ACT Math Studying

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wmap

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Sep 5, 2022
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Hey, everyone

Since the beginning of this year, I've been studying for the English and Math sections of the ACT - English more than math. I've raised my English score up 10 points and it's continuing to rise; my math score, however, has barely risen. For the past month, I've only been studying for the Math section and it has been difficult. My study sessions don't seem as productive and all over the place given the amount of material on this test. Despite, having a tutor, multiple great resources, and studying at least 2 hours a day, I haven't seen much progress. I've found myself to be much better at English and Math. There are just so many different concepts in the Math section.

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or has experienced something similar and how they overcame it. Thanks.
 
Yes, the SAT is a good option as noted. I assume you will use Kahn Academy to prepare. Also, you might try Paul's Online Math Notes (https://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/) for math insights. For the ACT, my students have found the Princeton Review, Premium ACT Prep 2023 book to be very helpful.

Lastly, as a former AF Academy Physics (Associate) Professor, I can tell you that to be successful with math or any STEM topics, you must 'work' the problems. You must be an "active learner"-- read the textbook and follow each example that the author presents to you. Stop and use a pencil and paper to repeat the process of solving the problem (with the book closed). Ensure that you understand the steps and the 'how & why' of each one. Ideally, you would reverse the problem, and start with the 'result' and solve for the initial conditions set by the author.

Best of luck with your testing!
 
My oldest is a math guy - was a 2x state math champ and studied math for four years at Oxford. He did not achieve a perfect score on the ACT math section.

According to him, the math concepts on the ACT weren't difficult, but the skill that you needed to master was time management. 60 questions in 60 minutes is a lot and you have to keep up a quick pace. Practice in chunks to develop your pace. Try to do 10 questions in 10 minutes, then 15 in 15, and so forth. Like training for a marathon. Get to the point where you can comfortably finish an entire section in the allotted time. Circle back on the topics where you struggle or consistently get questions wrong (certain geometry or trig concepts as an example).
 
8th Wing Refugee said:
My oldest is a math guy - was a 2x state math champ and studied math for four years at Oxford. He did not achieve a perfect score on the ACT math section.

According to him, the math concepts on the ACT weren't difficult, but the skill that you needed to master was time management. 60 questions in 60 minutes is a lot and you have to keep up a quick pace. Practice in chunks to develop your pace. Try to do 10 questions in 10 minutes, then 15 in 15, and so forth. Like training for a marathon. Get to the point where you can comfortably finish an entire section in the allotted time. Circle back on the topics where you struggle or consistently get questions wrong (certain geometry or trig concepts as an example).
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This is 100% true for both the SAT and ACT. I always tell my students that they are finding the right answer, not solving the problem like they would in my math classes. The math concepts tested are mostly algebra with some geometry, trig, and advanced math thrown in. One of my favorite resources is the ACT Prep Black Book (there is also one for the SAT). The author explains how to attack each problem in a time-efficient manner and focuses on test taking techniques. He does have a "toolbox" section that I have my students go over to make sure they truly understand the underlying math concepts. I have found that geometry is lacking right now due to COVID learning so we cover a great deal of that. The best test-prep I've found is taking timed tests and going through each missed or guessed question.

FYI: the SAT gives more time per question but frames the questions in a slightly trickier manner. This is why it is a good idea to take both and see which is better for you.
 
Thanks, everyone. This is all really helpful.

One more thing: Is there any recommendations of how to study for the ACT Math section? For example, I've been trying my best to work on one topic then move on to another topic once I feel comfortable and this hasn't been working out as well as I hoped it would. Thanks.
 
8th Wing Refugee said:
My oldest is a math guy - was a 2x state math champ and studied math for four years at Oxford. He did not achieve a perfect score on the ACT math section.

