<p>Does anyone have any tips for me in order to raise my math score on the ACT? I plan on going to UMich and into the College of Engineering. The thing is, my math score is my lowest score. That makes perfect sense right? An engineer who sucks at math, lol. Well my Composite was 27, E 28, S 29, R 30, M 21 (lol). Does anyone have any tips for me? I've already registered for the September 10th exam so I have until then to prepare.</p>
<p>ACT math, esp. compared with its SAT counterpart, is fairly straightforward. Much of what is tested in that section reflects a college-prep course consisting of pre-algebra, basic geometry, regular algebra, and perhaps Algebra-II.</p>
<p>Ironically, the harder questions–advanced Trig and late algebraic concepts (conics, etc.)–are amongst the most straight forward. As such, it does not take a mathematically-inclined person to solve such problems, just clear memorization of certain formulas. </p>
<p>Without doubt, there are some difficult questions on the math section. Most of these fall under the banner of “basic” math; although the knowledge applied might be so, the questions themselves require a much more challenging thinking process than the other questions. </p>
<p>The only suggestion I can give you is carefully go through your previous years’ math books and gain an understanding of all the formulas. After you’ve done that go through as many real ACT papers as possible. You will be able to discern, quite easily, which questions are straightforward from those that require a much more detailed thinking process. </p>
<p>It’s hard to teach that thinking process but luckily on the ACT such questions are still straightforward. And predictable. My point is this: math is teachable, much more so than the other sections of the test.</p>
<p>That all being said, I would question your readiness to complete an engineering major, especially at Umich, with a math score of 21. This is by no means a criticism or a comment on your competence, but a 21 doesn’t indicate the level of mathematical knowledge that might be required for an engineering major. Emphasis added because I am by no means an admissions officer and can only comment from an outside perspective.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Haha that’s where I’m going bro! I’m trying honors program though.</p>
<p>In addition to above, I’d recommend Princeton’s ACT book, the Red book, and Barron’s. Do all those and you’ll be overprepped</p>
<p>Btw coming from a 36 on math here haha. So yeah my advice personally? Work on speed in practice tests. Get fast, and math’s the easiest section.</p>
<p>Math being the easiest section (something I completely concur with) is pretty subjective. I haven’t gotten my scores back yet, but on the real ACT practice tests I was scoring clean 36s, with good time to go. </p>
<p>At my test center many found math to be much harder than some of the others. It really has a lot to do with what the test-taker has been exposed and how comfortable he is with the material. </p>
<p>And obviously different tactics work for different people, but more than getting fast I’d recommend you do each problem meticulously with complete follow-through. Don’t do anything in your head, don’t try to go fast, nothing. I tend to be of the group that makes easy, careless mistakes because of not thinking (sin instead of cos, etc. etc. ). Such mistakes can be easily avoided with a careful problem-solving process.</p>