<p>I would like to move my 34 up to a 35 or 36, but I just hate all these ACT prep places. They say stuff like, “We are going to help you move that 22 up to a 25! Yah!!!” Their strategies just don’t seem to work for high scorers. They say to do stuff like skim, but this makes you miss the big picture questions. It might help if you are a low scorer and are consistently running out of time, but it won’t allow you to get a 35 or 36. Also, they don’t even dabble into very important tips that I know myself, but they neglect to teach. For example, I know how to program my calculator, and even though I usually finish the math portion of the ACT with 15 minutes or so and get a 36, I know that programming one’s calculator could save someone a bunch of time. What I’m trying to say if that I know for a fact there are more tips like the one I just that said that no one is teaching but some smart people know about out there. Are there any review books that solely target bringing a high score like a 34 up to a 35 or 36? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Hey man, really all you can do in this kind of situation is buy barrons act 36, go over all the hard concepts or whatever and take tons of practice tests. Could you please explain to me your method of programming your calculator?</p>
<p>Yah, sure. I’ll use hero’s formula as an example. That can take up to several minutes done by hand but once programmed can be done in seconds. Granted, this would be more useful on a test like the SAT II math test, but it may come in handy for the ACT. Some formulas that I have programmed are as follows: Quadratic formula, Brahmagupta’s formula, Stewart’s formula, 2d distance formula, 3d distance formula, slope formula, and a lot more. The basic set up is all the same though; once again, I’ll be using hero’s formula as an example.</p>
<p>1.) Click the PRGM button on your calculator.
2.) Go to New and Create New.
3.) Name it Hero or whatever you want.
4.) Now click PRGM and go to I/O
5.) Select Input and then type “A” into you calculator. Press enter. This must be done with all the variables that are needed. Hero’s formula simply needs the sides “A”, “B”, and “C”. Do the same thing that you did with A for B and C. Press enter after each one.
6.) Note that Hero’s formula also requires the semi-perimeter of the triangle. You will need to define a variable, “s”, as the semi-perimeter. Type in the following-
((A+B+C)/2) Then press the STO> button on your calculator. Now type the letter S. Now press enter.
7.) Now type in the following, making sure to use parentheses when necessary. Type in a square root symbol. It should automatically have a parenthesis after it. After that, type the following:
(S-A)(S-B)(S-C)(S)) Then click STO> and any letter. Let’s use V. Press enter.
8.) Now press PRGM, I/O, Disp. Now type in “AREA”,V
9.) You now have a working program that can be run by going to PRGM, EXEC, then clicking on the name of the program.</p>
<p>This may seem complicated, but trust me, after the first couple times, it gets quite easy. For example, if someone were to ask me to program this into their calculator, I could do it in under a minute. If you get stuck or have trouble understanding what I said, please feel free to ask me.</p>
<p>And a note: the calculator will always give the answer in a decimal, even though the test may ask for an answer with a radical. So if your calculator gives you a decimal and you need an answer with a radical, do the following: </p>
<p>Ex: You have 5.291502622 as an answer. All of your answer choices are in radical form. Square it any you will get 28. That means that your answer is the root of 28. You can then simplify that to 2 root 7.</p>
<p>Honestly dude, once you get to a high enough score, it’s all individual effort and studying that helps. It sounds cliche, and it is, but that’s really the only way you’ll bring it up. There aren’t any “tips or tricks” you need to learn. You find your own methods, what works for you best, and just keep practicing. Programming your calc is helpful but it isn’t necessary if you know all your stuff, you know?. And that’s the best way. Just know all your stuff, have a little luck, and you’ll be set. I got a high score on my first time and my best advice is when you study, look over your mistakes and iffy answers like CRAZY. I would take tests, and circle the questions I was unsure about. After finishing it, I would mark the wrong answers through a parent, and redo the questions without knowing the answer. Afterwards, I looked at the explanations for all my iffy questions (including the ones I got right), and my wrong answers. The ACT is predictable, and its easy if you know the test well. Also, on the actual ACT, have a motivation. What is this test doing for you? What’s your reward? My biggest motivation was going to Japan for the summer-- sounds stupid but thats the #1 place I wanted to be, and my parents told me I couldn’t go there unless I got a good act score. Got me really into the test and concentration on test day. That’s my advice.</p>
<p>When you score 33-35, you are perfectly capable of scoring a 36.</p>
<p>Are there any specific rules that you know you are missing in english? Is there a trig or alg 2 concept you cannot figure out? </p>
<p>Reading and Science, you can continue to practice… hopefully you’ll be lucky. </p>
<p>On practice ACT exams i score between 30-36 on the reading section and 25-32 on science, but my english and math scores have been periodically going up.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for this indepth reply! I, as well as many other CC’ers as well, am in your debt.</p>
<p>Math comes quite easily for me and I plan on majoring in applied mathematics. I have been able to get a 36 on math ever since sophomore year. That is not the problem. But the other three sections always seem to have questions in there that I don’t get and bring me down to a 33 or something around there.</p>
<p>You don’t need to take prep programs if you want to raise a 34 to a 35 or 36. (because prep programs don’t target this small percentage) Getting a 35 is possible with practice (which is all you can basically do). Getting a 36 requires a lot of skill and a a little luck.</p>
<p>Barron’s 36 is probably the book you want.</p>
<p>Science, if ur any good at science, read the questions and read the graphs and data. You’ll get the hang of it after practice. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and get a perfect, other times you’ll get more than a few wrong, science is one of the less predictable sections and hardest to prepare for IMO, but you can get a good range practicing. For reading, read the passage as fast as you can, and as you read, try and remember the crap they send at you. Honestly, reading is just how fast can you read, comprehend, and remember the stuff, no critical reading crap. English is easy to improve, learn the grammar, take note of the tricky problems they send at you on english, and BAM done. On the english section, over half the answers are no change, and the other half is just recycled concepts.</p>