<p>same here, dvm258. I read the passages in their entirety, then went to the questions, and got a 34.</p>
<p>don't do questions first.</p>
<p>I would second the "reading the passages before the questions" suggestion. I typically read the passage once, look at the questions, then read the passage again while hunting down the answers. I find a lot of the time that the passages do not always make the most sense on first read, yet become easier when you read the questions and gain a better perspective. But that all depends on how quickly you can read. Also, i find that the reading is pretty straightforward; answer the answer that seems the most logical, not the one that you think they are looking for (curse you SAT!!) And yes, this method works-its what I do every time, and my reading is a 36.</p>
<p>Science. To be completely honest, I have no idea what to make of it. I kind of think that you need a little bit of luck and a lot of experimental background to really nail it. It seems to me to matter more how well that particular test's questions match with your science background than how well you think scientifically. My highest score is a 35, when most of the questions were related to medical/life sciences yet was a 25 when most of the questions related to obscure physics principles that really didn't seem to fit with the experiment. In a sense, I would say that familiarity with the experiments or the subject would really help (mostly with the speed, as sometimes you can answer questions without looking at the data at all if you are familiar with the subject) but it seems like a lot of luck. I guess just pray that the questions mesh well with your strengths.</p>
<p>If all else fails on the science, pretend that it is one giant, hard game of I Spy. After all, the directions for the science section should really read something like "The answer is on this page somewhere. Find it."</p>
<p>I Third Reading passages before questions. Though, I score lower than 34 but its a lot better than reading the questions first I think its necesary that you stay focused.</p>
<p>Does anything like this happen to everyone? Where some songs/distractions just get into ur mind while ur reading this passage and then you competely lost control of what u read and then u have to start over...?</p>
<p>I get so entirely distracted, it's not even funny. Apparently this wasn't as much of a problem as I thought it was (I got a 33 composite), but I definitely spaced out for a long period of time there.</p>
<p>English- I second whoever said that the ACT writing section is pretty straightforward. If it looks wrong, it probably is.</p>
<p>Math- My only tip is to make sure your calculator works before you leave the house. I only took the test once, and ended up with a 28 on the Math section because I didn't finish. It's not anything you haven't learned in school, but it takes a lot longer if you have to do long division xD</p>
<p>Reading- I got a 36 on this section, so I consider myself something of an expert lol. READ THE SECTION! If you don't read the whole thing, you're likely to not understand the passage as a whole. If you skimmed it, you'll be screwed when you get to questions about the author's purpose in writing the passage, and it'll slow you down more than reading will. As far as reading first and questions later, I think that's a personal thing. I skim the questions and read the whole passage so I have some idea of what I'm getting myself into</p>
<p>Science- Who told you not to look at the graphs? When I took it, I only looked at the graphs and the skipped the writing and intro altogether. As long as you can figure out what the graphs are of, they're all you need.</p>
<p>Jsmith, I always have that happen! I always think of how many I have left, not being able to finish on time, what I will be doing after the tests, what score I will get...</p>
<p>For science, I back-up anyone who suggested reading graphs, but not the passages. When you turn to a new section in the science section, skip all the passages and graphs. Read question 1, and find the the graph you need. From my experience, the first few within each passage are questions you can answer directly from a single graph. As you progress towards the last few questions, you usually have to begin relating two graphs/tables/whatever's in a way to get the answer, if that makes sense. Usually, you can do all the questions without reading the sentences that go along with the graphs. The moment you get confused though, read them. Don't waste time reading the question 12 times over; if you don't understand after 2 or 3 reads, read the information given. Wasting time on science is a killer.</p>
