I recently took the ACT and got a 31 cumulative score. I got a 34 on English, a 32 on Math, a 31 on Reading, and a 28 on Science. I was wondering how I could improve my Science score. Are there any strategies or review books that will give you a score of 33 or above on Science? Did anyone improve their Science score tremendously? I know that I can improve my Math score easily and my English score is where I want it to be. I think I could raise my Reading score also but any input would be great.
Your test score of a 31 is pretty decent to begin with! I know when I took the ACT, I found that science was the section that I improved on the most my just taking practice science ACT tests. The science section isn’t really based on what you know about science, its more about your ability to interpret the information. Just know that everything you need to know is in the graph or question for the science section!
I personally find that reading and science scores fluctuate a lot from test to test. Just because you did bad this time doesn’t mean you’ll do bad again next time. Do lots of practice tests, and note down what kind of mistakes you’re making. That’s the most effective improvement strategy I can think of.
First read this link: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/17258290/#Comment_17258290
Second, here’s some advice:
Several things helped me improve from a 27 reading to a 35.
I got so that i could read each section in under 2:30. That just gave the extra time to think. Almost every question has an answer that is directly stated no matter how vague it seems. A key idea that helped me is that every question has exactly one answer which is 100% correct with no dispute and three 100% wrong answers with no dispute. The ACT Prep Black book is based off this idea. It’s a given but it helps to take that test with that in mind. This means that if an answer is correct at all, it must be correct. These are not classroom discussion questions but in essance yes or no questions. Practice with that in your head and over a couple tests (whether easy redbook tests or hard ones from elsewhere) it helps. The ACT Black book is very helpful if you do exactly what it says.
It’s also helpful for science. I often do passages with only 5 questions first becasue they’re so easy. Then I do the 6 ones and lastly the 7 so that I have a lot of time. For all reading and science questions it really helps to test knowing that key idea i mentioned. since there are only four answer choices, when you know that you can often narrow down to two, and than just say, which one is more wrong or more right to me? You’re not answering questions from your viewpoint but from the ACT’s viewpoint.
Lastly, for science, there are only 3-4 questions per test that require ANY outside knowledge. All info is in the page. It takes practice to be able to routinely pull that info out from words that make no sense to you. But just remain calm. practice, and do well!
Remember the ACT doesn’t measure you knowledge but instead you’re testing ability. Exploit the weaknesses of a standardized test and find the patterns.
Again, I recommend the black book, it’s focused on exploiting the test’s weaknessess. It helps http://www.amazon.com/ACT-Prep-Black-Book-Strategies/dp/0692027912/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1405091073&sr=8-9&keywords=act+book