My technique for the ACT

<p>This is what I knew coming into the test:</p>

<p>English: Don't read sentences that you aren't tested on. Nuff said.</p>

<p>Math: The strategy to success here comes in realizing that some problems can be finished in 30 seconds and others 1 min 30 seconds. For this reason, you have to cruise through the easy problems at the beginning in order to have enough time to succeed on the more difficult process-oriented math problems towards the end.</p>

<p>Reading: My mantra for this section is "understand everything, remember some things." This works incredibly well for me and gives me a good balance between time for reading and time for questions.</p>

<p>Science: 80% of the questions on science can be answered just by interpreting graphs and tables. When you come upon a question about the way an experiment was done or what it assumed, at that point you have to go back and read.</p>

<p>What are your tricks? Just curious.</p>

<p>I’d still say to read those sentences in English that arnt asked on, sometimes twy will ask “where should paragraph x go” or what is the message behind “paragraph x” if you don’t get the whole gist of it and just skimmed through looking at words you may not be able to answer :/, I read everything and have ample at the end…</p>

<p>I used to have that strategy in science but yesterday when I took it, that science actually required a lot of reading through passages… You should at least read through quickly to understand the basics behind the graph/tables presented.</p>

<p>I honestly feel that the ACT is a game and I am just figuring out its methods to try and beat it. </p>

<p>English: the act really only has two methods for the English. First of all, half of the sentences that it asks you about are wrong because they are REDUNDANT. All of the answers choice will also be redundant except for the shortest one, which will be the correct answer.
Ex. Signs are posted all over the lawn threatening every sort of drastic measure against trespassers who wrongfully enter the property.
It should just be trespassers, as the definition of a trespasser is someone who wrongfully enters property.
Once I realized this trick, my English score went up significantly. The second trick to the English is that half of the time that “omit” is an option, it is the correct option.</p>

<p>Math: Math has always been my strongest subject on the ACT, and I would say knowing your geometry theorems and trigonometry will definitely push you from a high 20s score into the 30s. Knowing how to use your graphing calculator efficiently is also vital, as it can save you tons of time on certain problems.
Also note that apparently 100% of the time, a figure is indeed “drawn to scale.” Unless the problem specifically states that the object isn’t, in which case your chance go down to only about 90% :). So in any case, if you don’t know what to do, try to at least visually guess the right answer.</p>

<p>Reading: I never read the passages and managed to get a 33 on the reading. It saves a lot of time and also means that you won’t be panicking on the last passage and get everything wrong. My technique is a mash up of going fast yet slow. Go fast by not reading the passage, by go slowly enough so you completely understand each question. </p>

<p>Science: I would like to start by saying that the ACT science section is a load of crap that doesn’t test you on anything science related. There is no point to reading the passages here, either. As stated earlier, you needn’t more than to look to the graphs for most of the questions and as for the ones that you need to read the passage for, simply skimming will usually suffice. The way I see it is that you have a better chance for a high score if you have answered every question versus if you took time on the first 35 and didn’t have time for the last 5. On the science section, with so few questions to begin with, every question counts for A LOT and even leaving 5 blank could automatically bring you down to a 30, on top of all the questions that you may have gotten wrong.</p>

<p>Writing: the writing on the ACT is also kind of crappy, as the prompt is usually bland and not something that any of us teenagers actually care about, contrary to what the makers of the ACT might think. On this, seriously, the longer the better. Direct correlations have been found between the lengths of responses and scores received. I would say at least three pages is appropriate. Also, make sure you explain everything thoroughly and most importantly, DO NOT GET OFF TRACK. It doesn’t matter how convincing you are, if you are convincing of the wrong thing, your essay is dead.</p>

<p>Hope this helped! I’ve taken the ACT four times and taken more practice tests than what is sane. At least now I can answer questions like this! :D</p>

<p>@Pobthiti, if you’re being asked a question about ordering of a passage, then you are necessarily being on the “main idea” of each paragraph. Which means that you still don’t need to read every sentence. The ACT will NEVER tell you to reorder a paragraph or passage until after you’ve had the opportunity to understand the main idea of something. I’ve always found this to be true.</p>

<p>In general though, what works for me doesn’t work for everyone. If you’re reading this thread with the hope that you can improve your ACT score drastically, I’d say this: everyone can agree that there are tricks on the ACT that can save you time and get you a higher score. When taking practice tests, <em>do your part</em> in discovering new tricks. If you don’t and you mindlessly take each practice test with the same old mindset, your score will never improve.</p>

<p>A relevant quote from Einstein goes “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” I feel that this has played a HUGE part in the improvement of my score.</p>

<p>do most people use a graphing calculator for the math section? i never even used one before nor did i see any reason for it in the act.</p>

<p>I do. I love it because whenever I get a rational answer and the answers to questions are fractions, my calculator includes a nifty decimal-to-fraction function that immediately gives me the lowest ratio fraction. I can also calculate LCMs automagically. Cheating? Nah. I just know how to use my tool, and the ACT only prohibits non-mathematical calculator use :)</p>

<p>E: Don’t read everything!</p>

<p>M: Go fast so you can check later; use your sci. calculator!</p>

<p>R: Skim, then find and re-read the sections in the questions. Forget the rest.</p>

<p>S: Only read the charts or passages referenced in the questions. ONLY. And pray a lot. ;)</p>

<p>is a scientific calculator actually worth it?? Doesn’t it take more time to put the work in the calculator than it would be to actually solve?</p>

<p>No. A scientific calculator allows you to put rational answers in fractional form. I found that that saved me quite a bit of time.</p>

<p>EDIT: Although in some cases it is a far better idea to /not/ use a calculator in order to save time. It all depends on the question I guess.</p>