Hi Everyone! I am going to be taking the ACT in September so I have about 2 months of studying to do. I want to get at least a 33 and I am starting to do some practice. Is it possible to get a 33 for a beginner in just 2 months? What books should I definitely buy? How should I study? Also any helpful tips? Thanks so much!
The red ACT prep book has some old exams as its prep tests. It’s definitely possible for a “beginner” to get a 33 in just two months. People work at and learn at different paces, but I studied for maybe <8 hours the day before the June ACT and got a 34 composite. (: I used the red book to study.
And a tip on how to get through the science section quicker: don’t try to deep read all of the info they give you per passage. Skim so you know what’s going on (spend maybe 2 minutes max) and then start on the problems. There are a lot of passages to go through for the science section. This method doesn’t apply for the conflicting viewpoints section. Make sure to read those with a close eye.
Good luck on the September ACT! I’ll be retaking with that ACT as well. Hopefully I’ll be able to increase my score with some more prep and less procrastination, aha.
ZanZan, it all depends what your current score is. 33 in two months is certainly possible–for example, I helped one student go from a 25 to 33 in three weeks last year. Was that an exception? Absolutely, but he worked hard with the right strategies and review system. The main thing to improving is NOT to simply do practice test after practice test. That’s why so many students can go through a program and take 20 full-length tests and hardly budge a point.
It’s like weight loss – part of that process is stepping on the scale to see how much you weigh, but weighing yourself doesn’t help you lose any weight. Taking a practice test is like stepping on the scale. It will tell you what you weight (what your current score is), but it won’t help you improve. The key is dieting and exercising in between practice tests, so that means thorough review.
Most people think that going over the questions they got wrong means “review.” That is sloppy studying and highly ineffective. You have to analyze WHY you got the question wrong, then find similar questions (Google or study books will have tons of similar problems) and master them all.
Bruce Lee once said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks. I fear the man who has practiced a kick 10,000 times.” Apply this to your review. Don’t try to do superficial, light review of 50 questions you got wrong because they are all likely different concepts. You will only gain a very shallow understanding of those concepts, so you will likely still get similar questions wrong in the future (so your score won’t improve). Instead, focus on mastering only a FEW concepts at a time. It’s far better to be a master at some than mediocre at all.
Also, do not discount careless mistakes. For a 33, careless mistakes are killer and probably cost people 2-5 points. They are easy to ignore because there’s nothing to really “learn” – you already know the academic concept. But somehow you still got the question wrong. That means you need to figure out WHY that happened – do not chalk it up to careless. Do not just tell yourself to be more careful because that never works. Instead, you must take PHYSICAL steps to correct it.
For example, did you try to skip steps and combine two negative signs in your head? Like 3 - (-2)? But somehow you messed that up and thought the answer is 1? Negative signs cause tons of careless errors. Did you solve 2x - 5 = 10 by subtracting (instead of adding) 5 to both sides? Did you mess up radius vs diameter, area vs perimeter, square vs square root? Put physical steps in place to prevent these errors–maybe that means showing your work, maybe that means labeling your answer choices, or perhaps that means circling key words.
Do not do haphazard studying where you just scan over some notes and blindly do a million practice questions. You must slowly identify your enemies (hard concepts), then systematically master them one by one. Go deep before you go broad. Good luck!
Definitely invest in a prep book. I got The Real ACT prep book (which comes with 4 practice tests) and checked out the Up My Score prep book from my library - kinda like the Shmoop of the test prep world.
I recommend sitting down for at least 3 practice tests. And don’t do them at home. Find a quieter, more test-like place. I did mine at my library on a Friday we have off school.
Don’t burn yourself out, but set up a schedule for regular practicing. Maybe an hour a day on week days? Up to you. I didn’t do this, but I should have.
Good luck 