<p>I am a junior in a rural town in NM. I have taken the ACT along with many ACT and SAT practice tests. Each test, I get upper 30's and 700+'s on the English, Math, and Science (ACT) sections. However, my scores get pulled down because of the Reading Comprehension section.</p>
<p>Coming from a rural town, I don't have any private tutoring options. I've tried some online test prep courses, but they haven't helped enough. My high school is not inclined to academics, and so the teachers aren't used to helping higher-end students hers. I keep taking practice tests and don't seem to improve too much each time I take one. I just feel that I've run into a dead end...</p>
<p>Are there any ways or strategies (prep books, sylvan classes, or other things like that) you all know that can really help my reading comprehension scores?? It would really help test scores and college admissions if I could boost my reading scores.</p>
<p>Thanks for viewing and please reply!!!</p>
<p>There are two ways to really improve:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take the questions and answer choices apart. What makes each answer choice wrong? Start a spread sheet, mapping the answer choices, listing why they are wrong and why they are attractive. Do they use words from the passage? Do they contain an unrelated idea (i.e., the passage was about monarch butterflies, but the answer is about swallowtails)? Do they appeal to your prior experience or beliefs? Also map out the right answers. What characteristics do they share? (I can tell you—they use synonyms for the words from the text, they are more general, they will contain ALL of the important ideas–instead of one or two, and they are defendable using the passage). Once you take three or four tests apart, you should start to see some patterns. Concentrate most on the questions you miss.</p></li>
<li><p>Buy a book that has already done this. As an author, I’m not allowed to make recommendations for specific books, but find one that cites patterns among the wording of the questions and among the content of the answer choices.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck!</p>