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Welcome! Getting Started With Magoosh

Transcript

Welcome! Getting Started with Magoosh. My name is Kat, and I'm so glad you're joining us for this track through the ACT course, Because I'm gonna give you some information and some tips to help you get started. I'm also gonna give you some of my advice on how you might use your study time more efficiently and cut back, if you need to.

One fun fact I like to point out, is that your ACT score is predicted to improve after logging a mere FIVE HOURS of test prep. And guess what? This lesson counts towards that. Whether it feels like it or not to you right now, you're off and running. You're already in a great position to reach your goals, it's really clear you've demonstrated that you see the potential value in learning more about the ACT, And more about the materials you'll be tested on.

And we're here to help teach you the skills and the strategies that would give you that edge. And when I say, we, I am actually speaking for all of us, who work at the Magoosh office in Berkeley, California. You can read all of our bios on the Magoosh website, if you're interested. You probably won't do that, you have other ways to spend your time.

But it might be worth it to just read a little bit about the teachers of this course. There are currently five of us. You'll mostly be listening to lessons put on by Kristin and also, Mike. So Kristin does the English, she does the writing lessons. She does some of the science, some of the reading.

Mike is our math guy. They're both excellent teachers. Down here, we have Chris, he helps out with the reading section. We have Lucas. Lucas helps out with some of the questions that you'll find in the product and video explanations.

And then I kind of do coordinating. I do a lot of the overview, I fill in the gaps. Every morning, when I go into work, the first thing I do, actually, is I check the lesson reviews. I check to see what feedback students have left. So please know that I look at those really closely, they do get a lot of attention.

We wanna make this course as good as it can be for you and as helpful as it can be. We also have more than 40 ACT Test Prep Experts to help answer your questions. A lot of students don't realize this, but when you sign up for Magoosh you're not just getting the lessons, the questions. You're getting access to tutors.

Meaning, that if you have a question about material, just send us a note and someone will get back to you often, in a matter of hours. So definitely, don't let yourself be stopped. If you run into problems, reach out and get the help you need. And the way you do this is you can just push the Help button at any point. And so that would be the support of course for the materials, but also if you have any kind of account-related questions, That's also the way that you'll be able to reach out and communicate to us.

And what's kinda cool, is we can actually see exactly what page you're on when you submit the request. And so, let's say you really tripped up on a math problem, you wanna contact us, you don't even have to describe what math problem it is. We'll be able to track it from our end. So at this point, you might be wondering how will you be learning information.

We have hundreds of practice questions, getting up-close to 1,000, actually. Our computerized questions can be answered as full-length practice tests, or you can split them up and answer a couple at a time. The computer actually keeps track of how many you answer correctly and your speed. And so, you can track your progress overtime. Second tool.

We have a video explanation for every computerized practice question. Instead of just reading about how to get at the right answer, you actually get to watch video explanations and actually see and hear a teacher describing it. And they're really quick, they're short, they're usually around two minutes. Third, we have an extensive list of lessons. These are about 10 minutes long and this is where we teach you the specific strategies and also the specific content.

So we have everything from grammar, to mental math, to trigonometry. We got active reading, essay writing, science, and finally, we have short drills after many of our lessons. And so, that way, you can practice the skills that you were taught in the lesson. I know that all of this can be overwhelming and that you might not actually have enough time available to even go through all of our material.

I would like to take this opportunity to pass on some tips I have for you on how to save time. First, I recommend that you open the transcript box when you watch lessons. In that way, you can scan content, you can advance the video. I know a lot of you are familiar with features like this from other online videos.

You can scroll down, kinda see what is covered in the lesson, and then decide. Is this a lesson you need to watch? Do you need to watch all of it? Can you just fast forward to the end? And by clicking on the tax at a particular location, it's going to advance the lesson to that exact point.

You can watch lessons at a higher speed. We've got 1.5x version, 2x version. A third tip I have for you is that you squeeze in mini-sessions between activities. You can watch a lesson, practice a couple of flash cards, answer a practice question, read a blog post.

Take advantage of your small chunks of time. They add up overtime. So, what are you're next steps? I mean, a lot of you just wanna get started right now, right? Well, I wanna go through a few things you should do within the next week or so, And then I'm gonna talk you through a couple of things to might just doing right now, right after finishing this lesson.

First, get an ACT-approved calculator, and you're likely to find that your current calculator is ACT-approved. I've included a link in this lesson where you can learn more about how to figure this out. Just look below this lesson and you'll see a couple of different links. Also, a tangible, tiny device.

That might be a watch or a timer, where you have the option of turning off that beeping function. That way, you can use it on test day. We do have counters in our computer, but at some point, you wanna start practicing under test-like conditions. Take the free official practice test put out by the ACT.

We have practice tests for you. But at least once, and ideally early on, you should take an exam from the official test makers. And while you're doing that, you can create an account. Choose a test date. It can be tentative, but it's gonna help you kind of figure out what your target is, how much time you have to work with.

It's gonna make it more real to you. You can always change it later. And then set up your study space. Carve out time for studying. You might stock your space with the supplies you need, pencils, scratch paper. I actually recommend, at some point anyway, unlined scratch paper.

Because on the actual exam, you don't get notebook paper. You're gonna be doing all of your work on your actual test booklet. Your Scantron, your booklet. You might even print out a couple of Scantrons. So I've included a link to those, also, for the times that you do some practice on paper with pencil, once or twice during your studies.

Things you can do immediately. Check out the Magoosh ACT flashcards and some of the other resources we have. I've added a link to the web-based version of the flashcards. But you can also get the Lesson app. Look at the resources section, to look into this, if you don't yet have the flashcards set up.

You can watch some of the other Tips and Strategies videos. You might wanna watch a sample lesson from each section. So of course, that would be the English, the math, the reading, the science, BSA. And on a similar note, answer a question or more from each of those sections, as well. And when you do that, that's a good opportunity to watch a video explanation and kind of get familiar with what those are like.

Always keep in mind that this is your course. So make it work for you! There is no wrong way to use this class. You don't have to follow lessons in order, for instance. You can jump around. You'll derive a lot of value from this course, as long as you do the following three things that I highly recommend.

Very important, answer questions and watch lessons. Don't just do one or the other. Some students kind of fall into that pattern and they just don't get the same benefit. Practice all subject areas, especially your areas of weakness. Last, commit to 30 hours or more of total study time.

The hours after your fifth hour and up to your 30th hour are the hours where, for most students anyway on average, Studying has the biggest impact on the speed of your learning and also when you're in school. After 30 hours, you still get a lot of benefit but as a minimum shoot for 30. And by the way, taking practice tests does count towards those 30 hours. So you'll be hearing a lot from me probably in the upcoming weeks either through lessons, sometimes through emails.

But for now, let's close with this quote by Abraham Lincoln. The best way to predict your future is to create it. I know that your life is gonna change a lot in the next two to six years. And let's all agree right now that the priority is to help you get to a place where you're creating and you're choosing, Each next step of this transition to college.

Thanks so much for your attention. And on behalf of everyone at Magoosh, know that we are rooting for you.

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