<p>I am taking the ACT for the first time on the 7th. My biggest worry is the writing portion because of the prompts and constricting time limit. 30 minutes to think, plan, and write--write about tardiness and school uniforms at that! Oh well. I'm definitely doing some last minute prep to familiarize myself with the questions.</p>
<p>Don't sweat it. The essay is really easy even if you don't try. I got a 7 out of 12(or 11,don't remember) and I didn't try at all. It's not like the SAT essay, where it has to be all formal.</p>
<p>I thought my school took the ACT in late March, but now have been inform it will be on March 10.</p>
<p>-So this will be exciting.</p>
<p>test. is tommorow.</p>
<p>good luck guys!</p>
<p>Kaplan 100 Math Concepts!!</p>
<p>Do you guys think knowing those 100 math concepts very well is sufficient to score extremely high on the exam...?</p>
<p>I usually do pretty well on math but i always used to end up missing 7-8 questions largely due to timing and few because i didnt know...</p>
<p>but are knowing those 100 math concepts enough??</p>
<p>let me know guys!!! TOMORROW is the test! ahhh!</p>
<p>I'm aiming for a 32 tomorrow. I have taken two practice tests so far (provided by the ACT website and McGraw-Hill's book) and have scored a 31 and 32, respectively. </p>
<p>Reading is a cold-hearted *****, though. Any advice?</p>
<p>Test is tomorrow!! Good luck everyone!!!!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It's interesting how people whose overall scores are pretty close can have such different strengths and weaknesses. I was also aiming for a 32, and after taking the test I'm guessing that I got a 33, maybe a 32 if I was a little unlucky or a 31 if I was extremely unlucky or have misjudged how well I did. However, I'm almost certain that I got a 36 in reading, and I can't imagine that I got less than a 35. I got straight 36s in all three of the practice tests that I took.</p>
<p>Obviously the following advice is a bit too late, but it might benefit others who struggle with the reading section. Also keep in mind that I may just have an inherent ability for reading comprehension, since I got a 36 in reading the first time I took the ACT even though I went in stone cold.</p>
<p>I think that the best strategy is to read each passage in its entirety before looking at the questions. Don't bother underlining stuff or making little stars or anything like that. If you read the questions first, or spend your time trying to underline what you think is important, it distracts you. You need to just focus and read attentively. Almost every question which refers to a specific detail gives a line number or a range of lines anyway, so you're just wasting your time by trying to figure out what to underline.</p>
<p>I've found that it helps to use a finger or a pencil to keep track of where your eyes are focused, for two reasons: this makes it less likely that you will stop and re-read something, and you can also slightly increase your reading speed by moving your finger (or the pencil) a bit faster than you would normally read (but not too fast!).</p>
<p>The most important thing is to visualize what you're reading and figure out why it's interesting. If you're not interested in what you're reading, try to figure out how it might be useful or surprising. If it's really none of those things, tell yourself that you find it interesting and pretend to be engrossed.</p>
<p>Don't look at the time while working on a passage's questions. After each passage, look at your watch. You're aiming for under 9 minutes per passage. If you've used up too much time, don't freak out, but try to up the pace a little bit. Track a little faster with your finger or your pencil. But whatever you do, do not, under any circumstance, continue reading if you've just read a sentence or paragraph that you don't immediately comprehend. This is a huge mistake, because your lack of comprehension can only grow as new themes or ideas are introduced which depend on the part that you skimmed through without really understanding. It's much better to stop, take a breath, stop tracking, and read the sentence or paragraph slowly, trying to really understand it.</p>
<p>If you come to a question that you're not sure of, use the process of elimination to get rid of any obviously incorrect answers, and cross out the letters corresponding to these choices. This will be important later. Pick what seems to be the most plausible of the remaining answers, and move on. When you've answered all of the questions for a passage, look at your watch--if you've used fewer than nine minutes, go back to the questions you guessed on and work on them. If you've used more than nine minutes, go on to the next passage. Once you're done with all the passages, use your remaining time (if you have any) to go back and work on the questions that you guessed on and were unable to work on before. This is why it's important to strike out the obviously incorrect answers: so you don't have to bother reading them later when you go back to check your answers.</p>
<p>Do the passages in order if possible. If you begin a passage and immediately become lost, try slowing down to get your bearings. If you just can't, and you know that the passage is going to be very difficult for you, do another passage instead and save the offending passage for last. Each question is worth the same amount, so if you wind up guessing on a bunch of questions due to time pressure it makes a whole lot of sense to guess on questions which you had a good chance of missing anyway.</p>
<p>Cliff notes:</p>
<ul>
<li>don't read the questions first</li>
<li>don't try to figure out what's important enough to underline</li>
<li>track with your finger or a pencil</li>
<li>don't look at the time until after you're done with a passage's questions</li>
<li>look at the time between passages--aim for under 9 minutes per passage</li>
</ul>
<p>The following two items are by far the most important:</p>
<ul>
<li>visualize what you're reading and figure out why it's interesting</li>
<li><p>never just continue reading after failing to comprehend part of a passage</p></li>
<li><p>if you are unsure of an answer, eliminate poor choices and cross out their letters</p></li>
<li><p>if you are sure that a passage is going to be a problem, save it for last</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I hope that helps. :)</p>
<p>are the feb. test scores really going to be up on the 18th? that seems awfully early... i dont want to stay up till midnight to get nothing</p>
<p>I only studied the day before the test =] I did about two of each section though. I didn't practice the essay, however, so I was pretty nervous but I think I did fine.</p>
<p>Last time I took this test I got a 34, but my parents wanted me to retake. =( There's no pleasing them.</p>
<p>I wouldn't be too sure about the essay. I'm pretty sure I got a 36 in English, and I write damn good essays, but the last time I took the ACT I got a pretty bad score on the writing portion. They have a specific rubric with very specific criteria that you need to meet, so don't just count on your general essay-writing ability.</p>
<p>The essay on the ACT is not factored into your English score though, Rocket Surgery. But even if it was, I took the SAT two weeks ago and practiced a bunch of essays then so I should be good. Besides, last time I got a 10 essay so I can't do much worse than that right? lol</p>
<p>I didn't say that the essay is factored into your English score. I was just pointing out that I got a bad score on the writing portion even though I aced the English section.</p>
<p>As for a 10 essay, I think it's out of 12, so a 10 isn't bad.</p>
<p>I still think that the essay prompt was stupid.</p>