John Baylor is an ACT Prep program our school invests $6,000 in. ADM started investing in this program in the school year of 2016-17 for the junior class to participate in. The ACT Prep program took hours out of their school day for last years juniors to listen to tips and practice ACT-like problems in the English, math, reading and science testing areas.

Many of last years juniors complained about the program for a couple of different reasons. One main reason was that John Baylor himself wasn’t the best guy to listen to. He talked too fast and was hard to follow along with. After going through hard classes all day including Chemistry and Algebra 2, that most juniors take, it really isn’t ideal to make them listen to information about the ACT and stay focused. So, why do it?

This school year ADM is continuing this ACT Prep program for the juniors. Did this program really help the seniors succeed on the ACT?

Emma Kaney was one of the seniors that found John Baylor’s ACT Prep to be helpful. “I really don’t want to say it, but I think he was really helpful. He was annoying but annoying in a way you would remember what he said,” she said. Emma found that John Baylor helped her mostly through the English section of the ACT and it helped raise her score. “I could hear little things he would say throughout the test.” 

Tyrone Williams was another student who found John Baylor very helpful on the English section.  “I found the English portion very helpful but I didn’t like how he talked really fast,” he said. 

There were some students who found John Baylor to be a waste of time and didn’t find it helpful. “A lot of the grammar stuff was already stuff I knew and the math stuff didn’t help very much. I just had to kind of figure it out by myself,” Spencer Evoy said. Dakota Kahler got his worst ACT score after John Baylor Prep. He said it was very hard to follow along with. 

Then there are people like Jackson Kimrey who did perfectly fine on their ACT. “I didn’t use any of his techniques and I still did fine.” Jackson also says that we should continue this ACT prep program so, “Other kids can feel the pain.”

John Baylor is a program that helps a select group of students. Some students found him very helpful and useful and others found it to be a waste of time. Overall, it comes down to if the school’s money is going to a place that is useful and helping students achieve their goals.

Principal Lee Griebel said, “It is extremely important that we as a school do everything we can to help prepare students to be both college and career ready.  The ACT test is one of those areas we felt compelled to provide students with some assistance.  ACT scores not only help kids get into college, but they can also help kids pay for college. The higher the ACT score, the more scholarship opportunities they will get.  We believe this is something we must do for ADM students to help them post-secondary.  So, putting a high priority on this means we have to dedicate resources to it, like time and money.”

But will the school continue this program and did it really had an effect on last year’s seniors?

“Currently we have to wait for the data to come back from last year’s graduating seniors.  Unfortunately, the data is always later than when we want it, but it is still a great indication of how prepared our kids are for a norm-referenced national exam that is used for so many college opportunities.  We know we want to provide a way for students to do well on this critical test, but the method or program may change based on data,” Griebel said.