According to him, the math concepts on the ACT weren't difficult, but the skill that you needed to master was time management. 60 questions in 60 minutes is a lot and you have to keep up a quick pace. Practice in chunks to develop your pace. Try to do 10 questions in 10 minutes, then 15 in 15, and so forth. Like training for a marathon. Get to the point where you can comfortably finish an entire section in the allotted time. Circle back on the topics where you struggle or consistently get questions wrong (certain geometry or trig concepts as an example).
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Going off what 8th Wing Refugee said. As the test progresses, the questions get harder, so by the time you take the real test, the rule I had was the first 20 questions in 10 minutes. (they are the easier ones) Second 20 in 20 minutes, and last 20 in 30 minutes. At least, that is what I did and I scored 30+ on exams.
 
One thing our tutor told DS was that he was overthinking the ACT Math problems and that ACT Math isn't Calculus, but geometry and algebra. DS biggest problem was just running out of time. But realizing that he needed to think more in Algebraic terms definitely helped him improve his score.
 
Math, physics, dynamics, statics, thermo, etc.... only ONE way to learn them - same way you learn to shoot a basketball or throw a curve ball - practice, practice and more practice. And more practice. Practice the problems in as many different formats as possible. Practice until you're sick of it and then take a short break. Then practice some more. Frankly, there is no excuse for not getting a 36 on your math ACT, except running out of practice time. But every time you fail to get the incorrect answer, you need to forensically discovery why that happened and where it happened - every time. Never let not getting it correct (also know in some parlance as a "failure") go by without learning why that happened.
 
First off, improving 10 points on ACT English is amazing! Anyways, it's been over a decade since I took the ACT but here's what I remember about how to do well on it:

Math was the section that was the biggest time crunch for me on the test. It's 60 minutes for 60 questions. If you don't know how to do all the concepts covered, then study up on how to do those. Test prep books are pretty helpful for that from what I've heard. Also videos on people explaining concepts like other posters mentioned already. You also want to be able to do problems fast. You're looking for the quickest way to solve them, which may differ from what you've been taught in high school math classes.

After you have the concepts down, practice, practice, practice! Use old tests that you can get access to and prep books with tons of questions. Just keep doing practice problems so you get really fast at them. Good news is you get a 4-function calculator on the test which is useful for math that you can't solve quickly by hand.

Lastly, when taking the test, if you are stuck on a question, take an educated guess, bubble it in on the scantron so you don't leave it blank, circle the question in your book, and move on to the next one. Then, if you have time at the end, come back to it and do what you can. Spending a lot of time on 1 question to solve it perfectly isn't worth being unable to attempt multiple other questions due to a lack of time. "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough"
 
Become an ace of the easiest first. Bulletproof yourself against missing questions in the areas you're already good at. This shouldn't take long. Work your way up to harder concepts. Take your time to understand the concepts before you put yourself under time pressure. Once you've got it down, practice under time.

Often, you don't have to be precise, you just have to recognize a concept. Example: you may only need to know what quadrant of a graph an answer should fall in and not the exact numerical coordinates or maybe just know what shape a graph should be. You can quickly eliminate some answers and focus on others.

Review what went right and what went wrong. A score by itself does not provide learning.

If you see a question that gives you an immediate negative gut feeling move past it within 5 seconds, making sure you've marked it as a "come back to".

Do math in your daily life in real-world situations whenever numbers come up. When you're ordering at Chick-filet, figure out how much the bill will be including tax. This doesn't help directly with quadratic equations but increases your comfort and visualization of math.

Also, after you have found the answer to a question, look at the number of the question one last time as you go to mark it on your test sheet. Many people have been laid low by marking the wrong question.

Kudos to your efforts and awesome job raising your written score!
 
Standardized tests measure your grasp of various basic concepts you learn all during high school. If you aren't a top student in Math or English you also need to be honest with yourself about your skill level and potential results on such tests. No amount of studying/tips/tricks is going to magically transform you into a top student if you have been mediocre in those areas all during high school. Taking those tests mutiple times may make you more comfortable about the overall format/time management/etc. but that doesn't guarantee your results will always improve.
 
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