So I recently got my score back on my ACT. I got a 30 after doing 5 practice tests and studying a little bit in a timeframe of 2 weeks. 32 on English, 31 math, 32 reading, 24 on science. This was my first time taking it. I really want a 34. I plan to study to this summer for the September ACT, but I was wondering what I should do to study? Also, how many hours should I study? Any good sites or places or any bits of advice/info would be appreciated. Anywhere to get help on science? Thanks
literally in the same boat as you, I’m trying to go from a 30 to a 34/35. Have you found any tips to improve score?
Im not sure if i’m qualified to answer your question but I got a 32 composite on the December 2014 exam. 34 on english, 31 on math, 33 on reading, 29 on science. I have done two practice test in a test like envrionment (mom was my proctor lol) and got 33((35, 34,34,30) and 34(35, 36, 33, 31)
English: theres not really a way to study. I found that doing timed sections repeatedly is the best way to master this section. Two weeks before my December exam, I did entire timed english sections everyday and saw consistent 34-35, and a 36 once. Never once went below a 34. Some tips to remember: The most concise answer is ALWAYS the right answer. This does not mean the shortest answer. Make sure the answer choice you choose does not leave out important information. Also, whenever there is a NO CHANGE answer choice, I noticed that it is the right answer almost everytime. Last but not least, learn your transition words. Spend a little time, learning what they really mean. There are questions where it asks you to choose the best transition word, and if you know what all of them mean then you are almost guaranteed to get them right. Btw im talking about words like nevertheless, likewise.
Math: practice sections until you run out. I wouldnt even bother spending time on the first 20 questions of the math section. The harder questions are in the back. Also, there are some weird questions like “how many different diagonals in a pentagon” and a lot of other questions were the answers can easily be memorized. Make sure you memorize the answers to these types of questions so you dont have to waste time. Also, certain types of questions have a certain way of working it out, so make sure you memorize how to solve them. I cant think of any right now, but as you do practice questions try to notice these types of questions, there are a lot. A little effort here can save you tons of time and youll get the question right, so make sure you spend a little time learning and recognizing these times of questions. Also, make sure you hit the easier problems once in a while just to refresh your mind. and DONT STRESS THE QUESTIONS IN THE BEGINNING. they are easy so dont overthink. I got a 31 which is kind of low, but there were some matrices problems which i hadnt learned yet at the time so unfortunately i missed those questions.
Reading: Again practice, practice, practice. There isnt really a way to “study” for reading, but here is how I approach reading. Read at a pace where you understand the gist of the passage, but dont read and try to memorize every little detail, there is no need for that. By getting the “gist” of the passage, understand the main idea, purpose, and get the big picture. For example, instead of focusing on little events that happen before the civil war, try to focus on what significance those events had as a whole. “dont zoom in on one thing too much”. If you read something you dont understand, ignore it and keep reading. If you understand the passage as a whole then the little details will make sense. For how fast to read, you have about 8.5 minutes per passage. Try to practice reading faster while still understanding the passage. For the questions, there is almost always a “what is the purpose or what is the main idea” question. These are easy so dont overthink. The best advice i ever got was “dont look for the right answer, look for what makes an answer wrong.” It makes it so much easier. Eliminate exaggerations, they are almost always wrong. If there is something in the answer choice that is never mentioned in the passage, eliminate it. Remember, if you get stuck skip it. There are other questions that you can answer, but make sure you bubble correctly. IF you happen to spend too much time on a passage, dont stress too much. another strategy that works for me is reading the first and last sentence of every paragraph. One thing i did once in a while was practice scanning the passage for information. There are questions where you are required to go back and find evidence, this is a really good drill: Get a partner. Both of you read the passage. Tell your partner to read out a line or important short scene without you looking. Make sure it is short. THen after your partner reads a line out, find that line as quickly as possible. This really helps during the exam. It took me no time to find evidence in a passage.
Science: This is my weakest section but I do have a few tips that might help. Ive found that no matter how much practice I did, my score did not change. Try not to overthink and dont spend too long on one question. I dont know why but i always got fustrated when it came to science. If i couldnt pick an answer, i would get irritated that I couldnt figure it out and time would fly by. So skip if you dont know. There are more easy problems than hard ones.
Main thing, DO NOT SPEND TOO LONG ON ONE QUESTION. the time will catch you so dont make this mistake. and just do as many practice sections as you can find. I just google, ACT practice test on google and there are some websites. I only click the PDF files since most of those are previous test or practice booklets made by the ACT. Obviously, you dont need to go all out right now since you have time but try to do a section a day. I do an actual practice test, once a month. This isnt necessary, but it does help with “stamina”. I wouldnt recommend doing multiple sections a day, instead I woulld focus on one section a day for now and dedicate my time towards trying to master the section and learn mistakes. As your test date approaches, maybe two weeks before the exam, I would start doing more practice sections. The repetition will help you gain a rhythm and you will gain a lot of confidence from doing so much practice. Personally, I did two sections a day. English and math were strongest for me so I always paired them with reading or science since those were the most challenging for me. Make sure you time yourself whenever you do a section. Dont cheat yourself on time, youre only hurting yourself. If you have problems focusing like I do, you might find it hard to concentrate for a long time, but just tell yourself it will be worth it. PRACTICE!
