<p>So I just took the ACT today (our district provided it for free which is why its on a different day than the national thingy) and everything was great except for the science section!! Does anyone know how to do well on science because I've taken AP chem as a sophomore, and in IB bio right now, and me, and a kid who got a 5 on the AP chem test as a sophomore found it really difficult?</p>
<p>The biggest mistake I made was reading all the stuff before I started answering questions. Just go straight to the questions (maybe read the intro). First, since the material is presented in full, they give you alot of **** you don't need. Also, every question will make it clear what to look for, and they even tell you which diagram/graph/chart/etc. to use sometimes.</p>
<p>Science was my best section and I can say that as long as your fairly proficient at reading/undestanding data from graphs and tables, you can answer almost every question without reading all the material.</p>
<p>I cannot support what zdup said enough. Unless you are a very above-average speed reader, do not waste time reading the experiments. The questions are very specific in what to look for.</p>
<p>The "Science" section really is not much on science so having AP Chem and IB Bio does not mean anything except doing well in those type of courses indicate an ability to do well on the ACT test. The best prep is do practice tests. Many do so-so on science the first time they take the test mainly because (a) they expect it to test knowledge of science and it really doesn't, and (b) it is different from what they are use to doing on tests and without prep they struggle including because of the time element involved.</p>
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they expect it to test knowledge of science and it really doesn't
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<p>wrong. On the ACT I took, we had to identify phases of mitosis with very meager if any description of what each phase looks like. It seems as though they've made it a lot harder from last year because that same guy who got a 5 on the AP chem test got a perfect score on the plan, which is a smaller version of the ACT, but is pretty sure he did bad on it this time.</p>
<p>WHAT??? The AP Chemistry Test in no way compares to the format and structure of the Science Reasoning part of the ACT..... they're both totally different tests...</p>
<p>And getting a 36 on the Science Reasoning has nothing to do with how strong of a background you have in science. A lot of my friends are in AP Chem, have taken AP Bio, and still struggle to get a 28. Science Reasoning is more a test of how well you can pick information from graphs and charts and how good you are at analyzing given information.</p>
<p>even tho u can skip reading the passages w/ charts and graphs, i still have a problem w/ the conflicting viewpts of theories, where no charts are provided, any1 have any tips for those?</p>
<p>For those you have to read the questions and read as much as you have to. You can't really get around reading for that one.</p>
<p>okay, I think the reason you guys aren't agreeing with me is possibly because you haven't seen the latest addition of the ACT. Yes, there still is a majority (about 90%) of it IS interpreting graphs. But if you aren't satisfied at just getting 90% (like me), then you will probably notice that the ACT now actually does involve background knowledge. Again, I point to the example in which they asked to identify prophase and metaphase in mitosis by only giving very meager information about it. There were also some tricky concepts like diffusion that you don't learn unless you have taken an upper-level science class. I know you'll argue that diffusion is simple, and it is, but some people haven't been exposed to it, and thus will not be able to answer the question. Its just how addition is an easy concept, but how will a 3 year old who doesn't know numbers be able to answer 1 + 1? Times have changed; the ACT is rapidly becoming known as the "easy way out" and gaining popularity. Its possible they saw the science as being too easy, and thus altered it for this year, so please don't automatically rule out what I'm saying, or simply ignore what I said just because you've taken it before.</p>
<p>Sorry, I probably sound like a jerk, but I'm really really stressed out right now.</p>