PLAN tests help students plan for the future

by Chelsie Darrow

In December, all the sophomores gathered in the small gym for the PLAN tests. The tests were held to give the students a better idea on what will be on the ACT that they will take in March of their junior year. The tests measured the ability of the students to be able to think, reason and perform in academic areas of reading, English, science and math. This year’s juniors will be taking their ACT on March 5. Juniors can take the ACT any time on their own, but they must pay for it themselves. When the juniors were sophomores they had a chance to see what was on the ACT. This gives them a leg up, versus going into the tests blindly, because they have been there and done it.

The PLAN tests help the sophomores to see what the weaknesses and strengths that they have. By knowing this they can improve the areas that need to be improved. Sophomore Katie Fether definitely benefited from the test. “I think the PLAN test has helped me because it lets me know what will be in the ACT. The test showed me that I need to improve my science scores so now I know that I have to work harder in science,” said Katie. Along with the PLAN test, there is also a test that can be taken in 8th grade but we do not give that here at Pittsford. ACT however, is a requirement to graduate. Sophomore Virgil Schrom now has a better grip on what to study. “The PLAN test helped me because now I know what to study and what’s going to be on the ACT and what to study for. Mainly I need to study for English, because I didn’t do very good in there.”

This year’s sophomores excelled greatly in the subjects of reading and science. We can’t really compare the students year to year because of the simple fact that we have such small samples here at Pittsford. The scores of this year’s sophomores were very good overall, as they have been mostly every year here at Pittsford.