So I’m taking the ACT soon I already ordered a big giant 800+ prep book and I’m scared. I’m good at English and it’s many components like grammar or reading and writing. I also excel in science. One thing I’m not comfortable with at all and am intimidated by is math. I hate it because I’ve had horrible experiences with it and with the teachers that “taught” me it. So what the frick am I suppose to do now? I’m willing to put in the hours into my prep book but what’s the point if I can’t just suddenly teach mysel the material. I really only want to take the ACT just once as to not stress my self out (I’m good at that) so I want to get a decent score. No I don’t plan on going to an Ivy League school (obviously) or am UC because they are more expensive. I’m aiming for a Cal State because of the more traditional approach to education. What’s a good or average score for the ACT ? I’m aiming for San Fran State or San Jose State but my life won’t be over if I don’t get into those Cal States. Just as long as someone takes me. Also if you’re wondering no I’m not a bad student. All my high school career courses (I’m a junior now) have consisted of almost all uppper level content like honors or AP. So like, someone help. Thanks sis, heheh.
Do the lessons on Khan Academy.
- Most Cal states accept up to the Dec sitting Senior year so you have over a year to prepare.
- CSU’s superscore the ACT meaning they will take the highest scores from each section so I would plan on taking the test at least twice.
- CSU’s (except Cal Poly SLO) admit by Eligibility index and major. In the EI calculation, you need your CSU GPA capped weighted (figure out end of Junior year) and your SAT/ACT score.
If you have a high CSU GPA, then this can compensate for a lower ACT/SAT score.
EI= (CSU GPA x 200)+ (ACT composite x10)
EI= (CSU GPA x 800)+ (SAT Math + EBRW).
Some CSU campuses will give you minimum EI’s to apply. Most will list their EI thresholds by SAT score so you can convert to ACT to SAT using the concordance table.
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/pdf/guide-2018-act-sat-concordance.pdf
Some CSU campuses are non-impacted meaning they will accept students at the minimum EI level of 2950.
SJSU list their EI thresholds by major so you can determine based on CSU GPA, target ACT scores:
http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html
Below is a link that shows average CSU GPA/SAT and ACT scores for admitted students at all the CSU’s, so again target scores in which to aim.
For 2018, average for SJSU was 23 and SFSU was 22.
More competitive majors will require higher scores.
Any chance you can hire a tutor to help with your Math skills?
FYI: The ACT science section is not really science but tests your ability to read graphs and interpret data.
Link will show impacted vs non-impacted campuses and impacted majors :
https://www.calstate.edu/sas/documents/impactedprogramsmatrix.pdf
Best of luck. 
CSU Capped weighted GPA= UC capped weighted GPA.
Calculator= https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/
Does your school offer prep ACT exams? If so you can take one just to see where you are at currently. You might, perhaps probably, find that your prep score is already within range already of your local CSU, which might reduce a lot of stress. Do you have an approximation of what your GPA is? If you’re anywhere close to 3.00 you need a very minimal score to get into a lot of majors for SJSU. The minimum ACT index is 694 for SJSU, so if you use the formula as provided above you can see that it’s not very hard to get in.
The vast majority of students who post on this board are outliers when in fact more students in general are more like yourself. Even in the Bay Area.