Why the First ACT Is Like the First Pancake
If you’ve ever made pancakes, you know something important:
The first pancake is always a little weird.
Maybe it’s too pale.
Maybe it’s a little burnt.
Maybe it’s shaped like a blob instead of a circle.
But here’s the thing — the first pancake isn’t the goal.
It’s part of the process.
You’re heating the pan.
Adjusting the batter.
Figuring out the timing.
By the second or third pancake, everything starts working.
And the ACT works the same way.
The First ACT Is the “Practice Pancake”
Many students go into their first ACT thinking that test will define their score.
In reality, the first test is often just the practice pancake.
Students are learning things they simply can’t fully simulate beforehand:
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What the pacing actually feels like
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How tiring the test is
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How quickly time disappears
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What kinds of questions show up again and again
Even the most prepared students usually learn something important from that first test.
And that experience makes the next test dramatically better.
Familiarity Turns Into Focus
Once students have taken the ACT once, everything changes.
They know what to expect.
Instead of spending mental energy figuring out the format, they can focus on:
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pacing
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strategy
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accuracy
That familiarity leads to calmer test days and stronger scores.
It’s one of the biggest reasons many students see a score jump between their first and second test.
The Goal Isn’t One Test
Families often feel pressure for the first ACT to be “the one.”
But the smartest testing strategy is to think of the ACT as a three-test process.
The first test provides information.
The second test changes the score. The third test maximizes the score.
Just like making pancakes, once the pan is hot and everything is dialed in, the results get much better.
The Takeaway for Parents
If your student’s first ACT wasn’t perfect, that doesn’t mean anything went wrong.
It means the pan just got hot.
And now they’re ready to make the pancakes that actually count.
At Jen Henson ACT Prep, we actually plan for the first test to be part of the strategy. Students prepare thoroughly, take the test to learn how the real thing feels, and then use that experience to sharpen their approach for the next one. That’s when scores often jump the most.
Because just like pancakes… once the pan is hot and everything is dialed in, the results get a whole lot better.
More about Jen Henson…
Jennifer Henson ( a.k.a “The GOAL DIGGER”) is a nationally sought after test prep expert specializing in the ACT test. Jennifer, who was Winton Woods City School’s (OH) Teacher of the Year in 2014, holds a Master of Education degree with a Bachelor’s in English from Xavier University—where she was a walk-on tennis player. She’s taught 22 years and coached ACT prep for over 16 years– and has an army of teachers trained to assist her requests for tutorials. Her former ACT students now attend notable higher learning institutions, including Notre Dame, The Ohio State University, Texas A&M, The Naval Academy, and the University of Kentucky—among others.
Thanks to modern meeting technologies such as Zoom and Facetime, Jennifer has assisted students from California to Connecticut—and states in between—to reach their personal ACT goals. No score is too low or too high, as she has doubled the scores of students starting at the low end, in addition to helping initially higher scoring students achieve the coveted 36 on every section of the test.