<p>I took the ACT in June and my biggest problems were the English and the Reading. Are there any tips and strategies for these two sections?</p>
<p>English is easy because all you need to know are the rules of the language, many resources are available to help you with that.</p>
<p>If Reading is a problem to you because you cannot read the passages in time, that is not necessarily a skill you can learn quickly. Some people take the reading test without actually reading the entire passage but I like to read the whole thing very carefully, then answer the questions that don’t refer to specific lines and phrasing without having to look back.</p>
<p>For English do exactly as prsguitar said but for reading I’d recommend practice. Take as many reading sections as you can get your hands on and try to take them in less than 35 minutes. Reading was my weakest section on the ACT but I took a practice test a day for 3 weeks and managed to get a 36.</p>
<p>@lost12 where did you get all of those practice tests from?</p>
<p>First it is a little difficult to know exactly where you are without knowing what your scores were and what scores you are trying to get to. </p>
<p>I personally went from a 26 in my reading section to a 34 in about a month, ended up scoring a 34 overall, and then became a private tutor during my senior year. Everyone is trying to figure out the secret strategy for these standardized tests. When my friends would ask me how I got that score they are always looking for some statistical strategy that no one has every heard of. The reality is that I essentially got paid $40 an hour as a tutor to sit next to someone and watch them do practice problems. </p>
<p>All you have to do is practice those sections over and over again. Your speed in reading them will increase and you will start to anticipate the questions before you even finish the passage. I would recommend getting the Princeton Review study book that is just practice exams. And then actually do the whole thing, not just let it sit next to your desk like 90% of those books end up doing. Try and make sure that you are working through problems in your book everyday at least two weeks prior to the test date (too much of a gap between practice and the exam and you will start to lose your edge).</p>
<p>Completely agree with Jacob! I’ve taken the complete ACT once and I think I got 26 in reading. My biggest problem is reading the info fast enough, and to be honest I took the practice test without knowing anything about the ACT. </p>
<p>The prep books can get quite expensive so make good use of them!</p>
<p>It’d be helpful if you provided your scores. My advice would depend on where you’re at right now. But I will say the first time I ever did an ACT reading practice test I got a 22 as I had no clue about how fast you needed to go and had a story completely blank. On both the February and June tests, however, I scored 35 on the reading so it is possible. My only strategy was to do as many practice tests as I could find to get my pace adjusted. You need to be as fast as possible. (Also, I’ve personally never used this strategy, but many CCers like to save the type of reading passage that they struggle with the most for last).</p>
<p>For the English, you really just need to learn the rules, which I’d suggest reading prep. books for. It is quite easy once you get the hang of it.</p>