September ACT High Scorers

guitarman89
Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:00:32 +0000

Well, I got a 31, not sure if that qualifies as a high score, but whatever

I didn’t study a whole lot or use any books, but I went from a 28 first two times to a 31 this time, mostly because I went from a 23 to a 30 in reading.

A tip on the reading - seriously - pretend that what you are reading is the most interesting thing you’ve ever read in your life. The torture only lasts for 35 minutes. The first time I took the ACT reading, I became easily frustrated at the blandness of the passages, but this time I blocked everything out of my mind and focused only on gathering every bit of information in the articles. Then, after reading, I went straight to the questions and because I read the passages so intently, I knew exactly where almost all of the answers were. This method won’t work for everyone, but it certainly helped me raise my score 7 points.

The English is probably the easiest section to improve upon. This is really about the only section I practiced. After taking a few practice tests, you’ll begin to realize that the English section is very repetitive and will see that the same ideas are repeated over and over again. In short, take practice tests and you’ll begin to become much more familiar with the types of questions that will be asked and will get a higher score. Seriously, in the English section, the exact same questions are asked regarding grammar, sentence structure, etc, only they are presented in a different sentence or story. Also, the same types of rhetorical questions are asked, like "if the author intended to write an essay about why _____, would this be an appropriate essay? Just take practice tests and you’ll become very familiar with the format of this section of the exam. You’ve got plenty of time. You’re only a junior.

Math, I’m naturally awesome at math, so I really have no strategies to give you. I did absolutely no studying or any prep for this and received a 34+ all three times I took the ACT.

Science - get lucky - I did and got a 31 on it.