<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 do not suggest any long term “projects” to work on such as
Taking AP English/AP Science Classes
Reading AP English/Science Books
Reading a TON over the summer</p>
<p>These are not only waste a huge amount of time, but they don’t make nearly as much of a difference as one may think, possibly only 1-2 points on each section, which isn’t worth all the time. I have to take the exam in September; I wont have time for this stuff.</p>
<p>There isn’t much I can tell you to do other than to take timed practice tests.
Many of them. Maybe you can break it up section by section, but you’re not going to improve without actual practice. I’ve had similar problems with the same two sections (Reading and Science), and with practice I got 36’s on both on the June ACT.</p>
<p>You’re doing well with English and Math, so try to take more Reading/Science tests. Start un-timed and work from there. Use this time to look over specific types of questions you have problems with, and try to modify your strategy.
Good luck.</p>
<p>I will most definitely try and practice as much as i possibly can. I have over 20 practice tests and still the entire red book to complete</p>
<p>@oFg5x3o just wondering, what were your original breakdown? and was practice your only strategy or did you do other stuff that helped you get better?</p>
<p>For the reading section: You should only fully read the Prose Fiction Passage. All the other passages can be skimmed. With that you should have much more time, and be able to use inferences to answer the other 3 passages.</p>
<p>For the most part the science section doesn’t actually necessitate reading every word on the page, if anything it seems to be set up to mess you up by making you think that’s what you need to do. I also struggled with finishing the science section until I took a prep class that told me basically what I just told you. Also, every single test has the exact same set up in terms of types and numbers of passages on the science and reading section. Studying the test, knowing what to expect, and PRACTICE will undoubtedly help you to improve your scores. Ultimately the point is: you don’t have to read everything to get the right answer, and get it quickly.</p>
<p>June 2012: 33 (34/35/31/31/9)
February 2013: 32 (35/32/29/30/10)
June 2013: 36 (35/35/36/36/8)</p>
<p>I took the 2012 June test as practice before junior year. I took the test seriously in February, but I ended up not doing as well as I would’ve liked. Before February, I read prep materials and practiced. Since I already read and felt like I understood the prep materials I had for the February test, I figured I wouldn’t benefit from re-reading. I did look at some stuff for English and Math the day before the test, but I mostly just did practice tests for Reading and Science before June.</p>
<p>I agree. Keep doing timed practice tests, but don’t just grade them. Instead, look over at the answer key when you’re done and check out why you get some questions wrong and do similar problems of that sort. I was able to raise my April ACT from a composite of 26 to a composite of 32 by the May ACT, and I’m thinking about giving it one last shot because my science score was kind of low. Anyways, best of luck!</p>
<p>Hey this is what helped me but I dunno if it’ll help you. Basically, I read the questions first, then read the passages so i knew what to look for. And my reading score went up from a 29 to a 35</p>
<p>A follow up to my last reply. What you do for the other passages is read the text underneath the title. Then read the first sentence of each new paragraph (reading the first and last paragraph fully).</p>
<p>Why don’t you try the SAT? There is no dumb science section and the reading is much easier to finish on time. Almost one third of Critical Reading questions are just fill in the blank vocab, which are not very time consuming.</p>