Hi! I am taking the ACT this Saturday, and I have a few questions for anyone who would like to answer:
For background, I am a junior and this will be my third time taking it. I will also take the PSAT (official national merit qualifying one) next Tuesday. I took the ACT my freshman year and got a 33 (35 reading, 34 English, 32 science, 29 math) and again my sophomore year and got a 35 
(32 reading, 36 English, 35 science, 35 math).
My main question is about reading. As you can see, my score went down, which is the opposite of what I would expect. Also, in my PSAT practice tests, my score was borderline for what would qualify me for National Merit if it was real, and almost all of my missed questions were in the reading section. It is odd to me because when testing for the gifted program in 8th grade, I scored pretty high in math but very very high in reading, so I don’t know why reading is now consistently my lowest-scoring subject. I know one probable cause of my score getting lower is that in middle school and my freshman year of high school, I consistently read for fun. However, my workload then was nothing compared to now, and I just don’t have time anymore. My English teacher said that was probably why. I tried to read more in general over the past few weeks, but is there anything else that I could do to help bring my score up? I know a 35 is a great score, but it is so close to a 36 and I’m genuinely worried about not making the cutoff for being a National Merit Semifinalist because of the reading section.
Thanks!!
With a 35, why are you taking the ACT test again?
It sounds like you have been taking PSAT practice tests so that’s great because ACT reading and SAT reading are quite different. You can use Khan Academy to do a deep dive into the questions your are missing on the PSAT tests. Good luck.
I’m required by my school or state (not sure which) to take it this spring (since I’m a junior) unless I get a 36 anyway, so I figured since I’m taking the PSAT I’ll be studying a lot of the same stuff so I may as well. I’ll admit there is a little bit of a pride thing with getting a 36. If I don’t and my score stays at a 35, I won’t be upset though.
One more question, how are the SAT and ACT reading different? The only thing I’ve noticed is that I had a huge amount of extra time on the SAT reading and only a little on the ACT reading. Is time the only difference?
Yes, there are more differences in the reading sections than just the time per question (ACT gives 53 seconds/question, SAT 75 seconds). Total reading time on the SAT is 65 minutes/52 questions, ACT is 35 minutes/40 questions.
Other differences:
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SAT has 5 reading passages, while ACT has 4.
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Average SAT reading section grade level is 13.5 (also more words per sentence, on average), while ACT avg grade level is 11.5.
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SAT also incorporates graphs and/or charts in 2 of the 5 reading passages, while ACT only uses graphs and charts in the science section.
Thank you!