<p>Hello.
This is my first post on CC so I apologize in advance for any errors.</p>
<p>I am a sophomore and I took the practice ACT test this week during school.
I took it last year as a freshman because it was required and did very well in English and Math for my first time (low 30's) but my Science and Reading scores were significantly lower (low/mid 20's).
My main difficulty with those two sections are time management and I find myself not reading effectively (sometimes skimming).
Also, out of the 2 times I've taken the practice ACT, on both the science/reading I have "read" the passage/data and then have no idea what the questions refer to, thus forcing me to reread.
How should I improve on my science/reading scores?</p>
<p>Usually the problem for me was time for the Reading and Science. The main thing I did was I started to look at the questions first, analyze what they were asking for in the passage, and skim and try to find the information. Then answer the questions, and skip the ones you don’t know. Don’t risk it. Don’t Guess. You’ll have enough time to come back with this method to recheck your work and answers. As for the science, the first question for the Science is always an identification question (i.e reading simple graphs etc) so I always do those kinds of questions first and tackle the harder inference type ones later, since all questions have the same point value.
However, my test taking strategies and how I actually test is different from yours, so the best way to devote yourself to practicing and getting used to the ACT questions. I got a 28 Composite score the first time I took the ACT (31/29/27/26) and after my dad pretty much forced me to do all these practice tests and such in two weeks, I raised my score to a Composite of 33 (32/34/33/32). I roughly did about 16 practice tests (6 of them previous actual ACT tests) in 14 days. Obviously I wanted to kill myself during the workload; had to integrate my schoolwork and extracurricular stuff too, and slept about 2-3am daily. But looking back, it was one of the best times of my life. No pain, no gain is the motto. Anyway, indulging your brain with questions and developing familiarity is my best advice to taking the ACT. It’s because you start developing your own techniques and tactics to answering certain types after you have been exposed to so many. Hopefully this will help you out a bit. </p>
<p>never actually read the science passages. skip right to the questions then refer back to the passages to learn what you need to answer the questions. realistically you’re not going to understand the experiments at all so reading the passage thoroughly for complete understanding is fruitless. sooo read as much of the passage as you need to be able to understand the questions! i don’t personally struggle with time on the reading section so i’m not sure how to be of help there, but i definitely don’t recommend skimming those passages. you can get away a little easier with skimming on the act than on the sat but still not a good strategy. i can only recommend to practice reading more to increase speed! like read for fun when you have time, then practice your speed with times practice tests! i hope this helped! (i’m a hs junior right now)</p>
<p>Composite: 36</p>