<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>