By the end of the week, Kent sends an email to all juniors on the basketball teams regarding ACT diagnostic testing. Especially since the juniors are the ones who most need to be concerned about that test. After all, the state-sponsored date is fast approaching, and it looms over the juniors’ heads. Heather then talks to Audrey before the start of AP Bio:

“Audrey, I think there’s something of interest to you” Heather shows her Kent’s email to all juniors.

“Heather, you never asked for my help in AP Bio… in fact, you almost never asked me for academic help! What is it now?”

“The coach invited all the juniors on both basketball teams to an ACT diagnostic test on Friday night, and we’re allowed to bring in any guests we like, provided they aren’t seniors!” Heather explains to her teammate. “In fact, he even encourages it!”

“The ACT is a year away for me. Why is it that you feel like it could interest me? Or is it because you feel like Carrie would need my help once again?” Audrey asks Heather.

Oh god, not again! Carrie, while a fantastic dribbler and ball-carrier, seems to want to be carried academically, Audrey’s question sends shivers down Heather’s spine upon mentioning Carrie’s academic needs, freezing her in place.

“Surely you want to stay in touch with your basketball teammates even when the quiz bowl postseason is fast approaching! Spending too much time with any one group is not a good idea!” Heather warns her.

“Except that, for years, nearly every test in English and math contains items formatted like ACT questions. Mind you, often it’s a minority”

“You’ll have all the time you want to be with your quiz bowl teammates after the ACT ends! Just do this for me… please?” Heather begs Audrey to take a diagnostic ACT test. “You’re the strongest academically on the team!”

“Fine…” Audrey sighs. “Just this once!”

I’m lucky the FFA agribusiness team, on which I play with Tyler, is fairly low maintenance, so I can study for the ACT as needed, based on the diagnostic test results, Heather sighs before getting to her seat in the AP Bio classroom, before texting Tyler about the basketball team’s diagnostic ACT. I might want to invite Tyler to the diagnostic test, too.

And that’s not suspecting that junior football players have their own diagnostic test planned, too. At the behest of their coach. A few players already have guests lined up, Dayton plans to bring Natalie in, while Ethan might want to bring in Nadine.

However, Finn realizes that his back is against the wall. Since I’m barely above 2.50, all I have to do is get a 20 on the ACT. And yet… I can’t even take that for granted. I guess, I have no choice, Finn sighs, and asks around for other people to take a diagnostic ACT with him.

And soon, he finds out there is no shortage of people he can pick, ranging from baseball players to softball ones, and even other juniors without love interests. Especially people whom he knows harbors collegiate dreams. He even discusses the choice of guests with Ethan:

“And I wonder if I can take in more than one guest; if so, since I already invited Nadine, I may as well invite Pablo, too; they seem to get along pretty well” Ethan points out to Finn, before texting Pablo about it. “I guess taking a diagnostic ACT test as a group, with people you know, makes it less stressful…”

“I get it, it’s a test everyone here must take!” Finn points out. “However, this test is a load of hogwash, and I’d rather not expend any more effort on it than absolutely necessary!”

Pablo, having received the invitation from Ethan to take a diagnostic ACT just as AP Bio is about to start, waits a little bit before he could decide whether to go.

After being taught about population bottlenecks and founder effects, being caused by a sudden loss of population or starting a new population from a limited sample of the original population, Pablo is finally in position to respond to the invitation issued by his football teammates. He feels a little uneasy to be asked about taking an ACT diagnosis test a year before the actual test, and then confides about it with Audrey once the lecture ends.

“Looks like the football team invited me to a diagnostic ACT test!” Pablo then shows the time and place of the diagnostic test.

“And the basketball team invited me to one, too!” Audrey tells him.

“Both teams appear to have booked the same computer lab to do it. I may as well take the invitation and, maybe, even sit next to each other if possible”

“However, I wonder why is it that the administration seems to trust players on the academic teams more about ACT prep, in that the school doesn’t seem to give any attention to whatever ACT needs they might have. By now, you know people on academic teams might excel in class, but because coursework doesn’t translate one-to-one to the ACT, you can have someone on an academic team not perform so hot on it because they excel at anything but multiple-choice questions” Audrey harangues him about the practice test.

