<p>Hi, I'm an upcomming junior in high school preparing for the ACT.</p>
<p>Are there any good tips for scoring well on the science section on the ACT?
I feel like I'm okay if the passage is something I have studied before in science class and if it's something interesting, but if there are many big words and definitions and many numbers I feel very intimidated.
I practice by timing myself to see if I can finish each section in 5 minutes, but the intimidating passages, I don't get on time. I usually do better with the passages involving graphs than on the passages involving conflicting views.<br>
Some prep books say to keep reading and move on, even if you don't completly understand the material, but I find that this just trips me up on the questions.</p>
<p>It helps to skip the passage and look straight at the charts and graphs then move to the questions. If it is really impossible to answer some questions then go ahead look back at the passage.</p>
<p>I recently got a 35 on the science section and I would urge you to not follow the above advice. What worked for me is to read EVERYTHING first, but not highly in-depth. Get a feel for what the charts represent, read the passage accompanying the charts, and then move on to the questions. The questions almost always REQUIRE you to look back at the charts, and since you understand the charts now you can answer the questions.</p>
<p>Read past the scientific lingo, and focus on the numbers and the information pertaining to the questions. Correlations are key.</p>
<p>I guess practice is key; you need to know which details to skip and which not to. Reading the whole background and deciphering the charts and graphs get very time-consuming. I got a 35 on the science section, and I think I would’ve got a 36 if I hadn’t ran out of time.</p>
<p>You don’t really need much prior knowledge in science on the ACT. Sure, it helps, but all the answers you need can be derived from the passages and charts. It’s mainly reading comprehension with a science theme. Time management is key, because there’s a lot of confusing (at least to me) stuff to comprehend and interpret in very little time.
Personally, it helped me more to read the passages first, then the questions, then go back and skim the passages for the answer. I’m a quick reader though, and if you aren’t you might run out of time. And with charts/graphs I would normally just go to the questions first then look at the chart.</p>
<p>Conflicting Viewpoints: I prefer to read researcher 1’s portion, and answer all the questions pertaining to researcher 1 only. Then I go back to researcher 2, and answer the questions pertaining to that researcher only. The questions that require knowledge of both researchers I answer last. A lot of the time I get confused who believe what when I go back and forth between questions, so this separation helps me keep each researcher straight and I don’t have to go back and reread so much. I do really well on this section if I have plenty of time - but horrible if I’m rushed. So I always do this first on practice tests, to ensure I have plenty of time. </p>
<p>The other two types of passages I look briefly at the charts/graphs and the labels on the axis and whatnot, maybe read some background info. No more than 30-40 seconds on this. Then I jump to the questions, and do the ones that reference a specific chart/graph. Those take relatively little time and are fairly easy if you just look at the information given. </p>
<p>I tend to better on the passages with material I’ve seen before/am comfortable with and really get tripped up those with a lot of jargon. The best solution I have to that is rather obvious… get comfortable with the material! I don’t have room in my schedule to take more science classes… so I read the science section on news websites. The articles are similar to what you’d see on the ACT and it honestly helps me feel more comfortable. It doesn’t help with answering questions, but it allows you remain confident and not get tripped up by jargon.</p>