<p>Hi, so I'm looking at schools a little below the Ivies (Wash-U, Rice, Tufts, etc.). I took the ACT last April, my score is holding me back (or at least I think I could do better), and I'm retaking it 12/8. Here were my scores back then:</p>
<p>As I prepare to retake it, obviously the focus has been on Reading and Science. Science, I've managed to get my times down and my scores better through practice. Reading, on the other hand...</p>
<p>I just don't get it. My scores just aren't getting better. I get that there's a "limit," but I'm a pretty smart dude, and reading has never been a problem for me. As I grade my own work, all I can think is, "How am I botching this? Half of these questions are answered nearly word-for-word in the text." </p>
<p>I just can't retain information from the text if it's not something I can relate to or take interest in (Example: Most recent practice, I did really well on passages about Star Trek and dinosaurs, did terrible on one about immigration). And my times are terrible. I'm consistently taking 40-45 minutes on practice sections- on the real thing, the proctor said, "5 minutes remaining" at the exact same time as I was flipping to the fourth section. So, yeah. Anyone got any ideas?</p>
<p>I scored a 28 on the reading this past October so I might not be much more qualified than you are, but my advice is that the ACT tries to confuse you a lot by throwing out answers that sound right, but aren’t completely correct. They have to be completely supported by the text, but they aren’t always going to be word for word. They like to “camouflage” answers, if you will. (Princeton Review explains this in more depth in their book)
Also, if you come across a question that has two answers that contradict each other, its going to be one of those two. As for retaining information, you don’t have to! Read the questions, underline key words in the questions and underline those key words in the passage when you come across them (assuming that your speed is already meeting the time limits). That way you don’t have to waste time re-reading the passage or trying to recall information from the extremely boring passages they put in. </p>
<p>If you need more help, I suggest reading Princeton Review’s Cracking the ACT reading section, because it is excellent and helped me score consistently on the reading section rather than getting 29 one time and getting 21 another on practice tests. Good luck!</p>
<p>The easiest way to improve is to read. Read higher level material. It helps. Also, I know people taking speed reading courses. Most people read about 300 words a minute, I know someone who went from 400 to 800 words a minute with a course. Also. I find it detrimental to read the questions beforehand. Whatever works for you, but time doesn’t always allow for that.</p>