Sept 2014 General ACT discussion

<p>My daughter thought it was the hardest ACT test she has taken by far. She was hoping for a point or two increase in her high score. Only section she thought manageable was English.</p>

<p>I believe english was easy as well, however the reading was by far the hardest. Dont worry there will probably be a large curve. </p>

<p>The english was normal/easy for me (I had 18 min left to check.) The math took me longer than normal, I felt as if it was a little slightly harder than normal (it sucks that I never learned a stem and leaf graph (D:), and overall was harder than any practice math test I’ve taken. The reading wasn’t too bad for me…well except for the prose. I did the prose last and I felt like I had to rush through 2 questions when that normally wasn’t the case. The science wasn’t terrible, but I normally have 2-3 min leftover for that section and on this test it was down to the wire. Overall I’m freaking scared that I did worse than I should’ve done. I got a 32 on my first ACT but I’ve been doing a lot of practice recently and have scored 34-35 each time. I’m worried I didn’t get a 34 or 35 which would really suck.</p>

<p>I thought it was harder than all the Red Book tests (math, reading), and I hate how they dropped a passage comparison out of nowhere, which was never in any of the real 15+ ACT tests I have. Hopefully they have a generous curve. </p>

<p>My daughter was upset . Her best section is normally reading (35-36), but they added a new type of passage and she said it was longer. She didn’t finish. She also ran out of time for the science. She had no problems with English or Math but so bummed that she will probably have to retake the test. </p>

<p>Although they did add a reading comparison passage. It was only 0 to 10 lines longer depending on the test you had. So length really doesn’t matter much. I do agree though, that reading was the hardest on today’s test. But we don’t know that we even had the same from</p>

<p>my son had 72D</p>

<p>@momof2ky I also had 72D.</p>

<p>@weeender If there is, it cannot be posted. This forum is being strictly moderated for posts referencing anything of the sort. It is illegal</p>

<p>@made4him1027, thank you!</p>

<p>What do you guys think the curve is going to look like?</p>

<p>Personally I found the math section to be considerably harder than the Red Book math sections. Does anyone feel the same way?</p>

<p>I can’t believe they had the passage comparison test on the ACT! that was why I switched over to the ACT in the first place because when I did the ACT for the first time, I got 33/40 for the reading, and it has steadily improved until I was 37-38. Now I don’t even know if I can break a 35 D: this test was way harder than the 10+ practice tests. they had random math questions to!</p>

<p>I thought this was FAR easier than the June ACT. I don’t want to sound negative or make anyone feel bad, but I thought that overall this was a far easier test. Granted, I read very quickly and do well on the ACT reading (especially compared to the SAT CR), but the only section that I felt worried about was the science. The math was mostly basic algebra and geometry, with no trig harder than basic Pythagorean triples and some basic trig proofs. I also felt that the majority of the math questions were pretty straightforward with no really “tricky” aspects to the questions. Maybe I just was more experienced the second time and knew how to budget my time more wisely, but I felt like I had no problems with time and as a whole the section felt pretty simple compared to some of the ridiculous diagrams I’ve seen on ACTs.</p>

<p>Note: I am pretty terrible at geometry compared to algebra/trig/precalc so take whatever I say about the math sections with a grain of salt. A lot of people feel that geometry is much easier than algebra, but I feel that it’s the complete opposite.</p>

<p>Also, is there really any purpose to the science section? It’s not testing you on your knowledge, it’s not even testing you on your ability to read charts. It’s testing you on your ability to skim passages, get the main idea, and answer questions as quickly and accurately as possible. </p>

<p>I thought the English section was really easy (esp. in comparison with some in the red book). The reading was fair and the science seemed easy (but somehow time consuming too). However, math was ridiculously hard compared to the red book. It seemed like there were more trig problems than in the practice tests (I had to guess a lot for that section). Hopefully there is a generous curve for math and a good one for science. </p>

<p>I thought english was really easy, math was a slightly harder than usual, reading was hard, and science was really hard (hoping for a big curve here)
Probably missed
0 in english (36)
1 in math (36)
8 in reading (29)
8 in science (29)
Composite: 32/33</p>

<p>@micmatt513 I agree with you. I thought the Science especially was FAR easier than the one in June. Same with math. I’m really bad with geometry–I skipped it to take calc, so I don’t know basic stuff. This math test seemed easier, though I was still unsure with a few questions.
EDIT: Oh I just saw that you thought the science was hard–do you think the June or this test was harder?</p>

<p>@GB1904 - It’s not that I thought the science was hard. I had trouble focusing before there were problems at my testing center (two alarms went off; they had to pause the test and then restart it) and I had to pee really badly, but I don’t know if I’d say it was hard. The June science was much harder though. I would say that this science section was at least average or slightly above average, but the June science was much tougher. Just my opinion though.</p>

<p>@micmatt513 - Were you at North Shore High School? Same thing happened to me. </p>

<p>@lrpw101 - LOL yes. What school do you go to? I am actually from East Williston and go to Chaminade, so I was definitely a bit surprised when that happened. Weird coincidence.</p>