I genuinely don’t understand how the great majority of people here do much better at the ACT than SAT. I don’t understand how you complete each section in time: When I took the ACT, I literally had 11 questions left on the Math section I couldn’t finish, so I just randomly filled in the bubbles, the same occurred for the reading section. The time limit is so short!
I’m a fast tester. I have always been a fast tester since elementary school. Whenever I take the SAT I get tremendously bored due to the amount of time they give you and I just zone out. This isn’t the case with the ACT as everything is so fast-paced.
Working fast and intelligently. It helps to know the test, know what to expect, and to be able to read very quickly or scan for only the needed details.
That didn’t help.
How not? Replies #1 and #2 both seemed pretty good explanation to me, really.
Part of the issue is that it depends on the individual—some are better at ACT-style tests, some are better at (old) SAT-style tests. (Now that the SAT is about to become more ACT-like, though, I’m curious to see if scores individuals get align more closely.)
What sort of help are you looking for?
I was just hoping for something more concrete and clear, some genuine insight. It truly doesn’t matter, never mind me.
Consider wearing a watch. I just hate how the clocks are behind you so you will have to turn over to see what time it is. I also hate how the proctors don’t say how much time is left until there is 5 minutes left. They also don’t say say that you have 1 minute left or 2 minutes. I always getting a sudden stop in my heart when they do that. Wearing a watch gives my assurance and allows me to pace myself.
I took the practice tests with my daughter. We started out taking the practice section tests untimed. That just allowed us to get familiar with the questions and format. After a month, we found ourselves in the 30’s, so I switched to timed exams. There wasn’t much of a time hit because we were by then comfortable with taking the test.
The main thing you have to realize is that my daughter started taking these practice section tests three or four months before taking the actual ACT exam, so this was a long term study plan.
The SAT requires a lot of creative thinking and tests with a lot of strange questions.
The ACT is generally more straightforward. The conventional wisdom around here agrees that the SAT tests IQ intelligence, as far as intelligence can be tested, while the ACT tests academic achievement. The time limit really is short, but it’s not unreasonable with some practice.
^^^ I respectfully disagree with that generalization. At my school, the students who are best at SAT are the ones who study hard and have great GPAs. The ones with okay grades but better natural intelligence have done better on ACT.