Tutoring a friend on the ACT; science section

<p>Hey fellow CCers. I'm currently tutoring my friend on the ACT and emphasizing the science section, as it's his lowest. However, after getting past the basic tips, we seem to have hit a plateau.</p>

<p>I'm oriented toward science; I got a 34 Comp and a 36 science, and a disgusting SAT score. Therefore when I look at the data in the Science section, I can automatically visualize the experiment, predict outcomes, and reason my way through questions. When I try to explain my thought process to him (not exactly science-oriented), he simply gets lost.</p>

<p>TL;DR: what are the best coaching methods for the ACT science section for someone who's oriented towards English? </p>

<p>Currently using two different Princeton Review ACT study guides, supplemented by online practice tests. Thanks</p>

<p>Well shucks, guys.</p>

<p>I’m more of a Reading and English person, so I have a little more difficulty with Science and Math. I’ll offer my two cents when it comes to how I approached science.</p>

<p>For science, I thought that I would never finish if I spent time reading all of the procedures, graphs, charts, etc… To save time, I immediately jumped to the questions and tried to interpret as I went. That really didn’t work.</p>

<p>I decided to change strategies and approach it exactly like the Reading section. I read all of the information, even the charts, before even looking at the questions. After I had an idea of what was going on, I answered the questions. I found that I understood what was going on more so than before, so answering the questions actually took me less time.</p>

<p>That’s the best suggestion I can give. Good luck to your friend!</p>

<p>I’ll give you a few tips:</p>

<p>1) The science test is divided into seven sections. Spend this amount of time per section:</p>

<p>1 minute/question - 1 minute.</p>

<p>For example, if Section 1 has six questions, you should spend five minutes on that section. If Section 5 has seven questions, spend no more than six minutes on that section.</p>

<p>2) Start practicing. Eventually, you’ll notice a lot of patterns in the questions.</p>

<p>3) Don’t freak out. The science section is actually not hard once you figure out how it works.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>

Obviously you’re a science person (“I can automatically visualize the experiment, predict outcomes, and reason my way through questions”) so your thorough thought process works for you. It’s not necessary though, and in fact may not be good for people who aren’t particularly science-oriented. I’m a science person and knowing what the heck the experiment was about was something that I didn’t concern myself with in the test and still managed to get a 34 science, 35 composite.</p>

<p>The toughest part about the science section is timing. You have 35 minutes to do 7 passages. Give yourself NO MORE than five minutes per passage. Once five minutes passes, move on, no matter what you haven’t answered. Some sections won’t require the full five minutes, so once you answer all questions in a passage, move on and you’ll rack up some extra time as you move along. Use that extra time to go back and answer the left-over questions as best you can.</p>

<p>There are two different techniques some people use: reading the passage, skimming the data, then answering the questions; or, going straight to the questions, and referencing the data as needed. Try both techniques, see which one works for you, because one WILL be more effective than the other. Perhaps try the second method first, then the first method and see how your score changes. </p>

<p>Also, a technique I read about and used, and that I believe really had a huge impact on me being able to do decent on the science section was to complete the passages in reverse order. Passage #7 is the most difficult, #1 the least difficult. By starting with the most difficult, you can gain some momentum as you go through the test and end up with more time than you would going in numerical order. By doing the most difficult questions first, as your stamina decreases, the questions become easier. </p>

<p>As stated above, it’s very true that you will become more comfortable and familiar with the science section the more you practice. It’s very different, something I had never really encountered or dealt with EVER in school or testing, so you really need to just expose yourself to it a lot in order to master it. Becoming familiar with the format and figuring out what works for you personally is more than half the battle.</p>