Perhaps the administration believes that academic team players can prepare for the ACT without having to use resources not already used for all students in their classes, Pablo then responds that he will be present to take the diagnostic ACT.

“The player most likely to fit this description on an academic team would be a debater” Natalie comments on the disconnect between academic competitions and the ACT, while responding to Dayton’s offer of taking a diagnostic ACT.

After school, the computer lab reserved for both the football and basketball teams’ diagnostic ACT is full, with Kent and the football head coach proctoring the test. They are bewildered by the sheer number of guests the juniors on these sports teams have brought in tow, with the majority of the guests being love interests of juniors, who are themselves juniors. And a few underclassmen on these teams.

“Before the test begins, let’s start with an overview of the test…” the football head coach begins with the number of questions and the time they have to answer it all.

As well as its ordering. And Kent then gives the attendees other instructions, which excludes the writing portion, since the state-sponsored date doesn’t have it this year. And, before the test begins, the coaches check the calculators in use by students to ensure their compliance with ACT regulations.

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“Begin!” the head football coach signals the beginning of the test.

Everyone in the room starts plugging away at questions on the screen, albeit not in the same order for everyone. Especially since the computer-based version, which juniors take on the state-sponsored window, randomizes the question order, but, in the end, everyone answers the same questions.

It becomes clear that the coaches are much more interested in their respective players than in the guests they brought in tow. Six basketball players, twelve footballers; Audrey and Pablo are the only underclassmen taking the diagnostic test.

The worst in all that is that, while Finn might have some academic issues earlier this year, I don’t think Finn is the worst footballer tonight, the football head coach observes the 12 footballers as they answer these English questions from past ACT administrations at breakneck speed.

As for the basketball team, it seems like two players are struggling more than the other four: Carrie and a male player. And, of course, Audrey appears to be the dominant basketball player on these tests as the diagnostic test goes on. Which goes on for hours as the coaches conduct this diagnostic test under the same conditions as the real test on the state-sponsored date. Or as close to it as possible.

By the end of this ordeal, every test-taker has their diagnostic result, complete with subscores, and a disclaimer at the bottom of the result page. A boilerplate warning not to treat the score as official, and also about the precautions required to use the scores for test preparation.

“I know it’s a little late for you all to know where you stand on the ACT, but when you see some of our opponents prepare for it for much longer, these are the times where I tell myself, better late than never!” the football head coach harangues the test-takers.

“What do you mean, our opponents prepare for the ACT for much longer than we do? Most of our opponents only seem to care about winning on the gridiron!” Finn retorts.

“We would have loved to do this earlier, but the basketball season forced us to wait this long. In that sense, we were victim of our own successes on the court” Kent follows up, not realizing that Finn is referring to football.

“Our opponents’ coaches think of the players on the field only!” Valter adds.

“That depends on how they spend their money. Yes, our opponents are, for the most part, better funded. However, they tend to be lenient in grading, or in extra credit, when sports are in season, and not necessarily allocate extra test prep resources specifically for athletes! I really hope this diagnostic test is free!” Natalie adds.

“Which opponents actually study for the ACT for more than just a few weeks?” Ethan asks the coach, unsure of the educational practices of their football opponents. “It would be more likely that our opponents focus more on test prep for those who have an actual shot at college, or those who struggle most!”

And then all 3 teams whose players took the test come together to discuss what these results imply for their preparation. People not on these teams left the computer lab before the athletes, and even then, the 3 boys’ basketball players step out of the room to meet elsewhere. Then the 3 girls’ basketball players.

“If only I score this for real, two weeks from now…” Heather sighs, looking at some score that’s higher than 27.

“What do you mean, if you scored this for real?” Carrie asks her teammate, but realizes that her own diagnostic score doesn’t measure up to her teammates’.

“You know that, just because you get a certain score on a practice test, you may not score it for real, even if the conditions are otherwise the same!” Heather’s face starts to turn red.

