Rising Senior, Low ACT Score. Help!!!!!

<p>Just got my scores back for the June 2013 ACT</p>

<p>Composite: 30</p>

<p>English: 34
Math: 36
Reading: 22
Science: 26</p>

<p>Clearly my English and Math sections don't need much work, probably just a few careless mistakes on English. I'm good at Math. Consistant 36's on practice.</p>

<p>Reading and Science are my biggest problems. I didn't really prep that much before this test. I bought basically every ACT review book out there (Red Real Act Book, Barrons ACT 36, McGraw Hills 10 Practice Tests, Barrons Practice Tests etc...), but I only did a few broken up practice exams out of the PR 1296 Book, and I didn't practice with any time restrictions. (Not exactly the smartest idea)</p>

<p>My biggest problem with Reading and Science was the time. I couldn't finish in time and I had to rush and guess on a lot of questions, and also I had a lot of trouble interpreting the Science section graphs. </p>

<p>What should I do to improve on the reading and science sections? Any suggestions? (Besides practice a LOT more...)</p>

<p>Please dont give any suggestions such as “Take AP science/english classes” or “Read more books” or “Read AP English/Science review books” because those are all long term plans and very useless for my short term situation/problem, and will be a complete waste of time.</p>

<p>bump10char</p>

<p>someone please help?</p>

<p>Science is all practice–I used Grockit for my test prep. Reading is a mix of practice and being able to pick out strategies–I’d ask an English teacher at my school to tutor me maybe?</p>

<p>Take the SAT, no science section.</p>

<p>@adscram14 thank you for the suggestion i will take that into consideration. how did you end up doing on your act science section after using Grockit?</p>

<p>@MaterMia i kind of already tried that. 2290. aiming for a 35-36 on my acts </p>

<p>wanna actually give some HELPFUL advice…? science wasn’t even my weakest section, and maybe it was because i didn’t practice enough or maybe im lacking a few skills. I was hoping someone who was good at the act would give a few tips, not stupid outlets and suggestions.</p>

<p>I went from a 28 to a 32 on science.</p>

<p>Did you try the skim then answer questions on reading? Or just go straight to questions? I STRONGLY discourage that strategy. Some say it works, but it plummeted my score. Try reading at the speed where you actually RETAIN what you read, and watch that score shoot up. If you’re just a slow reader read books. know it sounds terrible, but that helped me.</p>

<p>@KappaTau what i did was</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Go to the passage i had the easiest time answering (i believe i practiced social science, science, humanities, and then prose fiction)</p></li>
<li><p>Look to see if there are a lot of line reference questions, if so, i would go to the first ine ref question, go to the line and read 1-2 sentences before and after each of those lines to find the answer, then i would go to the next one</p></li>
<li><p>After reading, i would try to answer the non-line reference questions. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>I guess it may not have been the best idea. Ill try skimming/reading the full passage first when i practice from now on.</p>

<p>When I do the reading, I look at the questions looking for line numbers. If there are line numbers in the questions, I mark them in the passage. Then I read at a normal speed, stopping where I’ve marked and answering those questions that pertain to specific lines. Then, after reading, I answer the remaining questions.</p>

<p>My D went up from 31 to 35 in practice after self preparation in the Summer.</p>

<p>I really think that’ll help you, everybody has different strategies on reading though.</p>

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<p>Obviously you do lack some skills. Skills in be grateful and tactful. I’m surprised your posts are even responded to. Work on those skills and then work on the ACT.</p>

<p>@kldat1 I TOTALLY AGREE! On almost every post of his he is so rude and concieted. it had really bothered me when in a different post, he said community colleges are for stupid or poor ppl. You will get nowhere with your rude and condescending attitude. You could have a 36 on your ACT and will still endup with no job. Noone wants to hire a jerk.</p>

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<p>And what’s wrong with a 2290? If you want to improve your test scores, I’d stick with the SAT since it seems like you’re MUCH better at that than the ACT.</p>

<p>@Nikkkkki lets face it, we can’t argue against statistics about the types of people who go to community colleges (average gpa, sats, income)… so I’m sorry if that offended you but the truth hurts i guess? </p>

<p>And maybe you wouldn’t have to worry so much about going to community college if you didn’t waste so much time obsessing over random anon peoples’ posts on college confidential, and then posting some completely irrelevant trash on other peoples threads… the time you spend on trying to improve OTHER PEOPLEs’ attitudes can be invested on things that can actually help YOU get into schools… maybe apply for a job to make money if you’re worried about expenses? or like… study harder for your sat/act exams if that’s concerning you? then maybe next time, you won’t get so bugged out about an anon post about community college… </p>

<p>im glad we could help eachother out with advice on life though :)</p>

<p>@Juvenis rest assured i’m working on my sats too. But i heard it was good to have both scores that are relatively similar. But yeah I clearly need a lot more help on my acts than on my sats lol</p>

<p>I went from a 30 to 33 in Eng, 29 to a 31 in math, reading wend from a 26 to a 30, and science went from a 22 to a 29 using kaplan. I cannot stress enough how useful it is to do problems and really try their strategies, because i know several people who borrowed my test book and got similar results (composite scores went up at least 2 points, a friend raised his 6). Also, please remember that this is a forum - anybody’s advice is valid and you should be grateful.</p>

<p>this guy is a dumba*s lol</p>

<p>PLZ HELP ME OMG STUPID ADVICE FROM STUPID PPL PLZ GO AWAY BUT BUMP WAIT I NEED HELP PLZ OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG</p>