Any suggestions to improve my reading score from a 21 to a 26-28
Hey! I’m not sure if this will be helpful, but it was definitely helpful to me:
– Read the entirety of the first paragraph
– Read the first and last sentence of all other paragraphs
– Read the entirety of the last paragraph
This gives you a general idea of how the story begins, the information provided in each paragraph, and how the story concludes. I rose ELEVEN points using this strategy (I went from a 21 to a 32). Apparently, they tell you not to do this, but, hey, it worked for me, so I figured I might as well mention it.
I also:
– Did NOT read the answer choices for the questions. I would actually cover up the choices and make my own interpretation of the answer to the question then pick the one that sounded closest to mine.
– After I finished reading, I looked through the questions rather quickly to see if there were any “In line 62, the author…” questions to which I needed to go back and underline/pay special attention.
I really hope this helps you! It’s all about trial and error! 
@kalons Thank you, I’m been trying that, but just skimming the whole passage and I recently got a 26 on practicing. Hopefully, I can get that score tomorrow.
Taking the ACT for the first time tomorrow :((
taking it for the first time as well tmrw! Best of luck to everybody
Anyone know if lead pencils are allowed??
@junior1818 you can’t use mechanical pencils
Just finished thank god it’s over
Dear lord that math
Took it today. Felt like it wasn’t too bad. Aiming for at least a 32 composite. Kept taking old ACT tests and scoring 32-33+ on every section for studying (timed obviously). Reading>Science>English>Math in terms of difficulty for me. Finished every section in time but had to rush on the last 3 for reading.
did anyone think the math was harder than usual
Difficulty Rank from Hardest to Eastiest, in my opinion:
– Math
– Reading
– Science
– English
Math: I ALWAYS struggle from around question thirty-five onwards. However, I think my overall math score went up, so I’m praying for the best in that category. Expecting a 27-28.
Reading: Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be as rigorous as it was. I usually get down to one-two questions not done, but when the proctor called five minutes, I hadn’t done five-seven… talk about a let down. Hopefully this has a generous curve, lol. Expecting a 29-31.
Science: I FLEW through science. I was absolutely not expecting it to be as easy as it was. I don’t want to jinx myself, but I believe I did impeccable on this section this go around. Expecting a 33-36.
English: Easy as always. I finished with around seven minutes to go. Expecting a 34-36.
Writing/Essay: Pretty straightforward. The prompt was right up my alley in terms of what I’m able to write on. Expecting a 9-10(?).
Overall, I’m expecting, HOPING for, a composite of around 31-33. I think I’ll take it in June as well. Math needs to give me a break! Lol. 8-|
oh god i did terrible on the math which is usually my best section. I think my best was either writing or science. Reading was not good for me because i was too hung up on the math section so I was really distracted. As for the writing, i liked the prompt and my essay.
I did horrible on my act :(( in fact its voided…
English: Really easy, finished 15 min early
Math: This math section was probably the hardest out of all the practice tests I’ve taken. The test was ok up until #40-- there were a lot of difficult problems sprinkled throughout the last 20 problems.
Reading: Can’t really tell because I always struggle with reading, but seemed around the same difficulty as practice reading tests.
Science: Easy. Usually I struggle to finish the science section, but I finished 5 minutes early this time.
Does anyone happen to know what happens to your test if you work overtime? I think I did okay on every section, but I screwed up when I got to the essay-- was working on the last sentence of my conclusion when the proctor called time. I was midsentence and thought it would only take a few seconds for me to finish it up so I decided to keep going, bad choice. The proctor called me out after the test, filed a report, and said that I could call ACT on monday to talk about it.
Does this mean my test is most likely/for sure going to be invalidated? Also, if this happens, anyone know if it’s possible to only retake the essay portion? I felt pretty good about this test so I’m really praying I don’t have to retake the entire thing.
Math was very hard for me (usually my best) but I didn’t let that get to me, cuz I knew stressing myself out unnecessarily when there was nothing I could do would only hurt me, so I took a few deep breaths during the break, went to the bathroom, ate my snack then came back with a cool mind… so reading and science weren’t too bad for me; surprising because it’s usually my worse.
the writing prompt was super weird to say the least lol.
@kxailia my girlfriend had something like that happen to her during the september test but it ended up being fine. not sure if the proctor actually followed through with filing the report or not but she still got back her scores.
I did not like the writing prompt at all X(
English was easy
Math was hard but math is not my best subject
Reading was difficult for me because I had a panic attack :(( ,I literally couldn’t focus
My panic attack went away during the science section (thankfully)
Expecting a 25-29 (I know it’s kind of low, but I’m retaking in June)
Took the ACT today as well. I can say that this time around, it was definitely one of the easier ones out of the three tests total I have already taken (December & March). And It was much easier than most of the practice tests I have taken, and time went pretty well this time (finishing just in the nick of time). In terms of difficulty I would say imo Reading & Writing were the hardest, but then again I always struggle the most on Reading because I can never finish in time. The rest of the sections were pretty easy. How much do you guys think the curve will be?
English: Pretty straightforward. Usually one of my stronger sections (consistent 31s-33s). Around 3-4 I wasn’t sure about. Expecting 32-33
Math: I actually thought this section was the easiest contrary to others but Math is always my strongest section on the ACT (consistent 33s-35s) so that might explain why. But compared to most math sections, this is one of the tougher ones I have taken- especially the last 10 or so questions were tricky. Guessed on two questions. Expecting 33-34
Reading: Always my worst section because I always run out of time (score fluctuates a lot anywhere from 27-31). However, this time around I finished in time, but as always, some extra time would have been nice since I guessed on three questions that I didn’t have time to come back to. Expecting 30-32
Science: Very easy; I flew through the questions as there was much less reading to do than most science sections (most were data/graph analysis). Finished in time but guessed on three. This section is usually pretty easy for me but it all comes down to time so I usually score around 28-31. But for this test, I was pretty good on time. Expecting 31-33
Writing: I probably did the worst on this section as I bombed the end. By the time I got to the writing section, my stamina just plummeted for some reason. I spent way too much time planning and my thoughts were just really unorganized and hectic from the previous sections still on my mind. I just couldn’t come up with the right words and examples to use. When the proctor called 5 minutes left, I was on my 3rd paragraph (yeah you can imagine how that went). I rushed though my 3rd, & 4th paragraph which was probably the most important because it was the paragraph to support my argument. And for my “conclusion”, I literally wrote one unfinished thesis/sentence because that’s all I had time for. But I did write around two pages and my handwriting is on the smaller end.
However, I never did any practice essays (just read over some sample essays). The first time I wrote a full ACT essay was in the December test when I got a 9 out of 12 which really surprised me because I never practiced and just kind of bs’d it. I’m really hoping my score on this section won’t drag the rest of my ACT score (is it possible to not send the Writing section to colleges? Because I think I got like a 6 or 7 this time around.
Overall, I think my composite will be a 31-33. But I am aiming for a 33-34 so I might need to retake it if I get below 32.5
My son took the test today and after a lot of research we decided that he would not take the writing portion.
He had not prepared at all for it as far as looking at the format and had other obligations this afternoon.
It seems that very few schools including the most highly ranked have any interest in the writing portion of the ACT or SAT.
Just wondering why so many take it?
My son was one of three who did not-though he might decide to do it if he makes another attempt at the test
He thought the reading was unexpectedly hard then math, ok, science the usual and English easy.
A lot of luck involved in the ACT, though , as far as avoiding silly mistakes.
So…30-34? ish?
I found this math section about the same as December’s. The math section is getting harder.