Should i prepare for the act

Free ACT learning resources are also available to eligible waiver recipients. Disabled individuals who register for the ACT may request specific accommodations for their testing date, such as extended testing time, longer breaks and visual and hearing aids. You are allowed to take the ACT as many times as you wish, and a large number of today's students sit for the exam at least once during both their junior and senior years of high school. More than half of graduating seniors who take the exam more than once manage to increase their composite score on subsequent tests.

You will ultimately decide which score to send to send to colleges and universities, so definitely consider retaking the ACT if you aren't satisfied with your first score. The current ACT covers core skills in five academic areas: English, reading, mathematics, science and essay writing.

The average ACT score in was The Princeton Review offers a college search tool , which includes average ACT scores of enrolled students. The ACT is now available online. While not all school districts offer the online ACT -- after all, it requires computers, special software, and proctor caching capabilities -- most are actively working toward it.

Students should expect this version to become the preferred format for standardized testing as it provides increased security, convenience, and accuracy. It also reduces costs associated with test administration and delivers scores immediately upon completion. The sections of the online ACT -- English, reading, science, math, and optional essay -- are the same as in the paper version. Also like the paper test, students are given pencils and scratch paper for notetaking, and regular breaks are provided.

There are slight differences between the two versions: The online ACT includes a countdown clock, unanswered questions are marked with an orange dot, and students can virtually "cross-off" answers.

Within a controlled setting, schools provide equipment for the online ACT. Each student is given a school-supplied laptop, Chromebook, or computer, as personal laptops are not permitted. The school's local server is also used to give the exams and collect responses, which are then electronically delivered to the main server of Pearson Assessment.

At that point, exams are instantly removed from the school's computers and local server, ensuring student data is encrypted and free from hacking. The online and paper versions of the ACT cost the same. And as with the paper version, the optional writing section requires an additional fee. Other fees, like late registration, may apply. Test preparation materials, including study guides and best practices, are available on ACT's website.

The ACT test is comprised of four timed multiple-choice sections in English, math, reading and science. Students who elect to take the optional writing test will also be asked to answer a writing prompt. Each of the four required sections includes subdivisions designed to test a specific competencies in that particular subject.

Our section-by-section ACT exam breakdown is found below. The English section of the ACT test is comprised of 75 multiple-choice questions that must be completed within 45 minutes. The section covers usage and mechanics of the English language, as well as rhetorical skills.

Your first step with each question should be to eliminate all answers you know to be incorrect. The process of elimination will help you narrow down the list of possible answers, thereby increasing your chances of choosing the correct one if a guess is required. My house was filled with paintings, tapestries and other decorations hanging on the walls; a ceramic kiln in the kitchen; sculptures in the backyard; and bookshelves packed with colorful, hardbound art books.

The dog being anxious whenever its owner leaves the house, so it paces from room to room until he returns. Haskell concluded his diagnostic tests, and told Suzie she would be fine in two or three days 1.

Haskell said to Suzie and her mother as he entered the room 2. He then gave Suzie a piece of candy and sent them on their way 3. Suzie was nervous, and her mother held her hand throughout the examination 4.

The math section of the ACT features 60 questions that must be completed within 60 minutes. The section covers various mathematical and analytical functions found in arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Approved calculators are allowed for the entire section; an extensive list of calculators that are permitted and prohibited can be found here.

Get to know your calculator before the exam; knowing all of its specific functions and shortcuts will save a great deal of time during the testing period. A car averages 27 miles per gallon.

Sales for a business were 3 million dollars more the second year than the first, and sales for the third year were double the sales for the second year. If sales for the third year were 38 million dollars, what were sales, in millions of dollars, for the first year? The reading section includes 40 multiple-choice questions based on four written passages that must be completed within 35 minutes.

The passages are typically comprised of non-fiction humanities, social science and natural science subjects, as well as one fictional passage. The material is comparable to college freshman-level curriculum, and is designed to assess reading comprehension and evaluation skills, rather than acute vocabulary or memorization techniques.

Read each passage as many times as necessary, and use the process of elimination to narrow down possible answer choices. Public debate around climate change and its effects on agriculture tends to focus on the large-scale industrial farms of the North. Farmers who work on a small scale and use traditional methods have largely been ignored.

However, as the world slowly comes to terms with the threat of climate change, Native farming traditions will warrant greater attention. Attention to Native farming practices will lead to greater awareness of the threat of climate change. Popularity of small-scale farming in the North will lead to greater attention to Native farming practices.

Global demand for food will lead to increasing efficiency of large-scale farming in the North. It will be worthwhile to include a greater focus on Native farming practices in public discussions concerning the threat of climate change.