@heisenberg2016 awesome! this should help me out a lot! so far this summer I’ve been doing a sections a day, so I think I should probably focus more on a subject and get really good at it before moving on. Today I took a math part and I missed 9, and of the 9, 6 were dumb mistakes. I tend to make dumb mistakes instead of not knowing completely. any advice on that issue?
Dont focus ALL your time on one section. What I meant was, dont do a little of everything every day, but try to limit yourself to one thing a day at a time. You still want to be doing different sections everyday or you might forget things. For making dumb mistakes, I think you might be rushing because of time pressure. try to relax and think. Let your brain do the work, and youll get the right answer. I think rushing is the problem. You feel like you need to pick an answer or time will run out. Dont just pick an answer because thats what you think it is. Pick an answer and have confidence in your answer. Another issue might be messy work? or maybe no work? do you show your work? If you do, make sure its legible and organized. If you dont show your work, this might be an issue. Trying to do everything in your head or in the calculator isnt the best way to work out problems, unless they were extremely easy.
all in all, just try to relax. Work the problem out step by step, QUICKLY but accurately, not quickly and hurriedly. While working it out, make sure you’re confident in every step, and when you get a final answer, you will have the right answer. Also, READ THE ENTIRE PROBLEM. understand every part of the problem before answering.
Personally, when I made dumb mistakes, rushing was my problem. The time limit gave me a lot of pressure, and i just blew through the problems. Dont rush through. Just work at a fast but controlled pace. Also my friend had a weird problem. He was too confident while working problems. He would start working a problem out and he would be so confident that he would just miss the most obvious mistakes. When i say be confident, have faith in yourself, Trust your brain and concentrate. Hope this helps.
@heisenberg2016 yup it definitely did! my goal is to spend a few days on each section, and then after wards I’ll take tests to refresh all of them. sometimes I feel like when I work on everything in one day, I’m not really able to strategize and relax the best. that’s why I’m doing it section by section to make sure I’m correcting my mistakes and perfecting my strategies. Is that a good way to study for this summer? I’m definitely gonna practice full tests as well. I worked on reding today and I used your advice and my score increased drastically. I was also able to finish before time, so your advice really does help!
Right now I think that strategy is perfectly fine. Perfecting each section one at a time is definitely a good idea. But as you get closer to your test date, focus on the bigger picture. Practice every section instead doing English everyday for two weeks. Personally, I would just do one section a day, but multiple practice sections not just one. Then next day, do another section. Right now, I would find your weakest sections and practice those the most, but hit your strong sections as well, let’s say every week or so. Here’s how I studied during th school year for my December exam:
I did English sections every Monday and Friday. Math every Tuesday. Reading every Wednesday. Science every Thursday. Every other Saturday I did a practice test. I wouldn’t do a practice test the day before your exam btw. On the other Saturday’s I just worked on my weakest section. I stuck to the schedule for the most part but i did change it soentimes because it was during the school year so on nights before tests, I just worked on my strongest section.
If I may ask, how are you scores right now? @2016seniorga
my official act score right now is a 30
for my practice test:
2 days ago, i took a practice reading and missed 10 and got about a 28, after reading your tips, today i took another reading section and missed 5 and got a 32
math is just careless mistakes, i missed 9 yesterday, but 6 of them were careless mistakes
science i took last week and i missed 5
english i took last week as well and missed 9 i think, but normally i miss 6
I’m guessing all the dumb mistakes were in the first 30? I found that I was making a lot of dumb mistakes on easy questions (usually in the first 30), so for the June test I really worked on slowing down a bit and reading closer for the first 30. For my practice tests, it ended up being my best score and it was the only math test in which I had plenty of time at the end, despite the decrease in speed.
Also, try not to repeat sections of you can. Repeating a section that you already did will give you a sense of familiarity and false sense of confidence and you don’t want that on the real test. You want to be confident regardless of what the act throws at you. If you keep repeating sections, you won’t get better and you won’t learn anything so try to avoid it.
I would get princetons 1296 act questions book and the act red book and a bunch of previous tests online. If you can’t find a section that you’ve already done, that might mean you’re ready for the real test. Good luck. @2016seniorga
@heisenberg2016 haa i dont repeat any tests, I just take them once and move one to a fresh new one. and im currently working in the princetons 1296 one. i still have a another book to go through, and im going to buy more this wekeend
so sorry for the bad spelling and grammar
@Sizzleracn actually they were in the middle or last 20 questions haha
Well, that’s good that you at least know how to do the harder ones.
What is a good way to get my science score up?
Great info by the way
Science is my weakest question so I don’t have very good tips. Just don’t overthink it. The answer is always in the data somehow. You might to evaluate trends, relationships between data and graphs, etc but there will never be a question where you have to guess or pick the best answer. There will always be one answer and it will be in the data one way or another. @AnonUser12328