they go for their final score goal, to get used to the testing environment and try out the strategies they are learning. Arianna saw a one-point increase in her Composite on this first official test, which is normal. Arianna was buoyed by this increase; she had been very nervous for her first ACT, and she was surprised her score had gone up. Her score increase included a nice gain in English, which she had studied most so far in her program. Arianna now knew she could tackle the ACT; she dug in and worked even harder.

However, Arianna had a lot of negative thoughts getting in her way about the ACT. She was still very doubtful about herself.  Miss Claire and Arianna had a long talk about the doubts going on in her head during her test-taking, and how they were getting in the way of her success. Miss Claire told her, “At the end of the day, if you can’t get out of your own head, you’ll only be hurting yourself.”

Arianna took that to heart. She began practicing her mindfulness strategies more consistently. Miss Claire also wrote Arianna a notecard with Sharpie that said: “I can do this! How can I do this?” Arianna needed to change her thinking so that when she saw a question on the ACT, she wouldn’t feel defeated. First, she needed to think she could do it, and second, she needed to problem-solve. With every question on the test, Arianna needed this affirmation. Arianna told Miss Claire that she read that notecard “almost 1,000,000 times” before her final test, on which she scored a 28 Composite — 6 points higher than her baseline. (28 on ACT is equivalent to 1310 on SAT.) That score included a 10-point increase in English, a subject Arianna considered one of her weakest.

Arianna says that her biggest achievement in ACT class was learning the capacity of her abilities, not just as a high school student, but as a lifelong learner. She says she was able to see her growth in every single class, which to this day motivates her to continue with her journey to seek knowledge and do the best she can. Arianna is attending Drexel University on a full scholarship in the Class of 2025, studying business and finance. Arianna is a spirited and fearless leader, and we can’t wait to see her set the world on fire.