<p>It's not in chronological order, so should you always mark next to each paragraph what it talks about? A little harder to do with the Prose Fiction passage though. Is it still better to read the entire passage and then get into the questions? Or for some sections(like Science sections) is it better to read in sections and then looking at the questions?</p>
<p>for me, reading the whole passage and then going to the questions works very well.. and about writing next to each paragraph - that's a good idea too.. that way you know the gist of each paragraph</p>
<p>for me on science, i just dive right into the questions.. you will rarely have to read every passage to answer the questions, so don't waste time reading them for science</p>
<p>Well I meant natural and social science passages for Reading(not science section), but I'm still confused what to do. I got a 31 in June but still wondering whether I should change my strategy. Sometimes I would just stop right in the middle of a passage, look at the questions, and immediately get some of them. </p>
<p>I know it's time consuming to keep reading each of the 9 questions to check whether you just read that pertinent part but I guess it can help you with the questions more. I feel like the Reading science passages just have a bunch of facts that should be broken down into sections, not a story that needs to be understood fully like a prose passage.</p>
<p>Peytoncline: on the science section, what if you have a series of questions, like on the experiments passages, that asks you to compare them? Or if you have the fighting scientists, and it asks like: "Scientist 1 would agree with Scientist 2 with which of the following?"
Do you go back then and read those first, then answer? Or do you just go to it and try to find out what they have in common after reading the question?</p>
<p>yeah, i read the scientist 1 vs. scientist 2 things, but everything else (graphs, figures, etc..) i don't look at first.. i go straight to the questions for those</p>
<p>Even the experiments? That's interesting, I'll have to give that a shot on tomorrow's practice test.</p>
<p>That worked pretty good actually. I got a 30. But I did refer to the experiments quite a few times. I don't know if I saved any time or not. I guess only practice will tell.</p>
<p>i refered to the experiments too.. i just made sure my timing did not stray.. if i began to get behind on time, i answered with my gut instincts and moved on... i got a 33, 31, 31, 33, 34 on the science sections on my 5 ACT's (in the order I listed.. and the last test i got a 35 composite, so a 34 on science helped me in getting that)... so this strategy that I use works for me, and it seems to be working for you too</p>
<p>It definitely felt weird the first time I did it. I felt like I was cheating by not reading. Oh, and I just figured out that the answer sheet in the back of my test booklet was wrong. The question asked me to find the largest number for a growth rate:</p>
<p>A. Drug X
B. Drug Y</p>
<p>Drug X had like 465 x 10^-5
and Drug Y had like 497 x 10^-7</p>
<p>Well, a -5 exponent is a heck of a lot bigger than a -7 exponent, and I said Drug X, but the answer book said Drug Y.</p>
<p>So I actually got a 31.</p>
<p>@ Peytoncline: Do you remember how many practice tests you took to get to those high numbers? Or are you just naturally gifted? :)</p>
<p>for science -- i've taken a lot of science classes in school (9th grade biology, 10th grade chemistry and physics, 11th grade AP chem and AP physics B [5's on both AP exams], and AP biology this year for 12th grade).. so that really helped me not have to read the passages.. b/c on every test, there is always 1 or two passages where i already know the information thanks to the classes i've taken</p>
<p>critical reading is definitely NOT natural for me.. i had to study my tail off for that (i got 25, 21, 23 on my first three ACT reading sections, then a 32 and 34 on reading on the past two ACTs.. so i had to really work on that)</p>
<p>and english and math come naturally to me too</p>
<p>nonetheless, i believe i've done about 25 full practice tests during my ACT "career"... i did about 5 total for my first three ACTs... and i did about 20 total for my last two (shows you how much more i studies on the last two ACTs and how much i didn't on the first 3)</p>
<p>Wow. Nice. Even if I just get through this book, I'll have 12 under my belt.</p>
<p>I guess practice really does make perfect.</p>
<p>yeah, it does</p>
<p>12 prac. tests is a pretty good number.. i'd say if you had at least 3 more practice tests to go through, then that'll be a nice amount of studying for this next ACT</p>
<p>Yea that won't be a problem. I plan on studying 1 hour every day until the last week. Plus my high school takes it in March. My goal is a 32 in October and a 34 in March.</p>
<p>^ That sounds like a sound plan. I'm sure you'll get your goals with that amount of studying!</p>
<p>don't take notes....just read the passage as a whole but make sure you read every word instead of skimming or you're gonna have to keep referring back and make sure you're focused
and then zoom right through the questions</p>
<p>on average i spend around 5:00-5:30 reading it and then 3:45-3:15 answering the questions</p>