Hey Guys! I’m new here and I am desperate to find out tools and prep guides to help me boost my score on the act.
Okay, Firstly, I made a 21 Composite the first time I took it and from where I am from, that is very good, considering the people around me, usually makes 18’s. But as I see other composite scores nation wide and hear how colleges are competitive with other student with high Act scores, I know my previous score won’t do.
I want you guys to help me by giving me tips and recommending me to tools online and prep books, or anything really, to help me go from a 21 to at least a 25 or higher.
One of the most popular prep books is “The Official ACT Prep Guide, 2016 - 2017” by ACT. It’s available online, and you will also likely find it at your high school or city library.
There’s no secret to the study strategy:
Take practice tests to become very familiar with the question format and time constraints
Analyze results to determine what areas are most problematic
Study and practice in those problem areas. If you get stuck, ask parents/teachers/tutors for help.
You won’t see overnight results. Make a multi-week/multi-month study plan that balances your school work, extracurriculars, ACT prep, and social life / down time. With disciplined, focused effort you will see dramatic increases in your scores.
Good luck!
I recommend that you visit http://www.crackkact.com/ (type it with 1 k not 2… I had to put 2 k’s to get it past the censors) and use the many official tests to study. There are dozens of official released tests on the site so there is plenty of material. You should print them if you can and take it in one sitting to mimic real test conditions. I think that time is the biggest obstacle in the way of people attaining their target score so once you take it enough times you will learn to pace yourself. Also it is very important that you review your mistakes and learn from them so you don’t repeat them. A 25 composite score is very doable for you and I am sure if you work hard enough you can achieve. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me.
I have a few pieces of advice that really helped me, and I hope they could help you too! For background, my first score was a 30, and my second score was a 35. I think the test is difficult for sure, but there are definitely right and wrong ways to approach it.
First off, a huge key is finishing the test. It is a fast paced test with a lot of questions in a short period of time. It is crucial that you answer ever single question if you want a good score. If you don’t know something, spend a little bit of time narrowing down your options, then pick the best one. Taking a chance is better than skipping the question, despite the penalty for wrong answers. Mark it in your test book and go back to it only if you have time. A lot of my friends who got lower scores told me they weren’t able to complete each section of the test.
Second, a lot of the questions have formulas to them. For instance, the reading questions are very predictable. This is where the preparation books come in clutch. After practicing the questions in there, I understood how they would likely be phrased. That made it very easy to progress through the reading section methodically, and I ended up scoring a 36 in reading. There are very specific things the test is looking for in the reading section, and you just need to recognize what those things are and how to identify them.
Those are my two biggest pieces of advice. I guess a third one would be to keep calm. If you don’t know something, staring at it and stressing out won’t help. It will only waste time and lower your confidence for the rest of the test! Take some deep breaths, and give every question your best shot. Good luck!
