<p>How to really study for Reading and Science? I mean, English and Math are bearable as procedural, but Reading and Science involve skills. Add to the dilemma the limited time given (35 minutes for 40 questions each). Are there any effective, tried-before ways to prepare for those exams? I always get so many wrong questions and just can't improve. Xiggi does not mention them, and @Jeandevaches' guide isn't that clear in describing them and is too general, and I obviously don't have his brain in my head.</p>
<p>I went from 24 to 33 in reading… It can be done. I guess I guess I just practiced. Try to get used to the format of the test. It might be a good idea for you to try a few practice portions without time constraints, and/or you can try a test with the normal time limit and review its questions thoroughly before you proceed to grade it… The goal is to see what trips you up. </p>
<p>So how did you practice, specifically? I am having precious time this summer and I’d like to improve greatly, and you here are a bliss in ACT Reading. Did you do official or synthetic practice tests? </p>
<p>You said to practice science without time constraints. Problem is that the problems, as said before, aren’t procedural. They are different each time with different wordings and different charts. Not something to memorize how to do, like in math when one formula can solve a multiple array of questions.</p>
<p>I practiced from the red book and both of the princeton review books (which are awesome btw)… So synthetic and real. I found the princeton review practice tests were more challenging than the real tests, but they were really really really really really really helpful.
The science portions usually use drastically diverse content, so you’d think your only advantage would be your knowledge of science, but you’d be surprised how helpful familiarizing yourself with the test can be. I believe one’s ability to do well on the science portion can totally be improved… almost like sight reading with a musical instrument… actually, exactly like site reading with a musical instrument… Your ability to recognize what information you’re supposed to get out of the passages can be improved with familiarization, therefore practice. Likewise, your ability to quickly recognize how the information will applied to the questions can be improved with practice. It may take slowing it down and learning about your thought process and how it gets thrown off… Or it may be practicing the little easy tips you’ll get from the princeton review book… No matter what, it’ll probably take some time and some experimentation, but it probably won’t happen the same way it happened for me or anyone else.
Get the princeton review books; you’ll get a lot of advice and study tips. The most helpful thing for me was really basic: do the five-question passages first, then the six-question passages, then the seven-question passage (note that the five-question passages are the easiest, and the seven-question passage is usually the hardest).
I guess what I said about science holds true for reading: practice and familiarization are key. Oh yeah and timing is big, but don’t rush yourself right away: build up the pace gradually, or you’ll make the same mistakes over and over again (like with a tough musical passage!).<br>
I think you’ll be surprised how procedural the reading and science portions really are.</p>
<p>How did you do on the essay?</p>
<p>well, I guess: I got a 10</p>
<p>BeCambridge, its not clear from your question, but are you able to do well on these passages with unlimited time? </p>
<p>If you get things write with unlimited time:
Then you just need to start practicing with a timed test to push yourself to faster speeds. </p>
<p>If you are still missing problems with unlimited time:
Then you need to work on your ability to find evidence from the passage that supports your claim. These sections are actually more procedural than you might think, the answers always correspond to the text. When I am teaching I underline each element of the question and answer and the corresponding element that supports it in the text. Check out my youtube channel <a href=“Benjamin Haley - YouTube”>1</a> for examples of this.</p>
<p>hth,</p>
<p>Ben</p>
<p>Not unlimited time, either. I am not a fan of science and never took any rigorous courses (as my high school is mediocre). Yet I have a future interest in it. I tried familiarizing myself with it, but it’s the language I don’t get.</p>
<p>Can you give some examples. What’s a sentence with language that you don’t understand?</p>
<p>Like a cube with 2.0 threads, suspended, and with 1 atm of atmospheric pressure.</p>
<p>Hmm, yeah that is a confusing sentence. Is that from one of the official practice exams? I tried to look up the the question for context, but I couldn’t find it.</p>
<p>Anyways, without any context here’s how I would interpret the sentence if I didn’t know all of the vocabulary they used:</p>
<p>“There’s an object suspended between two threads with 1 unit of pressure.”</p>
<p>Often we don’t have to know exactly what the details of the experiment mean, just a general sense of it. We don’t have to know what an ‘atm’ is or even exactly what atmospheric pressure is.</p>
<p>I don’t know exactly what questions were asked for this setup. But to give a related example. Say I told you that someone dove 20,000 leagues under the sea. They descended at a rate of one league per minute. How many minutes did it take?</p>
<p>In this example you don’t have to know what a league is. You simply have to realize that if you are moving at 1 league per minute then 20,000 leagues will take 20,000 minutes. A lot of the science questions are like that.</p>
<p>It is on PR. I don’t really care if I got a low score on it, since it’s not the Real one. However, it turned out that the question asked which one would change the speed. I should have already assumed that I cannot change the variables. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t use the Princeton Review, so its hard for me to comment. But it sounds like the quality of the questions might be a little low.</p>
<p>Hello, I’m new to this. I got a 19 on the Act Science. How do I improve my score to be higher? </p>
<p>Guitartrombone, did you happen to use the English & Reading Workout for the ACT or the 1,296 ACT Practice Questions? Do you have an idea which one is more accurate and better to practice from?</p>
<p>@Pbs1126 good, question, but it deserves its own thread. Click “New Discussion” at the top of the page to start one.</p>
<p>I used the English & Reading Workout to practice , which I feel it’s better. I’ll be taking my Act Oct.25. So I have 13 wks to Study. I really want a good high score. </p>