<p>I got a 26 on my April ACT test. I'm disappointed but not really shocked since I panicked on the reading section and that somewhat dragged onto the science (two lowest scores). Subscores: M 29, E 26, R 22, S 25.</p>
<p>I REALLY want a 30+ and have already bought two ACT prep books: The Real ACT Prep Guide (red book) and Barron's 36. </p>
<p>I will take the ACT test in september. </p>
<p>What I want to know is if such an improvement is possible. If you want, please tell me your improvements or ones that you've heard of. </p>
<p>I don’t really have some inspirational story about how I did it. I just took it 5 times throughout my Junior and Senior year. I finally got the 31 when I took it in October of my Senior year, the last score accepted at the school I wanted to attend. Best of luck! I truly believe just taking the test often gets you the best score. Unless you don’t understand some of the concepts on the ACT. Which isn’t usually the case. It’s just getting used to the format and timing in my opinion.</p>
<p>Yeah, such an improvement shouldn’t be much of a problem. The first time taking the ACT will probably be your worst if you’re unfamiliar with the test and aren’t comfortable taking it. The succeeding trials should be better as you’ll be more relaxed and able to test better. I personally went from a 26 -> 35 over the course of 8th grade -> end of junior year. My scores, in chronological order, are 26, 30, 33, 35. </p>
<p>In my opinion, the way to improve is to familiarize yourself with the test more. You should be experienced in pacing yourself and reading the passages with ease. You can Google for readings that are similar to the types of readings on the ACT. With practice you should be able to read the passages much quicker and you won’t run out of time (the last time I took the ACT I actually had an excess of time, around 5-10 minutes, on each of the sections. this will just come with practice).</p>
<p>Also, there are lots of ways that you can improve your test taking speed. </p>
<p>For the reading section, the first few times taking the ACT I would read the passages first and then read the questions afterwards. This proved to be very wasteful of time, for me. I found that reading the questions (other than the first question for each passage) and then going back to the passages to find the answer was much more time efficient. The questions are usually very simple and easy to find. You simply locate where it’s mentioned in the passage and find the answer. The reason for not doing this for the first question is that the first question is generally a “main idea” question, which you cannot answer until you finish with the passage. However, simply answering the other questions for the passage will generally give you enough of an understanding to answer the first question with ease. </p>
<p>The same is true for the science section; most of the questions are just asking you to read a graph. Try reading the questions first for the reading and science section; I’m sure you’ll find yourself less constrained with time, which is one of the key factors holding people back in the ACT.</p>
<p>I went from a 26-29 (taking it again and hope to score in the 32-34 range). Practice tests. Lots of them (about 20). Princeton has the best in my opinion. A little harder than the actual, but I’d much rather be over prepared than under-prepared. Kaplan was the worst, easier than the actual. Barron’s Perfect 36 was one of the most helpful books I bought, but the more you read the better. I would put more effort into writing this reply but I know there are several CC’ers who’ve already written mini booklets on the subject AND have scored in the 34-36 range. I found one for you, here’s a link: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/act-preparation/1071765-jeandevaches-guide-act.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/act-preparation/1071765-jeandevaches-guide-act.html</a></p>
<p>I went from a 34 on the February exam to a 35 on the April exam. I did absolutely nothing before or after the first exam. I only took the test twice because my counselor recommended such.</p>