I had a very productive day today studying for the ACT. Although I hate studying for it, it's something that I just have to suck up and do seeing as though college/university applications are right around the corner and I need to make the best impression possible to all the schools I'm applying to.
Unfortunately I'm not very good at test taking...
This chart is helpful because it tells you how many questions you need to get right to get a specific score on each section.
I took the Princeton Review course to help me prepare for the ACT the first time I took it. The class was kind of a joke but it was still sort of helpful. They had good tips that were useful for taking the test such as:
1. Never read the science passages in that section and just answer the questions based on the graph (except when you have a fighting scientist article- you will know you've reached that section when there are no graphs whatsoever.)
2. Never solve the math problems and use guess and check methods instead since it saves you a lot of time. (I know it sounds like I'm being sarcastic but It's true.)
3. If you don't know the answer to the question use your letter of the day and move on. (LOTD is a method where you pick one letter for all the questions you don't have a clue as to what the answer is so that you have a chance of at least getting one of them right. Of course if you can eliminate answers that would be good too.)
4. Going along with #3, make sure you answer every question since the ACT does not penalize for guessing.
5. Have an order of preference, for instance, I am really bad at the fighting scientist questions so whenever that section comes up I skip over to the next passage and return to it. I know I'll eat up my time by staying in that section and I'd rather get more points answering questions I know I can get right.
6. This one sounds stupid but I found it helps me- I'm used to writing with a lead pencil but on test day you can't so whenever I do ACT practice stuff I use a traditional #2 so that I can get used to it for test day.
There are a lot more suggestions in the Princeton Review book and I'd highly recommend getting the book even if you don't take the class because all the information from the class is in it.
To study I've been taking a lot of practice tests (not in one sitting but rather section by section with breaks in between) and working on strengthening my weak sections and trying to make my strong sections even stronger. My ACT teacher recommended trying to improve a little on the sections you aren't as good at but focusing a lot on the sections you are good at so that they can get even higher. The ACT, as well as any other standardized test, is a strategy, and you need to figure out a plan of attack to get the most points possible. I would recommend googling other strategies specific to what you're having trouble with.
Time management is a big issue. I have trouble with time on the Math and Science sections and I still haven't figured out a way to manage that yet.. My teacher did say that it would be better to answer all of the questions you get to correct rather than be able to finish the test and have made careless mistakes. Of course if you can finish on time and get a lot right you're golden. For the rest of us though.. Advice?
Do not solely study through my suggestions, I am not an ACT expert and I don't want your future to rest in my hands. These suggestions may not help some people.
Good luck to people taking the ACT, especially if you are taking them this upcoming April!
If you have any more suggestions please leave a comment and help out. We could all use a little less anxiety from these darn tests.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Isn't the ACT enough?
No comments:
Post a Comment