By Bryce Liao, Courier Editor-in-Chief
With the difficulty of the newly redesigned SAT’s reading/writing section, more and more students are opting to take the ACT. As the dominant test, the ACT had over 2.1 million test takers in 2016 compared to the SAT’s 1.7 million.
This September, I took the ACT and received a perfect score of 36. In this article, I’ll cover some study methods and advice you can use to score highly as well.
General advice: as cliche as it may sound, practice makes perfect. It is crucial that you take your practice tests exactly as you would the real exam–limit your breaks to 5 minutes, don’t give yourself extra time on each section, and so on. Once you’ve finished the test, reviewing mistakes requires two things: knowing why your answer is wrong, and why the correct answer is right. Finally, documenting and categorizing your history of mistakes allows you to pinpoint your weaknesses, spend less time on your strengths, and ultimately maximize your studying time.
English: This section is about memorizing the rules–it is composed entirely of grammar and paragraph composition questions. Other than questions that ask about the passage as a whole, there really isn’t a need to analyze the information in-depth. If you’re having trouble grasping grammatical concepts, the Complete Guide to ACT English by Erica Meltzer is a comprehensive and helpful book to use.
Math: This section is about memorizing the rules, but since the ACT tests a wide range of topics, it is more important to learn how to apply the basics and combine your skills to tackle different problems. The best way to do this is through practice. If you are also planning to take the SAT Math 2 exam, mastery of those concepts should cover almost all of the ACT problems.
Reading: This section is about strategy. Time is a huge factor when it comes to reading, as you have less than a minute to answer each question. Aim to read each passage in 3 minutes and answer the questions in 5 minutes (use a timer to get this under control). It is best to take a couple of practice tests and discover the strategy that works for you. Personally, I treat the reading section as a word search, as the questions are not so much about understanding the content as locating where it is.
Science: This section is about strategy. Again, since you have less than a minute to answer each question, the time crunch comes into play. My approach is to circle key words in the question, and search for those words in the passage. Using those words as an anchor, I can quickly jump around, locate the information, and make inferences as needed. Whatever strategy works for you should be fine, but it is best to liberally mark up the words and graphs.
I wish all of you good luck on your upcoming test!