The winter of junior year is a pivotal moment in your student’s college-planning journey — and standardized testing plays a big role. One of the most strategic steps your student can take is to complete a baseline diagnostic practice ACT test. This isn’t just another homework assignment. A diagnostic ACT is a powerful planning tool that helps students understand where they are now, reduce uncertainty, and build a smart, confidence-boosting path toward Test Day success.
🎙️Listen to these conversations on What SAT and ACT Diagnostics Can Tell You and Why Practice Tests Matter So Much on the Tests and the Rest podcast.
🎯 What Is a Diagnostic Practice ACT?
A diagnostic (or baseline) practice ACT is a full-length, timed ACT exam taken before formal review begins. Its purpose is not to teach content, but to assess your student’s current performance and provide direction for future testing and prep. Think of it as a starting snapshot — one that helps families avoid guessing and instead make data-driven decisions. Watch the overview of the ACT report.
🧠 Top Benefits of Taking a Practice ACT
⭐ 1. Establish a Realistic Baseline Score
Before creating a study plan, students need to know where they truly stand. A baseline practice ACT provides a concrete score to compare against future tests — not just assumptions based on grades or classroom success. This allows students, parents, and tutors to set realistic and achievable goals.
📈 2. Pinpoint Strengths & Weaknesses
Practice tests reveal patterns across all four ACT sections — English, Math, Reading, and Science — as well as within specific question types. Instead of spreading effort evenly, students can focus their prep where it matters most.
🕐 3. Simulate Real Test Conditions
Timed practice helps students experience the ACT’s pacing, transitions, and endurance demands. Simulating real test conditions reduces surprises and builds familiarity — two key ingredients for confidence on test day.
😌 4. Reduce Test Anxiety
Many students feel anxious simply because they don’t know what to expect. Once they’ve completed a full practice test, the ACT no longer feels mysterious. Familiarity leads to confidence — and confidence leads to stronger performance.
📚 5. Build Endurance & Test-Taking Skills
The ACT is long and mentally demanding. Practice tests train students to maintain focus across all sections while developing key strategies like time management, educated guessing, and question triage.
🎯 6. Inform Your Student’s Prep Plan
With a baseline score in hand, families can choose the right prep approach — whether that’s tutoring, structured classes, or targeted self-study. Prep becomes intentional, not reactive.
🛠️ Tips for Getting the Most Out of a Practice Test
✔ Take the full test in one sitting, just like test day
✔ Create a quiet, distraction-free environment
✔ Review every question afterward — especially missed ones
✔ Use results to build a targeted study plan
🔍 How a Diagnostic ACT Helps Students Decide Between the SAT or ACT?
One of the most common junior-year questions families ask is: “Should my student focus on the SAT or the ACT?” Pairing a diagnostic ACT with your student’s PSAT results is one of the clearest, most objective ways to answer that question.
📊 Side-by-Side Score Comparison
The PSAT mirrors the SAT, while a diagnostic ACT reflects ACT-specific pacing and question style. Comparing PSAT scores and Diagnostic ACT scores allows families to see which test better matches a student’s natural strengths. Educators can also use official concordance tables to translate scores onto the same scale for a true apples-to-apples comparison. See our score converter here.
🧠 Different Tests Reward Different Skills
Although the SAT and ACT assess similar academic content, they reward different skill sets. The SAT and PSAT tend to favor students who excel in evidence-based reading and analysis, are comfortable with multi-step math reasoning, and benefit from slightly slower pacing with more time per question. The ACT, on the other hand, often favors students who make faster decisions, demonstrate strong grammar and rule-based English skills, excel at data interpretation and scientific reasoning, and feel comfortable working under tighter time limits. A diagnostic ACT can quickly reveal whether a student thrives — or struggles — with the ACT’s pacing and question style, helping families make more informed testing decisions early in the process.
⏱️ Pacing & Endurance Insights
Some students perform well on the PSAT but discover during a diagnostic ACT that time pressure is challenging. Others find the opposite — that the ACT’s straightforward questions and faster pace actually suit them better. This insight is invaluable and can’t be gained without experiencing both tests.
🎯 Avoids Wasted Prep Time
By combining PSAT results with diagnostic ACT data, families can avoid wasting valuable prep time on the wrong test. This comparison helps identify which exam offers the highest score potential for a student, allows prep efforts to be focused more efficiently, and reduces unnecessary stress and over-testing. Taking a data-driven approach early in junior year leads to a more streamlined, effective testing plan and better outcomes overall.
🧩 Creates A Personalized Testing Plan
Understanding why one test is a better fit increases student confidence and buy-in, making the testing process feel more manageable and intentional. Diagnostic results help families determine which test to prioritize, whether taking both the SAT and ACT makes sense, when to schedule official exams, and how much preparation is truly needed. This clarity allows students to approach junior-year testing with a personalized plan rather than uncertainty or guesswork.
✅ Bottom Line for Parents
The PSAT provides valuable SAT-style feedback — but it only tells half the story. Pairing PSAT results with a diagnostic ACT allows families to make informed, strategic decisions during one of the busiest years of high school.
🎓 Take A Free Diagnostic ACT For A Detailed Report
Families often want their student to experience the ACT before committing time and money to prep. That’s exactly what Seeley Test Pros / LEAP offers with a free ACT Diagnostic Test via webinar.
📋 The Seeley Test Pros/ LEAP Free Diagnostic Includes:
✔ A full, timed, pencil-to-paper ACT diagnostic administered live via webinar — from home
✔ Students keep their test booklet to mark and review
✔ A detailed LEAP Lens Report highlighting strengths, weaknesses, and question-type performance
✔ A free follow-up webinar to help families understand results and plan next steps
This diagnostic goes far beyond “just knowing the score.” It provides clarity, context, and direction.
🧭 Why This Is So Valuable
🔍 Real ACT Practice
Students experience true ACT pacing, structure, and endurance demands — critical for success on official test days.
📊 Actionable Feedback
The LEAP Lens Report shows where growth is most likely, allowing prep time to be used wisely.
👨🏫 Expert Interpretation
Scores alone don’t tell the full story. Our follow-up webinar helps families interpret results and connect them to decisions about ACT vs. SAT, prep options, and testing timelines.
🗓️ A Great First Step
This free diagnostic is an ideal first milestone in a junior-year testing plan and serves as a baseline score to measure progress over time.
📍 How to Get Started
Students can sign up for the free ACT Diagnostic Test through the Seeley Test Pros / LEAP here. Once registered, families receive testing instructions, webinar access, and information about the follow-up results session.
Encouraging your junior to take this free diagnostic now — early in junior year — provides data, direction, and confidence as you move forward with ACT prep, SAT vs. ACT decisions, and realistic score goals.