As a test prep tutor, here are my thoughts on the most common reasons kids mess up on tests that they expect to do well on.
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By far, running out of time on the ACT is the most common reason kids don’t do as well as they hoped to.
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They think they know the subject already, so don’t need to prep. (I tutor the verbal sections, and many of my students come to me after bombing reading and/or English on one or two tests. They think they already know those things, so they don’t study much.)
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They don’t pay enough attention to the earlier, easier questions (questions generally progress in difficulty) and don’t realize they’ve done them wrong, and spend too much time on the harder questions that they might get wrong anyway. They fail to understand that the easy point is worth as much as the hard point. Get as many easy ones correct as you can.
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They rush at the end, ESPECIALLY with the ACT. Then they do any number of things: panic because they think they are not getting the right answers on the hard ones; careless bubbling in by putting the wrong answer in the wrong number, or by just messing up; not eliminating answers or not checking answers; leaving answers blank because they figured they would go back and do that one later.
Being good at math, or English, or just taking tests at school doesn’t mean you’re good at taking the ACT. It’s not like a regular test in school.
Have a look at this post if you decide to test again: Common sense tips to help raise your SAT/ACT score