I’m a sophomore currently and I just took part of a practice ACT. I’ve taken some before and my composite comes out to be about a 32. I didn’t finish the whole thing today because it’s late but I did do the math and English portions, the first two sections.
English: 35 (I missed a question so it instantly dropped to 35)
Math: 30
I’m really bummed about the math score. My main problem is time because there are 60 questions and 60 minutes for the math section and the questions get really hard near the end, so not only do I rush but I also start panicking to a degree because the questions start looking like paragraphs and become much more complicated than what I can do in 60 seconds.
Do you guys have any tips that you could give me with dealing with the math section (or reading/science, or the entire ACT in general)? I find myself consistently running out of time because my brain hits the panic button if I lag even slightly behind.
Since I’m only a sophomore and taking Algebra II this year that may account for some blunders I made, but I think it’s just the time that’s stressing me out.
So yeah, any tips on how to beat the ACT time/tips in general are welcome and appreciated. Thanks!
Hi there! These are some strategies that really helped me on the ACT
Time management is the key! You said you had a hard time getting the math portion done in enough time. Theres 60 problems in 60 minutes; Approximately a problem a minute. I took an ACT class at the beginning of the year and i learned to spend more time on the easier problems than the harder ones. Just from these tips I raised my score from an 18 to a 28 on the math portion. If you do not finish all of the questions in enough time, don’t leave an answer blank. Fill in all of the bubbles. There is no penalty for guessing.Try looking up ACT practice math problems. There are so many resources online for free its crazy!
www.chegg.com. This is literally a life saver!!! I swear by this(its free too). Chegg has videos for pretty much EVERYTHING you will see on the ACT(Videos are a maximum of 6 minutes long). After each video there is a quiz you take for that section and if you get most of them right, you can move on to the next lesson. Just from this I raised my score from a 23 to a 29! Another website is Kaplan.com. They have free webinars on their site that you can sign up for. There are about 2 a week but they are really helpful and informative
Practice, Practice, Practice! Take as many practice tests as you can and set a goal for each practice test. Highlight the questions or topics you need to improve on and go back over them later. Get some ACT books from the library and look over those and take the practice tests that go along with them. I guarantee this will help you! The two best brands of books to buy are Barrons and the REAL act prep guide. Barron’s book does not have many practice test but has so many strategies to help you raise your score. The real ACT prep guide has mainly practice test and not many strategies. Download quizlet or Chegg flashcards to your phone. Look up ACT prep and hundred of notecards sets will pop up. These are really really helpful: formulas, practices problems and other things that might help you on the ACT.
Youtube tutorials. Look up ACT prep on youtube and videos will pop up from students who have gotten over a 32 on the ACT and what their strategies were to get that score. If you are having trouble with a certain math problem, type it in on youtube and there will be multiple tutorials on how to do that type of math problem.
Take online ACT courses. These are VERY expensive but they will help you in the long run. My suggestions would be Vertias prep. For $130 you can get hundreds upon hundreds of videos and practice tests for free. These videos and tests are more in depth than the Chegg ones and are longer. Once you sign up, they have an ACT counselor just for you to help you along the way. Princeton prep is also a very good online course but it is much more expensive than the Vertias prep.