<p>My friend, it sounds to me like a case of just not being focused and possibility getting your answers mixed up. Before I say what I’m going to say, I want to make this clear: STUDY!!! and you will get your score up. Now, what I’m going to say…is that <em>I</em> bet that, if you aren’t lying about your credentials, if you took the test today, you’d get around that 25. You know you can do it and from what I am reading here, I know you should be able to do it. Focus next time, you probably just missed something. Worry about getting the correct answer - not about getting a certain score the next you take it. Mostly, don’t beat yourself up over it. Good Luck!</p>
<p>Get a test book, do a bunch of practice tests, see what you are getting wrong. pace yourself and figure out how many questions on each section you need correct.
If you are an honors/ap student and getting a 17 i dont know what to say. Get sleep and practice is all there is to it.
I cant assess your intelligance, but the national average is a 23. I know kids that barely speak english who get 27s on the english section, so basically you either had an off day, or the average american understands how to read and do basic math than you.
In which case i doubt a school like penn state wants you anyways.</p>
<p>You have a few more to go tho so practice and rest and good luck</p>
<p>The National average is actually a 20^ or a 21 don’t remember.</p>
<p>Ok you need to do some INTESE studying now, ALL of the summer, and all the way up until you retake the test. Regardless of how smart or dumb you think you are, you can raise that score by studying. You will feel horrible if you don’t study and you don’t bring it up at all over very much, or if you do study some and come up short. That’s what happened to me. I came up short (for a couple schools, I was soo close) and it really got to me. You also have to remember that a lot of schools have minimum test score composite and section requirements so make sure you are aware of those also. For example, some schools want a minimum of a say 21 ACT with an 18 in each section or an 18 in E, 19 in M, 18 in W etc. etc. If you haven’t taken the SAT take that as well to see how you do, and study for that also (Dont just focus on one test if you haven t tried the other, I did that with the SAT. Really wish I had taken the ACT sooner). If you have taken the SAT and you did worse then I’d focus on the ACT.
Make sure you know about all of the college application deadlines , the earliest you can/should apply (because the earlier you apply , the better chance you have to get into some schools that may defer you for your test scores which gives you more time to bring them up). All of the studying and applications and everything at once will be extremely stressful but trust me it is so much better than not getting into any of the colleges of your choice and it’s even worse when you have friends that get into the schools you’re dying to get into. If youre really motivated you CAN bring up your score, get into good schools and enjoy your senior year (well at least the second semester). GOOD LUCK!</p>
<p>Ok you need to do some INTESE studying now, ALL of the summer, and all the way up until you retake the test. Regardless of how smart or dumb you think you are, you can raise that score by studying. You will feel horrible if you don’t study and you don’t bring it up at all over very much, or if you do study some and come up short. That’s what happened to me. I came up short (for a couple schools, I was soo close) and it really got to me. You also have to remember that a lot of schools have minimum test score composite and section requirements so make sure you are aware of those also. For example, some schools want a minimum of a say 21 ACT with an 18 in each section or an 18 in E, 19 in M, 18 in W etc. etc. If you haven’t taken the SAT take that as well to see how you do, and study for that also (Don’t just focus on one test if you haven ‘t tried the other, I did that with the SAT. Really wish I had taken the ACT sooner). If you have taken the SAT and you did worse then I’d focus on the ACT.
Make sure you know about all of the college application deadlines , the earliest you can/should apply (because the earlier you apply , the better chance you have to get into some schools that may defer you for your test scores which gives you more time to bring them up). All of the studying and applications and everything at once will be extremely stressful but trust me it is so much better than not getting into any of the colleges of your choice and it’s even worse when you have friends that get into the schools you’re dying to get into. If you’re really motivated you CAN bring up your score, get into good schools and enjoy your senior year (well at least the second semester). GOOD LUCK!
** Ohh and you don’t need an expensive tutor or anything. There are A LOT of free online resources for you to utilize. Even youtube has good prep. Mathontime.com’s video program is pretty basic, but it really helped me pace myself on the math section, and was a reminder of all the basic things I’d forgotten. I’d also skip around on the math section. Don’t just do it from the first question to the last. Skip around and do problems you know/like, but MAKE SURE you bubble correctly. When I tried this method, I literally skipped around and found easy questions within problems like the mean/ median/ mode of the given problem/situation. I also used Princeton’s ACT book, forgot what it is called. For the science I just practiced it a little and went through a guided science review thing with this youtube video. If you’d like I’ll post the link when I get home, I’m at school right now. It did a really good job of breaking it down and making me understand how to approach the section. And I understand, by the time science comes around you’re pooped and it looks like it’s in another language lol.<br>
Really hope this helps, I’m just really compassionate/empathetic towards your situation because I went through a similar situation this year and it really got me depressed so keep your head up and stay motivated :D</p>
<p>oops sorry for posting twice XD</p>