Standardized Testing

Sometimes I wonder how I would do if I retook the ACT again right now. For some reason, I feel confident that I would nail it, doing even better this time than when I was 15.

To be honest, though, I may have misplaced my confidence given how I do on the Mom version of the ACT.

English

1. When composing an email to a friend, how often should you use words that end in -ing

A. Not too often. Rephrase your sentence.

B. All the time! Fill the sentence with as many gerunds as you can squish in!

I keep choosing B.

2. When asking a question in an email, what is the proper punctuation?

A. (?)
B. (.)

I chose B and felt very silly about it.

3. Your or you're

A. Whichever is grammatically correct.

B. Whichever your phone chooses for you.

I really try to do A. But sometimes B. happens when I'm not paying attention.

Math

1. When loading the dishwasher, what is the most efficient way to do it?

A. Put things in an orderly fashion.

B. Put things wherever there is room at a given moment.

C. Look at the disorganized dishwasher and ask your husband to play dishwasher tetris while you wash pots and pans.

Of course I chose C. Kevin said, "It's better if you put the spatulas in the utensil part instead of the bowl part." I never was good at geometry.

Reading

What kind of chocolate syrup should you buy when you're planning to make a dessert?

A. Regular.

B. Sugar free.

I chose B. In my defense, the words "sugar free" were light gray so I didn't notice them with all the other words touting the natural chocolate and vitamins and minerals. It was actually pretty nasty, and Matthew was the only one who actually liked it. (But he did get 10% of his daily biotin and niacin from it, so that's something.)

Which kind of container has strawberry cream cheese in it?

A. The one that says strawberry cream cheese on it.

B. The one that doesn't.

I chose B. We're fine, except my ego.

Science

1. If you fill a test subject with 5 oz of human breastmilk and wait a few minutes, the test subject will expel 1 oz of the breastmilk onto his shirt or your pants. How many times should you repeat this experiment?

A. 0. I think you understand the trend.

B. 3000. Spit up is so fun.

I've chosen B. Although, come to think of it, I'm not really sure I've had a choice in the matter . . .

2. A scientist tracks the productivity of a mom compared with her bedtime the night before. He sees an inverse relationship with the time she goes to bed and the amount she gets done. What should we conclude?

A. Go to bed when you're tired.

B. Stay awake.

I maybe choose B sometimes.

Regardless of how I'd do on the ACT today or regardless of how I do on the MOM ACT most days, at least I can name several DC and Marvel comic characters, so I've got the vocab portion of the MOM SAT down.