<p>I've taken the ACT twice so far, and I have scored a 28 and a 27. I know why it went down, and it is something I can control in the future. A more representative score is the practice test I took before the last ACT in which I scored a 29 on the reading section.</p>
<p>Still, that is not high enough. I can read the passages at about 600-700wpm with adequate comprehension, and the difficulty of the questions don't "seem" to be too bad (I do pretty good on SAT CR Qs, which are much more difficult). However, I still end up barely finishing the test in time and missing some questions in the process.</p>
<p>I'm taking the April 14th ACT, so do you have any tips for my current strategy? Also, is it possible to get it up to a consistent 33+ in that timeframe? What do I need to do in order to do that?</p>
<p>This may or may not help you, but try reading just about anything in print. The more “difficult,” the better because you’re actively improving your comprehension. I went from a 28 to 33 and the only difference I made was having to read The Great Gatsby, Huck Finn, and two other novels. In my opinion, it helps immensely.</p>
<p>The best advice is to stay calm while reading the passages. DO NOT RUSH. Be quick, but don’t hurry. I was getting all tense while reading and wasn’t comprehending fully. Changing my mentality helped go from a 23 to a 33 in a couple months, along with lots of practice tests (official ones). Also, try to read the passages enthusiastically. Force yourself to be interested. It’s weird, but it works. Give it a try.</p>
<p>Train yourself to understand what is and is not important, as it is most important to understand the main idea(s). Details, such as dates, figures, examples, etc., can be skimmed over and dealt with when and if a question about them arises.</p>
<p>Great advice @ACTsecrets. I’ll also add to never ever read a sentence twice, unless you’ve got a specific question to answer with it. The idea is to get the gist of the passage, not to “understand” it.</p>
<p>Alrighty, I’ll give those strategies a shot! thanks for all of your advice.</p>
<p>What I did both times I took it was glance (not skim) through the questions and answer choices so that a few key words would be imprinted in my mind. Then I read through all the material thoroughly and quickly. As I answered the questions, I knew most of them without a doubt, but with some I skimmed through the part of the passage that I knew the answer to be in just to double check. I got a 36 in reading the first time and a 34 the second time (I missed one question… harsh curve).</p>
<p>To prepare I would just go with what beatles11 said. Don’t read Huck Finn, though. I read it in fourth grade, and I swear it was one of the most boring books I’ve read. But, The Great Gatsby is one of my all time favorite books along with many others, such as The Catcher in the Rye, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451.</p>