<p>It's about to be my senior year and I'm taking the ACT one last time in September. It's going to be my third time taking it. The first time I took it was in February and I got a 24 C (26 E, 26 M, 21 R, 22 S) and then my second time was in April and I got a 26 C (29 E, 27 M, 25 R, 24 S) with an 8 on both essays. My goal is to get a 30 or at least a 28. I guess it's not a huge deal since i want to go to UW but I feel like my test scores don't really match up with my gpa… I'm just a horrible test taker and it really showed with my SAT's. Anyways, I was planning on spending these next 2 months studying and some tips would be nice. I already have the red ACT book (I've used all the practice tests) and a couple books from the library like the Princeton Review. Thank you.</p>
<p>English- Your score is a good one especially considering the curve. My score wasn’t that much different than yours since I got a 32 in english. But always pick the most concise answer. Also make sure that you actually read the passages so you can answer the rhetorical skill questions. </p>
<p>Math- I got a 36 in math without much prep. I guess it really depends on the classes you have taken and the speed at which you answer the questions. I usually have alot of time at the end of the math to recheck all of my answers. Just do practice problems and see what you miss. Practice the topics you repeatedly miss. Work on speed and accuracy. Try not to rely on your calculator.</p>
<p>Reading- I honestly hate the reading section! Not much info I can give you with this except practice speed reading. Try to read lots of passages, whether it be from ACT prep books or news columns. You need to be able to read quickly while comprehending enough to answer the questions. Also, jot down the main jist of each paragraph so that you have reference tools
while answering the questions. I got lucky with reading when I took; I got a 32 with some lucky guessing. </p>
<p>Science- I love the science section! What worked best for me was being able to interpret the graphs and tables. Most of the questions can be answered without reading any of the introduction things. Always start with the questions unless it’s one of those passages without graphs and data. For those, just read everything. Just practice graph analyzing and you should be able to gain a lot of points. In the end, I got a 35 in science.</p>
<p>I kinda wrote alot and I hope it helps! Keep working at it and you’ll do well! Just put in the effort and the results will show!</p>
<p>a 36 on the math?! so jealous haha. and i totally hate the reading section too and i hate the science section even more. but i’ll definitely take your advice, very helpful 
thank you! @downhillskater91</p>
<p>I got a 32 on my first try, 33 on my second, and 34 on my third.
English- Always check for redundancy. Because we live in the age of word minimums on essays, our generation of writers gets extremely redundant in an attempt to write longer essays, so the ACT tests this extensively, as it tests common mistakes. I agree, if you don’t know, pick the shortest answer. Also watch out for pronouns that don’t have an antecedent or don’t match their antecedent. Those are tricky and easy to miss. I got a 35 on English my second and third tests. </p>
<p>Math- Oh, math. The section that made me have to retake the ACT twice. If there’s a “hint” on any problems (Hint: …), they’re giving you the exact formula to use for that problem. Math isn’t my expertise, so I can’t say much about it.</p>
<p>Reading- It all comes down to timing. Reading, in my opinion, would be the easiest section if test takers were given unlimited time. Almost no inference is necessary. Most answers are in the passage literally word for word. It’s just finding them in time. I disagree with the advice to jot anything down; you won’t have time, and the questions don’t usually have to do with the jist of the paragraph as much as they have to do with specifics from the passage (for example: “In line 10, the author claims that scientists disagree about the existence of ADHD because…” or “According to the passage, what creates the white color on top of mountains?”). I got a 35. </p>
<p>Science- Just look at the graphs and don’t waste time reading the intro. I think science gets overthought too much, and that’s why people don’t score so well on it. </p>
<p>Hate reading?</p>
<p>A couple quick tips (among the many I have):</p>
<p>The point/answer to the question will generally be in the first or last sentence of the paragraph, and the summary of the main topic will be in the first or last sentence of the first or last paragraph.</p>
<p>Also, if you get the adjective pair questions (something AND something, something OR something) describing the author’s tone, it will always (100%) be one of the AND ones. One will be positive, one will be negative. Choose the one that matches the author’s overall tone.</p>
<p>I have a few other tips too for this and other sections, but I’m too lazy to type them out - they’re long and I’m on my phone. Sorry :/</p>
<p>I got a 36, by the way.</p>
<p>Edit: one more crucial one: thick, hard to read paragraph? Skip it. There probably won’t be a question on it and it’s just there to slow you down.</p>
<p>how much time do you guys usually spend on each passage for the reading? @430ktk @aizwootler The timing is so stressful. Don’t know if I should read really carefully so I can answer the questions easily or read quickly so I have enough time for the questions. And thanks for your guy’s advice </p>
<p>@goblazers </p>
<p>You have 40 minutes, so 10 per section.</p>
<p>Skim it, make sure you know what each paragraph’s about, and then go back after you get to the questions. Like I said, you can generally ignore those outlier paragraphs that are really thick because they most likely won’t have a question about them. That, and first and last sentences of the paragraph in question should give you the answer.</p>
<p>Hold up. You only have 35 minutes for reading. So you have closer to 8 minutes per section. Knowing that timing specifically can help. I know someone who raised his composite score two points just by timing himself on the reading passages. Also, there are always the same four genres of passages (social studies, natural sciences, prose fiction, and humanities). Take a few reading practice tests. Generally, kids are better at some genres than others (for me, the natural sciences was my easiest section and the humanities section was the hardest). Use your scores for each passage to determine which genres you’re the best at, and rank them 1-4. Do the passages on the test in that order, that way, if you run out of time and are stuck guessing, it’s for a passage that you might not have known the answers to anyways. I usually spent about 4 minutes reading the passage and 4 minutes answering the question.</p>
<p>I never really thought to do them in a specific order, thank you so much! @430ktk</p>
<p>The same thing about order applies to the Science section. With the exception of the hypotheses paragraph, all experiments either have 5 or 6 questions. The 5 question experiments are usually easier, so I always did those first and then went back and did the 6 question experiments. Also, do the hypotheses paragraphs last, since reading is not your strong suit.</p>