Success on the ACT requires a great deal of knowledge and the proper test-taking tactics. I will tell you about five such tactics today, presented here in no particular order.
Tip #1- Stop skimming
The ACT is a test of attention to detail. If you skim over the passages, you will miss crucial facts, which will cause you to answer incorrectly. The best strategy is to slow down and read closer. But, you might say, if I slow down, I won’t be able to finish the whole test in time. That brings me to my second piece of advice.
Tip #2- Stop worrying about finishing the test
If you are like most students, you believe that you have to finish the test to be successful. However, this is an incorrect belief. Most students rush through the easy questions at the beginning, only to be stuck on the hard questions at the end. How else could it be that the majority of students score a 21 or less—meaning they answered correctly on less than half the questions—unless they were missing easy points at the start? That is why my advice is slow down and spend more time on the earlier questions.
You may be surprised to learn how few questions you need to get correct in order to get a 28.
On reading, you need to do 3 out of 4 passages.
On science, you need to do 5 out of 7 passages.
On math, you need to do 40 out of 60 questions.
On English, you need to do 4 out of 5 passages.
These calculations assume you will get all the questions you attempt correct, and you will guess on the remaining questions. Still, I hope this shows you that the bar to getting an ACT you’re proud of is much lower than you might have thought.
Tip #3- Skip questions
At first, skipping questions can be awkward, but mastering this skill is vitally important. When most students get stuck on a question, they will, after much deliberation, put a wrong answer, then rush through several questions in a vain bid to catch up, only to get those questions wrong because they missed a few details. You can avoid this all too common-pitfall by simply recognizing when a question will take you longer than a minute, marking it, and returning to it later.
Tip #4- Use a 3-Round System
I recommend you skip questions using a 3-round system. In the first round, you should answer the easy questions that you can do quickly. In the second round, you should answer the questions you know but take longer to answer. Assuming you have enough time for a third round, you should only have 3 to 5 unanswered questions. On these problems, you can probably figure out even though you don’t have a definite method to get the question.
But you, my ever-inquisitive reader, might ask, what should I do if time is running out and I still do not know how to solve a problem? Do you have any advice on guessing? And to your questions, I would respond with an emphatic yes. Of course, I have some wisdom to bestow regarding the manner in which you should guess on questions. Read on to my final piece of advice!
Tip #5- Don’t Guess C
Every school in America tells students to guess C or the middle answer on a test. Our friends over at the ACT are well aware of this. They will seldom make C the correct answer on the last ten math problems or other questions they know students will guess on. In light of this fact, the best guessing strategy is to pick one non-C letter and use that letter for every question you do not know how to do or do not have time to answer.
And there you have it!
Written by Matthew Conner
