<p>Hello,
I will be taking the ACT in March, and then I will take it again in April. What can I do to prepare? Do I need to study vocab more? I am more of a math type, I usually have no problems in math, but my English is struggling. Anyone know where I can take practice online? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks</p>
<p>don't worry about vocab.</p>
<p>Yeah, vocab isn't something you need to worry about. Get the official materials from <a href="http://www.act.org%5B/url%5D">www.act.org</a>. If you need more, I would also get Cracking the ACT from Princeton Review. I have it and it's definitely the best commercial book on the market.</p>
<p>What is the toughest thing about ACT?</p>
<p>The timing. Science and Reading will definatly press you for time. The best thing to do is practice, practice, practice... and then practice some more.</p>
<p>If you have taken up to trigonometry and have a firm grasp of the subject matter you should be able to hit 29+ without too much trouble. </p>
<p>For English, if you understand the mechanics of the language you should be able to hit 31+ without much trouble.</p>
<p>Reading and Science pose problems for many students, even the best at literature comprehension and the scientific subjects. For many students it is very hard to get 26+ on science and 30+ on reading.</p>
<p>I'm basing this on the ACT results of the "smart" kids in my high school.</p>
<p>I found the toughest part science. It was that damn section that brought my whole score down. I didn't finish it, answered the last 3 questions without reading them in like 5 minutes. It was terrible. Only pulled a 28 or something. Compared to 33+ on everything else. </p>
<p>Manage your time. Biggest tip.</p>
<p>Yeah, the science section is the hardest only because of the timing: there are several charts you have to understand to answer the questions in a limited time period.
Don't worry about vocab, you don't really need to know it on the ACT.</p>
<p>Well, I am having a hard time with the "Fill in the two pairs of words that would best fill in the blanks of this sentence" and then the vocab are words that I dont know. But math I am fine with, I am decent with science, english is my main struggle. I am taking Pre-Cal right now for Math, and that seems to be much higher than the stuff I saw on the PSAT. For anyone who has taken both the PSAT and the ACT, how do they compare in math/reading/writing? I appreciate all the replies.</p>
<p>For anyone who has taken both the PSAT and the ACT, how do they compare in math/reading/writing?</p>
<p>PatrickK,</p>
<p>You wrote: "Fill in the two pairs of words that would best fill in the blanks of this sentence" and then the vocab are words that I dont know.</p>
<p>I do not think that ACT has sentence completion questions like you describe. The SAT/PSAT reading section is about 1/3 sentence completions. Having a good vocabulary does help even on the ACT because it will help you understand the passages better. It is probably not worth cramming voab lists at this point. Time is better spent with practice tests.</p>
<p>The timing is really key. If you're not used to working under pressure (e.g. if your teachers frequently let you take extra time on tests) you will get killed on the ACTs. If you really want to do well, I would strongly recommend sitting down and taking a practice test. Nothing's really tricky, the writing section is different from the SATs in that it actually makes sense. The SAT questions usually have you pick the least wrong answer (that is, A has only 1 error and sounds awkward while B C and D have 2 errors and sound awkward), where the ACT has one that is clearly correct.</p>
<p>I consider myself a pretty fast worker, and the science section gave me time troubles. Don't spend too much time on one question. I didn't prepare and I figured out about halfway through you didn't actually need to read all the data. Skim the data in about 10 seconds, read the question, then find the appropriate table or graph and answer the question. The questions aren't tricky like the SAT tries to be; it just gives you lots of simple questions and puts you under the pressure of time.</p>
<p>Excellent. Thank you guys.</p>