Taking the ACT in September

Test Preparation ACT Preparation
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<p>I am scared crapless, I bought the ACT prep book, the red one, and the science, a little math seems difficult. Would this be normal for a starting senior or am I in deep crap? </p>

<p>I have a 2.9 GPA ( I know its not the best) but this whole month I have canceled my World of Warcraft account and locked up most of my DVDs. is there any site you guys recommended to visit? Any specific subject I need to pay extra attention to in the test. I have a list I have compiled myself, but anything specific from you guys?</p>

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<p>Ok, I'll do my best to help.</p>

<p>First off, you can calm down! The ACT isn't an impossible test. They don't try to screw you up with tons of trick questions. It's very straightforward, and, best of all, beatable. With just a little prep, you can boost your score signficantly.</p>

<p>To do well, you're going to have to be very calm. Freaking out will not help! </p>

<p>Familiarize yourself with the setup of the test. You are allowed 45 minutes for the first English section, 60 for math, have a short break (bring a snack and drink!), then a quick 35 minutes for the reading and science sections (these ones are significantly shorter tests that require fast-paced thinking, but in time it will become easier).</p>

<p>Take a full practice test. Rip out the answer sheet so you're not tempted to peek. Finish the whole test and see how you do. See if you have a weakness.</p>

<p>English: This is the most repetitive test in my opinion. If you take >10 practice tests, you will be doing yourself a HUGE favor. For rhetorical questions, underline key words they are asking for (ex: what makes the statement show a message of calmness and happiness?) As time goes on, you'll learn that questions will ask about reptition, semi-colons, colons, commas and such, and once you have taken quite a few practice tests, it's very manageable.</p>

<p>Math: Nothing can help you more than a high school class here. If you haven't taken Trig yet, you will need to at least briefly see how Trig works. It's not a huge part of the test, but if you aren't familiar, you will lose quite a few points. My second piece of advice is to use something called equation solver. It's on every version of TI-83/84. To get to it, hit Math, scroll all the way down, and then try it out. If you're confused, google it. It is quite possibly the most useful tool to save time and not make stupid mistakes. </p>

<p>Reading: All I can say is pretend that what you are reading is the most interesting article you have ever read in your life. I read and convince myself that they are giving me the most interesting articles in the world. It increases my memory, concentration, and thus my score :).</p>

<p>Science: Don't read the passages. This is one you must practice to do well on (unless you are a born genius)!</p>

<p>Good luck! It's really not that bad; to me it's 100 times less intimidating than the SAT.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the help mate</p>

<p>About the sciene thats what worries me because I havent taken lab yet, just biology. I know most of it, but I forgot a lot of it. So I am not a born Genius, I will concentrate on studying that. I am taking your advice and doing a practice test tomorow, yeah i am a natural good reader, i love reading. So I am set on that and math, I am so/so I am master of polynomials, but hate slopes, havent taken trigo so I will study some of that as well. Thanks for the reply</p>

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<p>You don't need to study science in general. All the stuff you need to know is in the data. Its not a test of what you learned in science classes. You need to be able to analyze graphs and charts quickly.
Good luck. I'm retaking it then too.</p>

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<p>You don't have to know science to do well on it either-- isn't that cool? If your good at skimming and understanding fast, you can easily get a 36 on science.
If anyone miraculously chooses to reply to this, can you please tell me why on this God green earth I do SO DARN BAD on the ACT compared with how I did on the SAT? I hate how the ACT gives so much more time for a section. SO hard to pace yourself. And the writing is AT THE END!!! HELP!!!
And with everyone so much better than me studying!!!</p>

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<p>Awesome, glad to hear that about science, I rock at reading graphs, pie charts, ect ect. Also I am taking the SAT as well with 4 subjects but thats not until nov so I am not too worried yet.</p>

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<p>wait, wats the equation solver....I didn't know such feature existed!
wat does it do and how do we do it?</p>

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<p>have any of you ever wondered why they don't have ACT testing centers in all states for the september day like all the other testing days? i've always just wondered that.. thanks</p>

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<p>Equation Solver (yup, you guessed it) solves equations :). So, for example, you could type in 3log(x)=0, and it will pop out x=1 for you. It's pretty handy, especially for the random questions that ask you to solve for x, because you can't make a mistake unless you type something in wrong.</p>

<p>To use it, hit math, then go all the way to the bottom, then enter on the equation solver button. There now should be a funky screen. Press down once. Now there should be something that says "X= " on the screen if it wasn't there already. Go to that area, and if there's no number, type in one. It doesn't matter, you just need to type something in. 5 will do, so will 9.519. </p>

<p>Next, hit up. Now you should see something that says "0= " The only thing that is "weird" about this is you have to set one side of the equation equal to 0, but it's really not bad at all. Say you have an equation like:</p>

<p>logx=lnx (to set one side equal to 0, just subtract one side away!)</p>

<p>logx-lnx = lnx - lnx</p>

<p>logx-lnx=0</p>

<p>You're almost done. Now hit the down button and hit "alpha enter." If you get an error screen, try typing in a different guess number, like 1.1. I know this seems like tons of work but it is so handy once you get used to it. But...only use it if you are comfortable on the test...at least familiarize it to yourself for a few days.</p>

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<p>This isn't considered to be a calculator that has a "computer algebra" system, is it?</p>

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<p>Sounds like they might be testing "ability to use a calculator," but the TI-83 IS allowed.</p>

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<p>I wanted a TI-83 but I am too poor at the moment. ;) my TI 30xa will do for now.</p>

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<p>eg1, thanks. Which does more, the TI 83, or the 84?</p>

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<p>^ Never mind, I was easily able to find the answer.</p>

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<p>A TI-83/84 is not considered to have a computer algebra system, although it does have a feature that is somewhat like one (that I described above), meaning it is allowed on the ACT, SAT, PSAT and AP tests.</p>

<p>A TI-83/84 are essentially the same, except for different memory and a few applications. It really doesn't matter unless you're planning to run millions of simulations or something very computation-intensive.</p>

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<p>the TI-89/92 calculators are the ones that cannot be used because of their computer algebra systems... 83's and 84's are good though (doesn't matter which one... just some memory differences bet/n the two, that's all)</p>

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<p>Lol world of warcraft</p>

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<p>bump??????</p>