How hard is it to improve ACT scores?

SAT and ACT Tests & Test Preparation ACT Preparation
#1

Hello! I’m only going into my sophomore year, but my mom bought me an ACT prep book with five practice tests, and I tried out one of them. I calculated my score and I got a 23. I only got 60% correct on the reading test, 68% on the English test, 72.5% on the science test, and 73% correct on the math test.The problem was that I felt rushed, so are there any tips to working faster while answering correctly? Is that really bad? It sure seems so.

My goal is to boost my score about 9 to 10 points… I would really like to go to UC Berkeley (my dream school is Stanford but I don’t know how likely it is for me to get accepted there). How hard is it to boost the score that much? I do have more than a year to prepare and study for it.

Also, if I did better on the math and science tests than on the English and reading tests, does that mean I wouldn’t do as well on the SAT?

Please let me know, thank you!

#2

@ilovepie15 I applaud your starting your test prep early. Yes, you can certainly improve with practice!

The red ACT book is a good place to start. Time yourself for each section, and review what you got wrong.

I suggest you also take a practice SAT test and see how you do. Then you can decide which test is better for you.

#3

Thank you so much for the advice!

#4

You’re welcome and good luck

#5

You’re only going to sophomore year - you still have a good year, maybe a year and a half before you need to start taking the test. In that time, you’ll learn a bunch from school and your own experiences (even if you don’t know it).

That being said, it’s good that you’re starting to prepare early. You should learn the concepts of the test before taking practice ones. Barron’s likes to overprep - I’d suggest doing the entire book (all the practice and tips) to prepare.