@nthluongcnn i read the first and last sentence in every paragraph then do the questions so i have a good idea where to find the answers
oh thank you so much i will def try that technique. Btw, is it possible for me to requesting ACT send me my marked multiple-choice tests? I really want to see my mistakes.:((( @2016senior
@nthluongcnn don’t overthink any of the questions it’s much more straightforward than the sat if you took that too
thank you @undergrad55 btw which strategies you have used for reading section?
@nthluongcnn for reading I read the passages quickly while getting the general idea Then read the questions and got back to look for the answers if you don’t remember reading it You just have to go fast
much better than I expected…! I took the April state wide and got a 32 with some prep, took it again in june with no studying in between april at all and got a 34! I was expecting a score below 30. What is this theory?
@nthluongcnn I read the entire passage and skip right over the questions I can’t answer immediately. After I answer those 4-5 easy questions, I go back and answer the rest while looking back at the passage
I took two practice tests, both from old official ACT guides, and got a 33 and 34 on them. First try on the actual test I got a 35.
Mine was a mix. Was scoring 28-30 composite in red book, 28 in Elite 36. Got a 29 comp. My reading scores was much higher than expected. In the book I was getting 28-30. I ended up getting a 32 on the actual test. My English and Math scores were the same as in the Red Book (32 and 28 respectively). My science was MUCH lower than expected. Was scoring 26-28 in Red Book. On real test I got a 25 
Got a 26 on the pACT, 29 the first time and a 31 this most recent time. So yes, my scores were better than expected! I studied from the Baron’s ACT 36 book if that helps anyone. I also took a lot of practice tests. It really helps to just know the test really well and practice reading questions and answering things in the specific ACT formatting.
I think to provide controls for your theory, you need to ask what practice materials students used, and whether they took whole, timed tests or sections of tests at a time. It would be hard to prove or disprove a theory without controlling for all of those variables.
YES! My daughter’s Reading score went up 8 points and my son’s went up 6 points with the June 2015 test. Nothing has changed, I’m wondering if that test was “easier” somehow???
In short, yes; in elaboration, it depended.
The first time I took the ACT back in October with no prep other than scanning practice questions on the website and got a 31; I was expecting around a 27 as I didn’t feel great about any of the sections other than English.
Were it not for the slightly irritating fact that major merit scholarships at some of my schools required a 32 as the cutoff for the highest level of $$$ awarded, I wouldn’t have retaken it; however, I decided to sit the test again and aim for 1-point improvements in 2 sections to get a 31.5 (rounding up to a 32). Having roughly 10 days to seriously prep after school let out, I bought the shortest test prep book I could find and read it, underlined it, highlighted it, you name it. At the end of all that prep, I took the June ACT.
When I got my scores back, to my surprise I’d gotten a 33. My science jumped from a 28 to a 34, which I found odd as I felt like it’d wrecked my score as I hadn’t known most of the answers; my reading also went up a point, which was an unexpected nicety. English remained the same (not like there was a lot of room for improvement anyway), but math actually went DOWN a point; the drop surprised me as I was pretty sure I’d cracked a 30, but what’s done is done.
So overall, I am pretty happy with what played out, though I’m still wondering what happened with the math section.
Nope! I didn’t realize I was running out of time until there were 5 minutes left. I thought I could finish up while also paying attention to each question (Not just fill in randomly) but I didn’t. Got a 34 in reading tho and 30 in math. English and science were the worst- 25 and 26, respectively.
My first ACT (no practice) was a 25. Afterwards, I took practice tests in the Princeton Review with scores about the same or worse as my first ACT. Two months later I took the ACT again and scored a 29–much better than the 1700 on my SAT.
More people take the April and June ACT then the October so maybe the curves are different.
I have taken the ACT exactly two times and in both cases I greatly exceeded my expectations in terms of the score I received.
The first time I took it, I was in 8th grade. I honestly have no recollection as to why I decided to take it so early, but I do recall buying a prep book and taking a practice test, on which I received around a 26. When I took the exam, I ran out of time on the Science and Reading sections, so I wasn’t expecting to do that well. However, when I got my score, I was pleasantly surprised that I earned a 31 composite! I really didn’t understand that this was a respectable score until I told a few upperclassmen friends at school who said they would have killed for that score.
Anyways, I realized that if I could work on the timings for my next attempt, I would probably be able to improve quite a bit. Thus, I signed up for the ACT again in 10th grade, with a detailed study plan to follow. Unfortunately, my classes all started throwing homework at me and I ended up only taking a single practice test, on which I received a 28. Because of this, I didn’t feel very confident on the day of the test, but I still worked hard during the test and even surprised myself by finishing the Science section with a little time to spare. Despite this, I didn’t time very well on the Reading section, and when I finally reached the fourth passage, I had a little over three minutes to read the passage and answer its questions. Somehow, I sped through the passage and used logic to guess my way through the questions, filling in the last bubble when the proctor called out “Pencils down!” Afterwards, I was really frightened that my reading would be my demise, and I was trembling when I logged onto the website to see my scores. You can imagine my surprise then when I found I had earned a 35 on the exam! And, even more exciting, although my reading was the lowest subscore (33), I had answered every question correctly on that last passage I guessed through!
It really is curious how these things work. In my opinion, people often perform better on the real exam than they do on practice exams, as I have several friends who experienced similar jumps in score from practice exams to the real thing.
Hey. This is pretty much exactly what happened to me. I first scored a 27 on my first practice test and continued practicing for a few more months. I got a 31 the first time and a 32 the second time. I was happy with these scores seeing as i had only received a 32 on any practice tests, but i was required to take the test at school because it has recently become a graduation requirement in the state of nevada. I then scored a 34 which was better than i had expected and opened up my eyes to bigger and better schools. I think this was because i wasn’t stressed so i therefore was more relaxed when i took the test. There is hope for everyone. 
My daughter did little study but took it in April and got much better than anticipated. Not great, and she’ll retake it and the SAT in the Fall with more prep, but she felt like it was an utter disaster and got a 28. She will be a senior. Her first SAT, for which she studied at best moderately was a disaster at 1,750, and she felt like she did pretty good on it coming out of the test (anticipating 1,950 or so).
PSAT - 237, ACT - 35.25, SAT - 2270.