Should I prep for both exams? I liked the ACT but the time management affected me. How do I prepare in Speed?
I took both. After taking the ACT twice and having the same problem with speed, I opted to try the SAT (just once, because I decided this in October of my senior year), which allows much more time per question. Whereas I struggled to complete all the questions on the ACT in the time limit, I always had extra time at the end of each SAT test.
In the end, while the SAT was far less stressful for me, I scored significantly lower.
I recommend to people taking both right off the bat just to see which you’re better with - then focus all of your energy on whichever you do better on. Having two sets of scores shows colleges that you’re motivated and want to improve anyway. The only disadvantage I see would be the cost, but I think it’s worth it.
Best of luck!
If you want to make significant score improvements (more than 2 or 3 points) then it might be best to take an SAT practice test to gauge how your scores compare, and if they are pretty equivalent or lower, then dive into in-depth ACT-specific prep. If you don’t seek major score growth, then give both of them a try, just to see if you can score marginally higher on one.
How do you prepare in speed? Do some cardio instead of sitting your ass in front of a screen bruh.
I would take both exams, just because some people do significantly better in one test over the other. Also, some schools prefer one exam over the other.
The ACT really got me on speed too. I would recommend doing flash cards and time drills on practice tests. My friend bought a pack of ACT flash cards online, and she says they helped her a lot.
Also, you probably already know this, but on the reading section, I never read the actual essay/selection. I simply read the question and reading around the lines it gives. For example, if it asks me to explain the meaning of line 8, I read lines 5 to 11 and answer the question from the context I gained in those lines. Reading the whole selection is a big time waster.
Sorry I couldn’t give more tips, but I hope that helped!