29 to a 34???

<p>I took the test in Feb. Here is my score:</p>

<p>Composite: 29
English: 27 (unexpected!)
Math: 36 (expected!)
Reading: 23 (expected! English is my second language!)
Science: 30 (expected!)</p>

<p>As you see, my biggest weaknesses are English and Reading. I've tried several strategies, but none of them works well. Could you give me any advice to improve score in every subject???
I already did all the practice tests in the Red book. Should I do over again? Is there any book I should try to improve Reading and English score? I'm aiming for a 34 in April. Is it feasible?</p>

<p>Definitely feasible. (we aiming for the same score in April yo! XD) As an former-ESL I totally understand how hard english and reading could be, lol and that's why I chose the ACT instead of the tricky SAT. For English, lol I got a 25, and that brings me from a 33 to a 30. For reading, lol I got a 31 and my recommendation is to do lots of practice tests, ACT reading is really straightforward and once you understand the main point of the passage you will realize that every question is just asking the same thing over and over again.</p>

<p>Entirely possible! Those scores are excellent. The best way to prepare is to get one of this big, fat, ACT practice books and do every test. No joke. I wasn't very good at the ACT/SATs and had to study very hard in order to do well. After doing a buncha practice tests, I went from a 23 to a 28, which placed me in the 93rd percentile.</p>

<p>The best way to work on reading is to read the questions beforehand. Almost every question (except for a few) says "In lines 20-23..." Read through the questions, find those lines, and put brackets around them. That way, you'll know that pertinent information is within those brackets that will help you answer that question. That really upp'd my reading score by doing that.</p>

<p>English is really just a bunch of grammar, simple composition rules, and other stuff like that. When I read the questions and it asked for the word that best fit or the word that did not fit best, I just used context clues, the sound of the word (harsh or not harsh), any word-combos within the word (ex. I don't know what a hydrometer is, but it is obviously something dealing with water and measures something), etc. But because it's your second language, it might be a little bit tougher. Again, the best way to practice is just by doing all of the practice tests in those books. You will find patterns of questions and learn how to answer each type.</p>