ACT Tips, Tricks, Secrets, and Experiences from a First-Time 36er

Test Preparation ACT Preparation
21

Thanks for this…it was so helpful!

22

I got a 33 on the first red book practice test, then a 35 on the second test. I’m taking the February test. Do you think my score will be around that range? I’m hoping for a 34+.

23

@meaa7130 Did you take your practice tests under timed conditions?

24

@HereToHelpYou‌ yeah I timed myself properly.

Also, I just took a practice test yesterday and got a 34 (from the red book)

25

Thank you so much and congrats on your 36. Hopefully I can finally get a 33 on this February test!!!

26

If you got your writing scores back, do you think there are any more tips for the writing section?

27

@autris I got my writing score back; I got a 10. Because I quite frankly don’t understand (or respect) the scoring of the essay section on the ACT and SAT, I can’t really give more than what I already mentioned. I do think that length unfortunately is a key factor though.

28

@hscruiser Thanks! Great job on your 10! I’ll try the advice you gave for it. I have tons of room for improvement.

29

Does anyone have any good tips for the reading section? I always seem to run out of time. I took the February ACT and limited myself to 8 minutes a passage, but struggled to answer the questions efficiently.

30

@meaa7130‌ In my Red Book, I took four of the tests (29, 33, 34, & 34, respectively), and I got a 33 on my actual ACT

31

Is it possible to increase a composite score from 25 to the 30’s??

32

@ronin24 Yes, it’s possible. Again, the best strategy really is just practice.

33

how many hours per day should we practice?

34

@ronin24 That really depends on how much practice you actually need. I can tell you that I probably did around 2 hours of prep every week for the ~8 weeks before my test, doing 2-3 sections per week. This isn’t much compared to the amount of prep a lot of people do, though.

35

Ok! See my composite score was a 25.

Subscores:
Math - 27/36
Science - 25/36
English - 23/36
Reading - 24/36

Could you give me a sample score that could possibly launch my composite scores into the 30’s. Please. Any kind of organized schedule would help

36

@ronin24 It seems like all four sections are clustered around your composite score, which means you need about the same amount of prep in each section. I’d suggest working through some whole tests and go from there. It really depends on how quickly you learn, so I can’t provide a schedule really.

37

Thanks so much!

38

Hi! I’m currently a freshman and am starting to look into the act. I’m planning on taking the act either mid sophomore year or early in junior year. Is it too early to start studying? I took the practice test from the act website and got a composite of 28.

39

@sewin2music I don’t think any time is “too early,” just take the test when you’re ready. Since you’re only a freshman, you could probably get it over with next year and then have one less thing to worry about junior year.

40

Thank you for sharing. I have a few questions:

  1. Math: If I take my first ACT in Dec of junior year, I will only be half way through my Pre-Cal. What other content is in the ACT math besides algebra 1,2 and geometry 1,2? Self study?
  2. Science: do I need to review the content learned in Grade 9,10 bio, chem, or is it enough just being able to read and interpret graphs.
  3. Reading: are there rarely-seen vocab in the test like SAT? How to prepare for the reading section?
    Thank you.