Average Improvement?

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm a rising senior this year and September will be my last time to take the ACT before I apply to college. I've set aside one month to do some hard-core studying but was wondering if you guys had any tips? Any study techniques that worked well for you? I'm planning on buying one of the books by the Princeton Review (or a similar company) and practicing 2-3 hours a day for a month. Is this the best way?</p>

<p>Currently, my ACT scores are far below my original goal. I got a 29 composite score with a 36 in Reading and 28-29 in everything else. This totally surprised me because I was diagnosed with ADD a long time ago and never took medicine to "treat it." I expected reading to be one of my worst subscores. Also, I've completed college classes through Calculus 2 and a couple physics courses junior year, but just can't seem to do well on the math and science sections. I don't understand why I'm having such a hard time with these sections, when they are my "focus" in high school.</p>

<p>With lots of studying, do you think I can improve my ACT to 32+? Any good stories about miraculous improvments?</p>

<p>For science I thought it helped me if I Tried to answer the questions using the graphs first.</p>

<p>2-3 hours per day over a month could very well put you up to a 32+. Get a Real ACT book as well and you're off to a good start.</p>

<p>Math - there is nothing above Trigonometry. Work one of the Real ACT tests under timed conditions and see which questions you miss and why. You might need to review some concepts or work on time management. </p>

<p>Science - IMO, this section oughta be renamed something like "Data Analysis and Reasoning". It is not a good measure of scientific knowledge and is the section most similar to a game. Kind of like some of the logic games on the LSAT or old Analytical GRE section - but different from those as well. Just get the practice material, work problems, and develop your plan of attack.</p>

<p>Oh cool, thanks for both of your guys' comments :) I've been thinking of getting the Princeton Review book and liked your suggestion, LAGator, of the Real ACT book too. I got a 36 on reading last time, so hopefully I'll only need to prepare a lot for English, Math, and Science. A lot of the concepts seemed vaguely familar, but a little dusty. I'm hoping that with some intense studying, I'll be able to take the time to get a feel for the questions and revieew old concepts. </p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>