Despite potential climate change, public debate public debate will have little effect on industrial farming practices. A young couple entered the restaurant in Andy's view. They were holding hands. Andy sat back down in his chair. He felt sick.

He turned and faced his father, who was eating soup. What is the most reasonable conclusion to make from the statement in the first paragraph, "He felt sick. Eating soup with his father gave Andy a stomachache. Andy was upset when he saw Jennifer holding hands with Tim. Andy was unhappy about the restaurant his father selected. Andy was upset with Jennifer for making him miss the party. After finishing each test, check your answers and devote ample time to reviewing the questions you got wrong.

If your school does not offer the PSAT test, you can take a practice test online before you start studying for the SAT exam to help guide your plan. The site also has plenty of sample questions to give you an idea of what to expect.

In addition to online resources, there are books, complete with full practice tests based on actual exams from past years that can help you study. The ACT test offers an official prep book. Stumped on what to buy? Ask your high school counselor for a recommendation. If you find it hard to study on your own, you may want to consider taking a test prep class. Some schools offer remote or in-person programs or study groups, and you may also be able to find a privately run prep course in your area.

Tutors are able to focus on exactly what you need to understand to excel, but this type of prep can be expensive. With enough practice problems, you should be able memorize them, which can help save you time during the actual test.

On top of taking practice tests, you should also practice reading challenging books and articles. Keep in mind you will have to undertake a more rigorous study plan if you have a large point improvement to make for example, going from a 22 to a Finally, take the ACT in the fall of your junior year.

If you are short of your goal, you can keep studying and retake it in the spring of your junior year. That will give you time to start working on your college applications after junior year and during the beginning of your senior year. First, either take a practice test as a sophomore, or you can use your Aspire data if your school uses that test, to predict your ACT score. If you seriously struggle with the practice test or Aspire — for example you are predicted to get below a 20, or you got below a 20 on a practice test — begin studying sophomore year.

Otherwise, wait until after sophomore year is over and prep during the summer. How much time you put in during the summer depends on your starting score and the score ranges of your target schools. That means you need to make a three-point improvement, which you can easily accomplish if you study over the summer. Take the ACT junior fall.

How many hours of study you need to put in before the ACT depends on how large a point improvement you want to make. You'll determine this by figuring out the difference between the baseline score you got from your practice test and your target score for the schools you want to get accepted to. You can use the following hours per point improvement recommendations as a starting point.

Read more about ACT scoring here. For example, if you scored a 26 on your practice test and are aiming to get a 29, you'd need a 3 point improvement, which would require about 40 hours of studying. This is just a starting guideline and heavily depends on how much you've prepped before, your starting skill level, and your ability to learn.

If you're looking for a small improvement like 1 point, you can do this by optimizing your testing strategy and possibly even just by retaking the test. But for serious improvements of three points or more, you need to learn a lot of fundamental content.

Little tricks and strategies aren't enough to raise your score - you will need to learn actual material and attack your weaknesses. Think about it this way: the ACT tests academic skills that you've been learning your entire life, like how numbers work and how to read. As a high school junior, you've completed over 20, hours of schooling and homework. An improvement of three or more composite ACT points requires a serious retooling of your knowledge and skills.

If you can't devote at least 80 hours to prepping, you will find it very difficult to make huge score improvements.

Once you know how many hours you'll need to study and when you want to take the ACT, you can then figure out how many hours you want to study a week and use that to find the date you should begin studying. For example, if you estimate that you'll need to study 40 hours and you can get in about four hours of studying a week, you'd need to begin studying for the ACT about 10 weeks or 2. During your ACT studying, it's important that you cover each of the main topics tested on the exam.

In this section we go over the major topics you'll be tested on in each of the ACT's four main sections. Use this information to figure out what you already know and what you still need to learn to do well on the ACT. The reading section of the ACT consists of 40 passage-based reading questions.

You'll have 35 minutes to complete the section. The first type asks you questions on what is directly stated in the reading. This could take the form of having you find significant details, understand the meaning of words or phrases, or understand the sequence of events and cause-and-effect relationships. The second type asks questions about what is implied.

Your task is to read a passage quickly and be able to understand and interpret it. Having two years of high school English under your belt by the time you take the test junior year is ideal. English classes also help you understand increasingly complex books and stories, which will help you decode ACT Reading passages.

Any extra reading you do outside of class will also help you prepare for this section. You can read our detailed breakdown of the Reading section here. The math section of the ACT tests pre-algebra including data collection and basic statistics , algebra, and some algebra II concepts. It also tests coordinate geometry, plane geometry, and trigonometry.