<p>I am a junior and I have taken the ACT 3 times (once as a sophomore and twice this year). I have studied my butt off and used the red book, Barrons and the Princeton review and the scores have been identical. I haven't been able to score above a 25 and I need a 30 before June. I am a recruited athlete so the pressure is definitely their. I put in 30 minutes 4-6 days a week for 2 months leading up to the test and I take a practice test every other week. I am scoring a 28 on the practice test but can't pull it together for the actual test. I am usually a really good test taker and I have the GPA to back it up. I am extremely frustrated and am desperate to pull my scores up. Any ideas?</p>
<p>The ACT is a learnable test, lets get that straight. By being a recruited athlete I’m sure you’ve, on countless occasions, pushed passed pain and put in that extra mile during practice to get where you are today. Stay focused and with the same mentality you can beat the ACT. If 30 minutes a day is not enough then you have to step up the effort. It may seem tough, maybe even impossible but if you have a certain goal in mind you need to make sacrifices to achieve it. Take my case for example. I am a devoted swimmer on my team, (not recruitment level mind you but i’m getting better each day), in order to swim this year i made huge sacrifices. I gave up my fall sport cross country and even missed out at homecoming. But the satisfaction of getting a 35 on the ACT was well worth any sacrifice i made and more, and you can do the same.</p>
<p>Like Buggu618 said, the ACT is definitely a learnable test. What subscore are you struggling most with? Personally, I would focus on one subject at a time and nail it down to where I’m scoring 2 points above my target score. It’s really important you review where you’re getting tripped up. Do you run out of time? Is one type of question really stumping you? Slowly but surely you will improve. I would suggest taking entire section tests from the 1296 Princeton Review book in one sitting. Then practicing even more with the Princeton Review subject workbooks. Don’t answer ten questions now and then in the afternoon ten more. You want to simulate the test day as close as you can. Timing is key! Save the Red Book tests for the weekends and take them as the entire full three hour test. I got 36 on all four sections and something that helped me out in Math and English a lot is staying in the ACT mode at all times. When you speak to your friends notice grammatical errors. When doing math homework, make sure you know exactly how to do the problems. Hope this helps. Feel free to Private Message me for any more advice! Good luck!</p>
<p>What classes are you currently in? Trig is really needed for the math section.</p>
<p>30 minutes a day of studying barely allows you to get in the right frame of mind before you are done. My S is taking advantage of school holidays as well as weekends. He doesn’t like doing it, but knows it is important.</p>
<p>If you have any “how to” ACT books (not books with tests in them), then go read those before you go to bed. Read through an entire chapter. Maybe you want a test to refer to, to understand what they are explaining, but usually they will have examples.</p>
<p>What happens if you don’t achieve your score?</p>
<p>I just finished a semester of trig so I was expecting the Math score to be better (27). 30 was the target score coaches from the Ivy+ NESCAC schools. The other schools said that a 30 mixed with the athletic scholarship is almost a full ride. I am changing up the studying strategy for the February test. 3 hour blocks 3 days a week and 45 min blocks every day. It’s a little over the top but I can make time and my test scores are the only thing holding my academic profile back.</p>
<p>Hi boggy2019-Have you considered hiring a tutor? In normal circumstances, for a student that is self-motivated (like you seem to be), a tutor is probably not necessary (and I know it can be pricey). However, if you are looking at a full ride scholarship in exchange for a specific score, I would think the tutor may be worth it. A good tutor should be able to pinpoint the areas to concentrate on that would give you the most benefit. There may be tweaks you can make that you are not even aware of. Good luck to you.</p>