<p>How many practice tests did you do to score 30+ ?</p>
<p>lowest practice test was a 31...</p>
<p>so a whole ton i guess lol</p>
<p>I didn't. I just did some asking around for strategies for each portion.
Reading and Science (In my opinion) are all about pacing. Math, (for me, because it's my strong suit), was about not making mistakes. English was just about trying to figure out what "sounded" right in my head, while keeping in mind some grammar rules I learned out of a practice book.</p>
<p>personal experience:
reading the notes the sparknotes/PR give you raises ur score initially a lot faster than doing practice tests</p>
<p>I had to take the PLAN test at school...</p>
<p>The first time I took the ACT I took it completely cold without even knowing what the directions were to each section. I got a 31.</p>
<p>I just took it in October and took ~2 practice tests. I'm expecting 34+ (who knows with science lol).</p>
<p>Same deal. I took it cold (and with a cold, hah...but really that was just lame), I hadn't even heard of the ACT until the day my school administered it for free. Got a 33 -- no matter what anyone says, the best possible thing you can do for any test is read books. Reading develops the skill set you need for 4 out of the 5 sections (the one it doesn't help is math...) and helps you do better on them. As far as specialized studying, I dunno, I only study for those darn AP tests. I don't really want to retake it, because I think if I get rejected from a school it won't be on the grounds of the test score. Keep that in perspective after you get your results back.</p>
<p>^ totally agree</p>
<p>took it cold as well, felt like I absolutely dominated it....getting the scores a week from today!</p>
<p>I took it cold also...well maybe lukewarm (I looked at a few review books but didn't take any tests from them) and I think i did really well.</p>
<p>My advice: take it cold one time, just once and see how you do. There is no obligation to send in your scores and there is no pressure to get a 36. Just do your best and see what happens. That way, you know what your stenghts and weaknesses are and can study the parts that you need to study.</p>
<p>I took one practice test and then, based on my scores from that, did like 5 practice science sections. I ended up with a 35 composite (35 English, 35 Reading, 35 Math, 34 Science) and a 9 on writing. The science section was definitely my weakness when I started studying (I was getting 27s on the practice sections), but I managed to improve greatly with practice.</p>