<p>Hey guys!</p>
<p>SO, I have been studying for the ACT this weekend. I do pretty well on the reading in terms of answering questions. HOWEVER, I absolutely cannot seem to finish it on time. I usually run out of time on the 4th passage with 3 questions left. Any quick tips you guys use to save time? I don't think I need a huge tweak in strategy since its just 2 minutes and I answer the questions pretty well with it already. Advice?</p>
<p>GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL TAKING IT THIS WEEKEND!</p>
<p>I was having the same problem and I’m pretty good at reading in general so I decided to start bubbling after every single passage and went from barely finishing/having one or two unanswered questions to having around a minute left over. Try it out and see if it works for you, I typically bubble after each question to try and avoid mistakes but on the ACT there just isn’t enough time for me.</p>
<p>Wow thanks! Ill be sure to try that. I bet that does save some time.</p>
<p>I usually have around a minute to thirty seconds left over and I consistently get between 30-32, so I’ll try to help out.</p>
<p>I never, EVER read the entire passage. You just don’t have time to, which means you shouldn’t try to.</p>
<p>Read the first sentence of the first paragraph; this will generally give you an idea of what the entire passage is about. Then if the first question is, (and I find that it typically is, especially on practice tests,) what the general idea of the passage is, you’ll usually find this in the concluding paragraph. If it’s not there, then read the first sentence of each paragraph to get an idea of what it is. Then match it up to one of the options given for answers.</p>
<p>Read each of the questions carefully but VERY QUICKLY. I had a problem with this, particularly on the science section (it will be the death of my ACT score, I kid you not.) I find that underlining keywords in the passage that match up with what the question is asking helps immensely, for both the Reading and the Science sections.</p>
<p>Briefly scan over each of the answer options. A lot of times, the ACT drops key words in the answers that will fool you into thinking that it’s the correct answer, but more often than not, it’s incorrect. This is a lesson learned through taking about ten practice tests for preparation.</p>
<p>Really, the key to the Reading section is speed. If you didn’t read a lot before you took the ACT, then sorry to deliver the news: you’re going to have it harder than those who DID read a lot of books prior to junior year. I didn’t necessarily read a lot, but I had interest in writing and experimenting with sentence structure, grammar, and context REALLY helped with the ACT Reading and Writing.</p>
<p>I’m taking it this weekend too! Tomorrow, to be specific. It’s a bit late to implement and practice these techniques now, but if you’re determined to study, then I guess nothing’s impossible. And if you’re taking it again in September, then you have another opportunity to raise your score!</p>
<p>Good luck to both of us!</p>
<p>I have gotten four perfect reading scores on the ACT, and I personally always read the entire passage. There are 4 passages for 35 minutes. That’s one minute short of having 9 minutes per passage. I tried a number of different strategies, but what works best for me is to take 4-5 minutes to read the passage, then 3 minutes or so to answer questions. It requires you to be super focused, but if I can do it as someone diagnosed with ADD, anyone can. While you should read fast, don’t skim, the purpose of reading the passage is so you can understand it, and highlight words, phrases, or concepts you think might be questioned. The latter part is where doing tons and tons of practice tests really helps as you will start to recognize parts the ACT normally asks about. I’ve probably done 30-40 practice tests. Both real and from books such as Barron, the Red Book, and Princeton. The real ones I acquired from some private school ACT tutors I went to. I also like to write really quick notes about the focus of each passage. For today’s test, I scribbled words next to the passages such as “father,” “jealousy,” “writing strategies,” etc. Just prompts to help me remember what the passage was about. Also, as someone already mentioned, bubble only after you’ve finished each passage. When you have to keep switching your focus from concentrating on the reading, to mindlessly bubbling, it really messes up the flow. You want your brain to have to transition as little as possible. I personally find that once I read the passage, highlight/circle key words, and write the prompts, I’m able to answer all the questions within a few short minutes. Today I had 7 extra minutes just to relax and look back over the reading section. Hope this helps some.</p>