Cypress Falls High School – ACT/SAT Preparatory Strategies

Mar 2026 · 2nd Semester

This two-semester course is required of all 9th-grade students who did not pass all 8th-grade core academic classes (language arts, reading, math, science, and social studies) or who have not met the state standards on all 8th-grade reading, math, science, and social studies STAAR tests. Beginning ESL students, intermediate ESL students, and some special education students in need of academic support are also required to take this year-long class. The course must be taken in grade nine to fulfill CypressFairbanks’ graduation requirements. PACE Plus is designed to assist students in the transition from middle school to high school and build skills that will assist them in future transitions to career, college, adulthood, and independence. This course will link relevant concepts so that students understand the "big picture" in preparing for life after high school while in high school. Students will review and refine their 4-year plan already in place and will actively work to develop a personalized plan for life success based on their career aspirations. Coursework is focused around the skill areas of personal/social, academic, and career, health/wellness, and life. PACE Plus will provide students with additional academic support in core areas. This one-semester elective course is open to eleventh- grade students and fall semester twelfth-grade students who are college- bound and have successfully completed Algebra II or be concurrently enrolled in Algebra II. The course is designed to provide students with strategies to meet the academic requirements and demands of post-high school studies and to prepare students to successfully take college entrance exams. Units of study include preparation for college entrance exams (ACT and SAT), vocabulary expansion, objective test-taking skills, research and critical thinking, attitudes, goal setting, and time management. Strategies necessary for successfully reading, comprehending, and studying advanced-level content textbooks both in high school and in college will also be addressed. − The state required Speech TEKS are embedded in PACE. The state required instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is provided in PACE. This course is noted on the transcript as Independent Study in English. Open to 11th- and 12th- grade students only Students may select to take the course for graduation credit or local credit. (Completion of Acknowledgment form is required.)