I got a 34 on the ACT. I'm proud of it, but the thing I actually remember from prepping isn't the score. It's how annoyed I was the whole way through.
Not at the test. At how much money people throw at it.
I watched people (friends included) pour a genuinely stupid amount of money and time into tutoring and prep courses. And most of it isn't better than the free stuff. It's just marketed better. You're not paying for a better result, you're paying for someone to package the same result nicely and sell it back to you.
Why does anyone pay for this
That's the part that genuinely bugs me. Why does anyone pay that much for something you could get cheaper (or free) if it was just built right? The information isn't secret. The practice questions aren't secret. The only thing you're really buying is packaging and a person to keep you accountable.
The way I think about it is p2w vs f2p, like in games. Most ACT prep is pay-to-win. You drop thousands on a tutor and get a marginal edge. Meanwhile the kid who can't afford that is grinding alone with a random $20 prep book from 2011. Same test, completely different starting line.
Same test, completely different starting line. That's the whole thing I'm trying to fix.
The free-to-play version
So I built 36.fyi to be the f2p option. And f2p doesn't mean worse, i promise. It means you shouldn't need rich parents to get a real shot at a good score. I want it to be as good as the expensive route (or better) and actually reachable for the kid doing this on their own at 11pm.
I took the test myself. I know what the bad study sessions feel like, and what it's like to open some prep platform and immediately close it because none of it maps to what you actually need. So I'm building the thing I wish I'd had. Level the playing field, basically.
Now the honest part. 36 has a subscription right now, and I'd rather just say why than pretend it's some grand strategy. I pay for the domains and hosting out of my freelance web design money, and freelance doesn't quite cover it yet aswell. So the subscription is keeping the lights on, not me trying to get rich off high schoolers. The moment it can run without it, that changes.
There's also a version of this I'm planning that I'm not going to explain yet. All I'll say: nonprofit, ACT, and it's kind of the whole point. 🤫
That's really it. I got annoyed, I had a 34 and some free time, and I started building the thing I wanted to exist back when I was the one grinding.
36 isn't finished. But the reason it exists is pretty simple: this stuff shouldn't be pay-to-win. If you're a high schooler trying to move your score, 36.fyi is live. Go break it and tell me what's wrong with it.