<p>I received a 29 on my last ACT and plan to take the April test. I received an abysmal 23 on the math section, scoring exceedingly low on the coordinate geometry/trigonometry questions. What can I do to achieve higher scores in those areas?</p>
<p>Here are a few very important things to look at if you want to do well on the math ACT:</p>
<p>1) Vocabulary. Make sure you know what congruent, perpendicular, etc. mean and know what to do when those terms come up (ex: find slope perpendicular to 2x —> -.5x)</p>
<p>2) Know your math. This may be blunt, but I can’t imagine doing as well as I did (32 on math, mind you) without taking math classes up to precalc. With questions that give functions of circles and ask for the center and especially trig questions the math class you’re in will be a very determining factor in how well you do. If you aren’t in precalc or higher, I’d recommend you go to khan academy and brush up on a lot of the simple, important-looking stuff (ie, don’t look at finding the graph of a hyperbola).</p>
<p>3) Brush up on trig. There are a lot of trig questions on there, but for the most part they’re very easy if you know the fundamentals of trig. Do a few of the big trig questions (angles of elevation, finding the height of a building if you’re this far away) and know a few trig identities.</p>
<p>4) Know the basic formulas. This one’s pretty easy because most of the formulas that are lengthy at all are given to you, but make sure you can use the formulas extremely quickly.</p>
<p>5) Not sure how you can study for this, but make sure you look at every problem very closely. If someone is playing a game of poker and loses 4 chips, don’t say that the difference between the first hand and the second is only 4 (winner gains 4, loser loses 4). A lot of the questions are meant to trick the skimmer, so make sure to read carefully.</p>
<p>I’d recommend you buy a book and start taking sample tests when you think you’re ready. ACT math is the easiest to increase if you have a low score on it at the beginning because most of it is knowledge, you just have to be serious about it. PM me if you need anything else.</p>