I’m a freshman and I just got my results back for the December ACT:
33 Composite
35 English
35 Math
32 Reading
31 Science
I want to improve to at least a 34.5 composite, so my composite can round up to 35.
Any tips on improving my reading and science score so my composite can be at least a 35 (my goal for my next time taking the ACT)?
I will appreciate any help.
Thanks!
@fidgetboss4000 My son (current hs junior) took 2 timed ACT practice tests and made a 32.75 composite both times in July 2018 and took the ACT for real for the 1st time 6 weeks later and made a 34.75 composite (35E, 34M, 34R, 36S). On one of the practice tests he made a 27 on the Science so it is definitely possible to make a big jump in a short period of time. Since you are only a freshman, you would probably gain naturally, by just going to school and taking the test at a later time (maybe by the end of sophomore year or early junior year). I will tell you the method that worked for my son. My son thought his biggest gains came by looking at the questions he missed and trying to understand why he missed the questions (all sections). He saw that he ran short of time in practice so he looked for ways to decipher the graphs in the Science section quicker and he found that looking at the graphs 1st before looking at the questions tied to the graphs helped him with both speed and accuracy. He also dedicated the majority of his prep time reviewing the Science section and became very comfortable with the format and the timing by the time he took the test in September. Lastly, he thinks he got lucky because the ACT he took had the easiest Science section he had taken (his perspective). Good luck with your testing.
well the 33 was kinda a fluke; on practice tests i usually scored 30-31
So just give yourself some time to grow organically. My son made a 30 on a timed practice ACT his freshman year and he worked some each year on the PSAT hoping to get a NMSF level score (Did not quite get there). He did not look at the ACT again until he got the 33’s practicing on the ACT over the summer before junior year before he got the 35 on his 1st official try. My advice would be to keep those grades up, find EC’s you are truly interested in and enjoy your friends, family, and school. Trust me, you will have plenty of time to worry about standardized testing. Congrats on putting such a big score so early.
What @ChangeTheGame game said.
100% your GPA & ECs are going to make more of a difference to your college admissions process than a bump in your ACT.
Take the time and energy you are putting into the ACT and put it into something more productive.
Agree with everyone here: don’t stress about it now. You’ll improve naturally.
However, to answer your question as if you were older and about to start prepping for real: yes it is very possible! For context, I improved from a 33.5 (official practice test) to a 35.5 (real test) with probably 30 hours of work over the summer. I got a couple of books and worked through them cover-to-cover (in hindsight, probably not my best use of time) and took several fully-timed practice tests in real-like conditions. I think that the best thing you can do to improve is to take plenty of practice tests (I think ACT releases about 6) and really analyze all your mistakes, reviewing content as necessary and keeping a log of “careless errors” so you can try to avoid them in the future. Remember that these kinds of errors impact your score just as much as not knowing the content.
How was your time management? Rather counter-intuitively, I found that my timing on reading improved drastically when I gave myself time to actually read the passages. That way, when I got to the questions, I knew generally where to find the answers in the text and didn’t have to waste time skimming through it several times. Also, as you get to the last passage, check your time and decide whether you’re going to have time for all the questions or will have to choose which ones you can find the answers the quickest.
For me, at least, science was just a matter of avoiding careless errors and racing the clock. Don’t bother reading any of the experimental procedure passages (that usually come before the graphs and stuff) unless you’re sure the answer isn’t anywhere else because these can be a real time-suck. Leave the “differing views” passage til the end because if you’re running out of time, you can usually make some educated-guesses on those, more so than the straight-data questions. When doing the data questions, take the extra half-second to make sure that you’re looking at the right line in the graph; it will save you much agony!
Hope this helps!