“Same here: I might get a thirty-four now, I might improve some next year, basketball or ACT!” Audrey adds. “I have much less of a margin to improve on the ACT though”

“My estimate still stands! As far as you’re concerned, attending an Ivy will be about getting good enough at basketball!” Heather voices her opinion. “I’m not Ivy material…”

“Did you forget about me playing at the HSNCT? I didn’t attend last year, but maybe if we do well in there, it could reduce the need for me to perform on the court!” Audrey retorts.

“Heather, you’re doing as if strong quiz bowl performance is useless to Ivies!” Carrie shouts. “If anything, Ivies are likely to be the ones who care most about quiz bowl prowess!”

“Also, why do you think Ivies would be a good fit for me on a basketball level, beyond my own academic strength? What makes you think Division I basketball is for me anyway? Or what makes the Ivy League a good academic fit for me, even if I didn’t play basketball in college?” Audrey shouts at Heather.

“Audrey, you always seemed to understand the material in greater depth than I. My grades might be relatively good, I know it’s not the end of the story! And also you played your best basketball in the playoffs!” Heather points out.

“Or rather, we played our best basketball in the playoffs! It’s not just me!” Audrey retorts, while feeling like Heather withheld information from her, just not on purpose.

If I’m not mistaken, even I would still be relatively strong academically compared to the rest of the pool of college hoops prospects. The average D1-D2 basketball prospect would probably lie between Carrie and me in class, Heather is left wondering if she can herself contact coaches at, say, D3 colleges, at least after the ACT results come in, believing that, while the Ivy League is out of the question for her, both academically (since she’s in the 3.7-3.8 range) and athletically, maybe she could play D3.

And yet, Heather, feeling the rift growing between Audrey and her, leaves the scene, and Carrie does the same, feeling like Heather’s obsession with getting Audrey to play in the Ivy League is getting out of hand. And, of course, studying for the ACT with Tyler, too.

“I got a thirty-four on this practice test, honey. How much did you get?” Audrey asks him, a little dazed from Heather.

“Thirty. One more thing. While players at the HSNCT might have, for the most part, good grades, quiz bowl skill doesn’t translate one-to-one to the ACT!” Pablo then tells Audrey.

“And not the least since quiz bowl doesn’t have any math problems”

“I’ll study with you next year, after the football season ends!”

And then Pablo meets up with other footballers, who take their time to digest what their practice scores mean for their studying. Like Finn, who needs to increase his score by two full points to even get to his goal of 20. The discussion turns to who they can study with.

“I think we will stand a better chance of improving if we study with the right people before the big test. However, I am not sure if Nadine is the right person to study with…” Ethan voices his concerns, despite having the highest ACT practice score of the juniors.

“If Nadine isn’t right for us to study for the ACT with, then Pablo isn’t either! The ACT is a year away for them” Valter comments on Ethan wanting to study with Nadine.

“Natalie should be considered, but she isn’t available all the time” Dayton realizes that he has some way to go to catch up to his girlfriend.

And it turns out that a lot of footballers have ACT practice scores in the sub-20 range, so the coach focuses on these footballers specifically. For this reason, Pablo steps out of the way and leaves the area around the computer lab. And meets with Nadine who, without surprise, performed better on the English and language sections than on the math and science ones, but only by two points. And also scoring a 34 on the practice test.

“I’d say that, for the ACT, if either the football or basketball teams ask us for help, we should provide it” Audrey suggests the other two sophomore quiz bowlers.

"It seems like some footballers deem us poor fits to help them study for that test" Nadine tells her quiz bowl teammates.

"I took this practice test only because Heather dragged me here..." Audrey sighs. "Because I don't get along with Heather anymore, If the girls' basketball team asks for aid, I will forward the request to you. However, I am at the disposal of the football and boys' basketball teams if they ask for ACT study help"

"At this point, we may as well be last-resort help, but you make it sound like the basketball teams will be more likely to come to us than the football team!" Pablo deadpans the other two.

Normally, I expect athletes, faced with this wakeup call, to have their pick of people to call upon for aid. However, whether they will actually ask for it, remains to be seen, Pablo starts thinking, before he kisses Audrey.