<p>As for math, my only suggestion is know how to use your calculator very very well. It is completely obeying the rules to put programs in your calculator, so take advantage of that. I've had my calculator (ti-83) since 7th grade when I took pre-algebra, and I now have a cumulative collection of programs in there that I can do just about anything with. The trick is, though, do NOT download a bunch from the internet the night before. You have to know how to use them, or you'll hurt yourself. Anyway, enough about your calculator. Other than this, my only suggestion is practice. I took 6 or 7 practice tests, and although I didn't really improve on the first few, I began to actually finish the test. Once I reached this point, I began working on getting the answers right haha. As you're going through, skip ANY problem that looks like it will take a long time. If the method for solving the problem doesn't come to you after 1 or 2 reads, skip it. What I do for these is right the number on my desk (yes, on the wood), so I don't lose it (erase it after the math section is over). Then, once I've been through all 60 questions, I'll normally have 5 or so that I skipped. I go back, 1 by 1, and usually have about a minute to spend on each. Again, if you come to one that takes a ridiculous amount of time, go to the others. If you have no clue how to solve one, try to elliminate the obvious ones, and guess. For example, the one question I didn't know how to do on the ACT I took involved finding the slope of a line (theres much more to it than that, but its hard to explain. point is, I thought it was hard). I knew the slope was negative, but didn't have time to calculate it, but just based on the negative, I elliminated 3 choices. Its ok to guess. Don't waste time.</p>
<p>I don't have much to say about english and reading; I never did too well on those. Reading I must say is all just experience; my english classes have always focused on analyzing passages and stories in the way the ACT makes you, so I just kinda went with what I knew. One thing I can say though: do NOT try to answer questions first. Read it quickly, so you'll know where to look back as you answer. You strategy may vary, but I've never known anyone in person to do good on the reading who doesn't read at all. As for english: if it sounds right, it probably is. Other than that, i don't know what to say. One strategy I use if I'm unsure on one is to remember what it is asking, and look for that in later passages. For example: if a question is asking you to pick between a comma or no comma, look in later passages (a non-underlined sentence) that presents a similar case, and compare the two. This only works on about 1/5 questions that I am unsure on, but it prevents a lot of guessing if you finish the english section with a lot of time to spare, like I do.</p>
<p>I hope this wasn't too long, and I hope it's useful to someone.
I got a 34 on my first and last ACT, just this past october (32 E, 35 M, 32 R, 36 S), so I hope this gives my advice some credibility.</p>
<p>Well My english score is 21.. and its not good.. Ive read numerous books... but it still doesnt help..</p>
<p>anyone know any good english practice that i could do besides practice tests..</p>
<p>The English test can be studied for. In fact, a half-an-hour worth of review could allow you to confidently answer a few bizarre questions that the ACT inevitably throws on every test. People often say, Do what sounds right. Well, to a certain extent. But this is not always the case. For example, the ACT always throws on few questions containing restrictive/non-restrictive appositives, em dashes, and more types of punctuation that the average student would scartch his head at (in my school, at least).</p>
<p>I felt like I knew all of the answers on Octorber's test, except one that I found to be unfairly ambiguous, but still only got a 33 because misreading does happen. </p>
<p>Clue: don't put your head down and sleep if you finish early!</p>
<p>There are many books that lists like the most common 13 or so mistakes made. It's very helpful</p>
<p>I think the real question here is "how could i get a 36 in science?"</p>
<p>yet no one seems to know....</p>
<p>Hmm. I got a 36 in science, and I know a bunch of other people on this board have 36s too. I would explain what I did if I could, but I don't really know what advice to give...</p>
<p>Maybe if you were able to ask a more specific question than "How do you ace the ACT science?!?!" then more people would answer?</p>
<p>If we could write a 'How to get a 36 on Science', then it would probably already be out there in the market for you guys to buy. There's no definitive guide or method to getting a high score. Lots of strategies are successful. For example, I know I read all the passages (including the paragraphs of text) in the science, but other 36s only looked at the graphs.</p>
<p>I didn't get a 36 on anything because I am trash! But the good news is that you can be trash too! TRASH PARTY (No 36'ers invited!)!</p>