<p>I am a high school senior who just took the ACT for his sixth time this Saturday. I have done quite a bit of prep, and on the last few ACTs I’ve taken, found I’ve finished with plenty of time to spare. On a standardized test like the ACT, time management is as important as understanding the concepts needed to do well on the test. Without it, even the best students will struggle on these types of tests</p>
<p>I created this thread so members could share tips for saving time on the ACT. Below is what I have to offer. By no means is it perfect, so feel free to jump in and share your advice!</p>
<p>General Tips</p>
<p>Triage
I use what test preperation experts call triage. Triage is a French term I first learned about working in the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) at a hospital. Basically a triage is done when something tragic such as a plane crash occurs and there are a lot of victims but limited resources. Essentially what happens is the hopeless (either dead or too injured to be helped) are put aside and everyone else is helped based on the gravity of their injuries (most serious are helped first obviously). You don’t have to remember this, but just pretend every question on the test is a victim that must be helped. You want to answer as many as you can in the time allotted, but you know each question is worth the same despite how long it takes you to answer it. So if you find yourself stuck on a question, bubble something in and move on. I will often place a small dot on my answer sheet next to the question number reminding me to go back to it during my spare time. I always make sure to erase them before time is called, but I doubt they would interfere with scoring.</p>
<p>Time Keeping
Some people recommend bringing a watch, others don’t. Personally, I’ve never used a watch. I think having a watch or clock to look at would be too distracting because I would be constantly looking at it to see how much time remained instead of focusing on the questions. Besides, I have taken the test enough times that I can approximate about how much time is left.</p>
<p>Pencils
Have at least two pencils, preferably three. Though ACT says not to use mechanical pencils, I’ve used them before and haven’t run into any issues. However, I recommend using regular pencils because those have wider tips that can fill in bubbles faster. For the writing, however, use mechanical because I find I write faster and neater with one.</p>
<p>Practice Tests
Take plenty of practice tests, and then take some more. ACT has an offical practice test you can download on their website, and you may even be able to buy old tests from them. I have a stack of ten or twelve offical practice tests from several years ago that my sister received taking a prep class. The Real ACT book also has some practice tests. The tests found in other prep books are of varying quality. You may want to check with your guidance office as they may have some official practice tests laying around, too. Despite the temptation, do not write on the practice tests. They can be taken again so long as you wait long enough (a year or two) to have sufficiently forgotten the answers.</p>
<p>Before the Test
Try to get a good night’s sleep. I am usually unable to, but get at least seven hours, preferably more. You may want to start a good sleep routine up to a week before the test. An eight hour sleep before the test is decent, but if you only got three or four hours the previous night, you will feel it on test day.</p>
<p>On test day, eat a decent breakfast and be on time for the test. Don’t freak out. It’s just a test. Don’t let it dominate you. You are the one who signed up to take it (unless your parents made you). Don’t let several dozen sheets of paper stapled together and a sheet full of circles intimidate you. Ferocious tigers, mountain lions, and sharks are intimidating. Tests are not.</p>
<p>General Section Tips</p>
<p>English
I finished this section about ten or fifteen minutes early this weekend and scored a 35 the last time I took it. Here’s my advice:
- Practice, practice, practice, practice! I had taken the English so many times before that I barely had to glance at the questions to know what was being asked.
- Triage. You have 2700 seconds (45 minutes) to answer 75 questions. That is 36 seconds per question. Some questions can be answered in two seconds, but others might require more time to think about. If you find yourself stalling on a question, bubble something in, mark it go back to later, and move on.
- Don’t go too fast. I find that when I feel rushed, I tend to make foolish mistakes. Every question I have gotten wrong on my English practice tests resulted from me going too fast and missing a comma or an apostrophe. These were generally correction questions where the test writers snuck in a common barely visible to my speeding eyes. Whenever I ran into a question like this, I slowed down for a few seconds to make sure I didn’t miss any punctuation in the choices and had the correct answer.</p>
<p>Math
- Again, take practice tests.
- The importance of triage on this section cannot be stressed enough. Some math questions may take two seconds to solve but others too seconds. However, you only have one minute to spend on each question and all questions are weighted equally. If you don’t know how to solve a problem or keep on getting an answer not in the choices, make a logical guess and move on.
- Use your calculator sparingly. I did a good part of the math section mentally. One question, for example, might ask, “What is 150% of 100?” Many test takers would immediately whip out their calculator and punch the numbers in. The better thing to do would be to realize that 50% of 100 is 50 so 150% of that number must be 150.
- Read the question and choices carefully. I will sometimes do more work than necessary or find a question impossible because I thought the question was asking me something incredibly difficult. Often times the question will be require you to do less work than you originally thought, which can be ascertained by looking at the answers.</p>
<p>Reading
- Triage by reading the passages you like or are best at first. I generally do the science and social science passages first. After focusing on the previous section, doing the prose and humanities readings was like jumping into a cold swimming pool, so I use the easier science and social science ones to warm up first, and then went into the deep end more prepared.
- Actually read the passages, but do so quickly.
- Concentrate. If you have a clear mind and read the passages for the right details, you will not have to look back at them as often. It is easier to read the passages the first go around than have to search aimlessly for a little detail you would have remembered had you actually read it. Also, if your mind is somewhere else, you will find yourself having to read things over and over again.
- Use common sense. If a passage is about bird watching in Florida, a question asks you which type of bird was NOT mentioned, and penguin is a choice, pick penguin. Some answers are so obvious that you shouldn’t go back to the passage and check them. On questions where you make logical inferences like this, mark them and only check them if you have time at the end.</p>
<p>Science
This is the hardest section for me.
- Triage both the sections and the questions.
- With the exception of the fighting scientist passage, do not read the paragraphs. I generally skim through them. Where I do spend my time is the charts and graphs. Look over them, understand what they mean, and look for basic trends.
- Again, concentrate. If you’re not focused, you will have trouble comprehending the information.
- Take a lot of practice tests. The science section can be very intimidating, but in reality it just asks you easy questions masked in complicated jargon. Practice will help you overcome this intimidation and give you confidence. </p>
<p>Conclusion</p>
<p>I hope this guide is of use to members here. CC has helped me several times in the past, and this guide is my way of giving back.</p>