<p>So everyone on here seems to have amazing stats. Besides obviously studying the ACT books and packets, as well as practice tests, what actual techniques have you guys found really helpful? Especially in the science and math sections! Thanks guys!</p>
<p>Math
- DO BARRON’S. Trust me on this! Revise and learn concepts from Barron’s ACT 36. It’s an excellent guide to prepare you. Keep taking practice tests. (I have taken 2 so far but I should be able to do more by 5th June)
Science - Everything is in the passage. You just gotta know how to read charts. Again, study Barron’s; excellent Strategies. Do those passages which have 5 questions first(all) followed by the ones with 6 questions and then the the one with 7. (Best way to boost your score)
All the Best!</p>
<p>Thanks so much! Ill deffinatley tr those</p>
<p>for reading n writing? 
thanks</p>
<p>Well, reading is a bummer for me too. I didn’t read books when I was young , so it naturally explains my lack of skill in this part. I haven’t practiced writing. But, the SAT writing and ACT writing are quite similar. Use good vocabulary and give concrete examples. That should be fine.</p>
<p>How bout any more science skills? Or specific math formulas or rules that you should know!?</p>
<p>Math:</p>
<p>Algebra II and Geometry are by far the most important topics covered on the test. That being said, of course it won’t hurt to know a bit of basic trig. But it won’t kill you either if you have no clue what a sine of theta is. </p>
<p>Here’s a trick–on those annoying ones where the only way you can think of to solve is guess-and-check (working backwards, if you will), where all 5 answers are numbers, they are almost always in increasing order. Do NOT check a, then b, then c, then d, then e. Check c first, since it’s in the middle. Then you can determine whether you should check higher numbers or lower numbers, based on your result (or, if you’re really lucky, c will be correct).</p>
<p>Never spend too much time on one–if you don’t have a clue, guess something and come back to it later if you have time, rather than pondering over it for several minutes.</p>
<p>Science:</p>
<p>This might to sound dumb, but don’t actually read the graphs. Other than the passages with two scientists of differing viewpoints, this will only waste your time. Go straight to the question. It will always specify whether you should use chart 2 or experiment 3 or result table a. Then, it’s as simple as referring to that specific information and reading the data. Time is everything on this section, and you can save a lot of it by not scrutinizing all of the graphs to start.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>You do not need to memorize specific math formulas. For example, if a question involves the law of cosines, the ACT will always show you the formula as a parenthetical citation. The underlying assumption for the math section is that you took up to Algebra II, but few if any students will be able to recite the formula for the area of a triangle given side, angle, side on the spot.
Therefore, in the beginning, do not worry about memorizing specific formulas. Only do this if the time constraint presents a significant problem.</p>
<p>Thanks so much! I seem to get most of them in the beginning but the ones near the end I feel like im guessing on all of them…</p>
<p>The test is loosely arranged in terms of difficulty (meaning it does tend to get harder as you go). Try to figure out if you are guessing because you lack information (for example, you don’t remember how to find asymptotes) or if the questions are too complex (some questions require 2-3 steps to find the answer). The former can be fixed by refreshing your memory of specific topics (try khanacademy if you are an auditory learner). The latter is harder to fix…
The SAT 1 Math contains far more complex questions than the ACT Math, so it would serve as good practice if you are struggling with the complex questions in the ACT.</p>
<p>There really aren’t any “tricks”.</p>
<p>You might find not reading or simply skimming the passages helpful on the science section though.</p>
<p>@ACTWizard, I beg to differ with you in terms of memorizing formulas. That is quite a blanket statement, and in the world of test prep, extreme statements are a no-no. Furthermore, mastery of the test also requires familiarity with trigonometry.</p>
<p>While a majority of the questions can be done without formulas, my past research of the test have revealed the following types of test questions requiring some prior knowledge of formulas for most students to complete. </p>
<p>Graphing Conics, specifically Circles and Ellipses.
cos^2 + sin^2 = 1
tan = sin/cos
Direct Variation/Inverse Variation
Arithmetic Series
Inverse trig functions
Translation of functions
Distance = rate x time
Difference of squares
Pythagorean Thm.</p>