Happy ACT Day!

Well, here it is, the day our juniors have been looking forward to all year.....ACT day. I'm not sure as to how other students across the board are viewing the ACT, but I had some disturbing comments brought about by some of my students. I overheard many students talking about the test and saying that they had spoken to seniors that had taken the ACT last year. In the course of the conversation, those that had already taken the test told my juniors to not even try......the test is just way too hard. So instead of spending the day working on chemistry, I spent the hour attempting to convey to my students how important it was to do their very best on the test, no matter what section it was. I have a hard time believing that I convinced more than 50% of them, but hopefully I was able to get through to a few. I'm curious if others are having some of the same conversations with their students. Is it a shift in attitudes of all students?