Gadsden State ACT Prep Class

Gadsden State offers an ACT Prep Class. The class is taught by Mike Davis.
For more information call him at: 549-8305.

Mrs. Arnold, Student Counselor

Westbrook Christian School is off to a great start this year!  We already have some very important things to think about and plan around.  Two of these things are the PSAT and the PLAN testing.  These exams are to help high school students get prepared for college admissions exams.  Most of our Westbrook students take the ACT (American College Test) which is accepted nationwide as a college admissions test.  It is given in Gadsden so students do not have to travel out of town to take the test.  The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is not given in Gadsden.  Students will have to go out of town to take this test, which is also accepted by colleges nationwide.  Since these tests represent two different formats for evaluation, it would be wise to take both. 
The practice tests, PLAN and PSAT are given here on the WCS campus.  PLAN was developed by the publishers of ACT.  It will be administered to sophomores on Wednesday, October 7th.  PSAT was developed by the publishers of SAT and will be administered on Wednesday, October 14th to sophomores and juniors.  PSAT has a dual purpose. For juniors it is also the test to determine candidates for Merit Scholar recognition.  The cost for each test is $13.00. 

Lenora Arnold, Counselor - larnold@westbrookchristian.org

Mrs. Williams, Admission Counselor

Fall is a busy time for all students, but especially busy for seniors.  Many are busy working on college resumes, filling out college applications and studying for the ACT.  Meanwhile, I am meeting with each senior to make sure that everything is “on track”.  It is an exciting time in their lives and sometimes stressful!  Staying organized and keeping track of deadlines does a great deal to alleviate some of the stress.

The junior year is the time that we visit different colleges as a class.  Although these trips are helpful, we strongly encourage family visits.  The large group visits are general in nature.  Individual visits enable students and their parents to customize the visit to the students needs.  Call ahead and schedule a tour and a time to meet with admissions counselors, financial aid advisors, etc.  Most schools are very cooperative and ready to help in whatever way possible. 

Most colleges and universities use the ACT or the SAT as a benchmark for admission and for scholarship offers.  Although there are no written rules for when to first take one or both of these tests, we recommend that students take it in the spring of their sophomore year.  By this time they will have covered much of the information needed to help them do well.  (Taking it at this time also gives them ample time to take the test again.)  The past few years we have offered our facility to Mr. Gerald Aultman for an ACT Prep class.  Mr. Aultman is a retired NASA engineer and is very dedicated to helping students prepare for the ACT.  ( He is not an employee of the school.)  This fall there will not be a class because Mr. Aultman will be out of the country.  Hopefully, there will be a class in the spring.  The ACT web-site is a great source of information and the ACT organization offers a parent newsletter that is helpful as well.

Please call if you have any questions.  Many parents have already been calling either Mrs. Arnold or me.  We are happy to assist in any way that we can.

Thank You.
Charlene Williams
Admissions Counselor - cwilliams@westbrookchristian.org

A NOTE TO OUR JUNIORS, SENIORS AND FAMILY:

Preparing for college can feel like an overwhelming task.  I ran across several websites that I wanted to pass along to you, hopefully to give you some direction.

www.alabamamentor.org  - A great amount of college planning information can be found on this website.

www.alstudentaid.com  - This is the website of the Alabama Student Loan Program.

www.fasfa.ed.gov  - The required application for many of the Alabama Student Aid programs is called FAFSA.

www.fastweb.com - This website does scholarship and college searches based on information from an online questionnaire.