As a tutor, adapting to digital ACT has the power to transform the lives of your students on a scale that many people can’t realize. The character of Miep Gies, in the biographical film Freedom Writers, echoes this when she mentions that even an ordinary individual “... can, within their own small ways, turn on a small light in a dark room.” Meip Gies should know: she sheltered Anne Frank and her family. Helping students achieve their dreams is what ACT tutors do.
If you want your test-prep students to excel at and master digital ACT, there are a few things you need to change at your end too, even if you’re a proven successful tutor. That includes teaching your students effective strategies for the digital ACT and helping them navigate through the new test version.
In this article, we discuss how tutors can adapt to the new digital ACT format and ensure student success. We look at some of the digital tools and resources for ACT tutors. We then analyze the key strategies for digital ACT tutoring success. Finally, we close by answering a few frequently asked questions for the ACT. But first, let’s look at how the digital ACT is different.
Some aspects of the digital ACT are the same as the traditional paper-based test. For instance, the range of your ACT score will remain between 1 and 36, no matter what the format is.
However, the digital test isn’t quite the same as the conventional one. Here are the five significant differences between the digital ACT and the pencil-and-paper version:
Although the test areas remain the same, the transition to the digital ACT requires students and tutors to change some of their techniques and strategies.
Let’s first talk about how the test-taking strategies need to change.
Adapting to digital ACT takes some work, both for students for their tutors. Like every change, the new version has some benefits and challenges.
If you wish to master digital ACT tutoring, you need to do your own learning in order to continue helping students figure out how to achieve a great ACT score.
While there are several things you’ll need to change, upgrade, and alter, there are some digital tools that you must master. Here’s the list:
Begin with scouting around for the most reliable resources. Be wary, especially of tools that have been merely ‘rebranded’. If a resource was okay for the paper-based test but has only been renamed ‘Digital ACT practice material’, it’s likely not going to work for you.
Wherever possible, check out customer stories to learn if the product has really benefitted the customer.
You can’t hand out your students paper-tests to practice on and then expect them to come out winners in the digital format. Practice tests must be in digital versions too, and they need to replicate the test-taking experience in all manners possible.
For instance, when we created our digital SAT practice tests, we based our questions, their difficulty level, and format on the actual SAT tests provided by the College Board. That made our mock SAT tests the most authentic and reliable tests out there (learn all about it here). Do your homework to find the right digital ACT mock tests.
You’re teaching so there’s no way you can’t have whiteboards.
What you really want is virtual whiteboards, because one, it subtly makes your students familiar with the the digital screen. And two, it will break the distance barrier for you. You could be in Palo Alto, coaching a student based in Beijing. For the same reasons, make sure you’re super-comfortable with the collaboration tools. All this will help you easily simulate the actual test.
In case you are clinging to taking notes in a physical diary, you’ve got to move on and embrace modern tools. Modern tools are great at tracking student progress, something critical to providing feedback and helping students get better every time.
Perhaps what’s extremely important is that progress-tracking tools can identify even small elements. This could easily give your students that little extra edge, which is so vital for making small increments even when the student is already doing very well. Mastering the digital ACT is about paying attention so that you don’t miss the small stuff.
As already mentioned, becoming a great tutor for digital ACT requires you to do some new learning yourself. The good news: you don’t have to abandon the strategies you used when you were preparing students for the paper version. All that’s needed is adapting them, reshaping them, and modifying them to fit the online ACT.
Elimination: For instance, you always told your students to strike out answer choices that are obviously wrong. Well, now you can remind them that the test interface has a tool that will mask the answer choices they want to eliminate.
Confidence and mental stamina: Sometimes, your students need only a little push to get a great score. Other times, the exercise is more rigorous. Either way, you want to develop a system that will build confidence in them. Also, be sure to help them work on creating the mental stamina required to sit through the entire test without tiring out.
Simulation: Give your students the experience of an actual ACT test. You don’t have to do it yourself, a competent service provider can do it for you. Have a look at what we can offer.
Personalizing tutoring: Adopt a three-pronged approach to personalize your tutoring. First, assess students regularly and understand where each student stands. Next, use specific material (or further tests) that will best address their individual needs. And finally, keep tweaking your tutoring and communications based on how the changes have helped your students.
Review: Make sure your students get the best out of the performance-tracking system you use. After they finish writing a full-length mock ACT (or even a sectional test), make sure they review the test. Why did they get a question wrong? Wild guess? Inadequate understanding of the question? Poor conceptual clarity? A silly mistake in some calculation?
Students who know how to get a perfect ACT score also know they should never make the same mistake twice. So be sure your students learn from every mistake they make.
Adapting to the digital ACT isn’t just about keeping up with changes—it’s about ensuring your students are fully prepared to excel. As a tutor, your role is more important than ever in helping them master the digital ACT with confidence.
By leveraging the right tools, strategies, and practice resources, you can set them up for success. Want to build, scale, or improve your tutoring business? Speak to our in-house expert today and take your tutoring to the next level.
1. Do I need to bring my own computer for the digital ACT?
No, the test center will provide you with a device. You may not bring in your own.
2. Should I bring scratch paper for the digital ACT?
No. The test center will provide you with a dry-erase whiteboard and a marker with which to do your scratch work. Alternatively, you may be given sheets of paper for the same. At the end of the test, you need to return all the material issued to you, including sheets of paper, if any.
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