<p>Hello! I am a junior at a private school with a 4.14 GPA with all honors and AP classes
(5.0 for A in AP, 4.5 for A in honors). I just got back the results of the September ACT and to say I was disappointed with the score is an understatement. I got a 21 composite and if you ask me, that score does not reflect the kind of student I am. I did take a class before taking the test but it was very large class size and did not offer me much help. Also, this was my first time and nerves got the best of me and timing was an issue as always. I have never been great at standardized testing, but if anyone can offer me insight into raising ACT score that would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Yeah, that score is really different from your GPA. But don’t worry; since you’re a junior, you still have bunch of time ahead. I’d say using prep books is more helpful than taking large-size classes. My suggestions are as follows (just personal advice though, feel free to disagree with me):</p>
<p>Buy the red book (Official Guide) and Princeton Review (both Cracking the ACT and 1296 Practice Questions).</p>
<p>First, use the Princeton Review Cracking the ACT, review the test format and start studying the English & Math sections. Make sure you practice through the way.</p>
<p>When it comes to Reading & Science, be aware. The strategies for these two sections do differ from person to person, and you don’t want to rely on the Princeton Review method — for example, their Science strategy worked for me, but Reading didn’t. You’ll have to discover your own way to tackle the test. And how? You do practice tests and find which way you can score better.</p>
<p>After finishing Cracking the ACT, go ahead and do 1296 Practice Questions. Some of the questions are a bit harder (and stranger, to be honest) than the actual thing. Do practice tests as if you’re doing a real test — time your self, turn off the distracting cell phone, etc. Then, score them, read the answers & explanations, and make notes to see how you can improve.</p>
<p>Next, you should be good to go. A few weeks before the test, move to the red book and quickly go through with the parts before the practice tests. Then, do the tests — they’re official tests, so they should be good predictors of how will you score on the real exam (although I found the red book was a bit easier). This time, pay very close attention to your weak subjects and try to improve them (by studying your own mistakes); meanwhile, learn to overcome test anxiety (this is a very important thing to do! Cracking the ACT and the red book have good advice on how to resolve this).</p>
<p>Now you should be very ready for the test. Before the test day, put your books away, just relax. You should be good to go.</p>
<p>Also, in this forum, there are a lot of threads that contain very useful advice. Be sure to read those. Good luck on your next test!</p>
<p>Sounded like you took the test without really knowing about the test. Good school grades doesn’t automatically tranlate to good ACT scores. Sadly you found out the hard way. Follow the above advice and you should be fine. By the way, since you are a junior, do lots of practice before you take the actual test. Those practice tests in the red book will give you a very good indication on how you’ll do on the actual ACT. Hopefully take it one more time and you’ll be done with it :)</p>
<p>@realchk I understand that good grades doesn’t necessarily mean a good act score. But I think that I have worked extremely hard in school thus far and I don’t want a low act score to keep me from getting into the schools of my choice (marquette, SLU, BC). And generally, honors and AP students usually score 27 and above at my school so I’m just trying to seek advice in how to achieve the highest possible act score for me. Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.</p>