Advice for improving ACT scores

B

Braves fan

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Messages
35
I am a current junior planning on applying to the academy. I took my first ACT earlier this month and just got scores back. My composite was a 26. My English was good at a 32, but my math was only a 24 which I recognize is not good enough to get in to the academy. (English and math are the only scores that matter correct?) I know for the SAT Khan Academy is very good, but what about the ACT? Everything I have heard is that the official ACT prep is not very helpful. Can someone tell me what they did to improve their scores? Mainly just the math portion. Also, I have taken the SAT and only got an 1160. I prefer the ACT over the SAT and want to focus on it. Thanks.
 
Braves fan said:
I am a current junior planning on applying to the academy. I took my first ACT earlier this month and just got scores back. My composite was a 26. My English was good at a 32, but my math was only a 24 which I recognize is not good enough to get in to the academy. (English and math are the only scores that matter correct?) I know for the SAT Khan Academy is very good, but what about the ACT? Everything I have heard is that the official ACT prep is not very helpful. Can someone tell me what they did to improve their scores? Mainly just the math portion. Also, I have taken the SAT and only got an 1160. I prefer the ACT over the SAT and want to focus on it. Thanks.
Click to expand...
First off, for English make sure your able to consistently get high 30s. For this, I recommend Erica Meltzers English ACT Book. I used this to get a 36 on the English and was able to completely focus on Math alone. For Math, I struggled as well but I used Khan Academy’s normal lessons for concepts I didn’t know. I then practiced using real and third party ACT math questions. Ended up with a 33. It’s all about time commitment and how bad you want it. Never had access to a tutor so can’t comment on that.
 
Braves fan said:
I am a current junior planning on applying to the academy. I took my first ACT earlier this month and just got scores back. My composite was a 26. My English was good at a 32, but my math was only a 24 which I recognize is not good enough to get in to the academy. (English and math are the only scores that matter correct?) I know for the SAT Khan Academy is very good, but what about the ACT? Everything I have heard is that the official ACT prep is not very helpful. Can someone tell me what they did to improve their scores? Mainly just the math portion. Also, I have taken the SAT and only got an 1160. I prefer the ACT over the SAT and want to focus on it. Thanks.
Click to expand...
.
Use KahnAcademy right now for daily Math practice. Do the 3 or 4 sections of practice daily, then do the 11-15 question quiz afterwards each day .... No exceptions. ACT and SAT math questions are very similar.

Get a book of ACT practice exams (Old Tests). Do one of those every 2 weeks. You should be able to get a hold of 10+ old tests.
.
 
echo the advice above. Once you have command of the concepts - in both Math and English - it becomes a question of puyre repetition. Take enough practice tests and you will see that the patterns - similar question types designed to probe similar issue sets - become very clear. once you understand how to solve for the problem types that give you trouble, you will be set. and remember - the math section questions get gradually harder throughout the section. English does not. So the trick to high math scores is perfection through the first 25 questions or so, do not give up any points there through sloppiness
 
I highly recommend the College Panda's ACT Math: Advanced Guide and Workbook. If you are able to get one, a tutor is helpful to help you figure out what your weak spots are and zero in on them. If you are not able to get a tutor, I would recommend identifying what types of questions you are missing and making sure you know how to solve them next time. I took a lot of practice tests to see what questions I was getting wrong and correcting them.

I wasn't quite ready to take the ACT because I wanted to be able to study a bit more for the math section, but I'm glad I did because it was the last one before everything was cancelled due to COVID. I only got to take the test once because the tests I signed up for keep getting cancelled, but I know that if I had spent more time I would've gotten a better score on that portion. I got a 34 composite with a 31 math, 35 reading, 34 science, and 34 English.
 
Continue doing tons of practice exams and you’ll notice the patterns of how they ask questions on the same material. Then make sure you have all those concepts mastered. Repetition will improve your skills and prime your brain to answer questions the way the ACT asks them. Use your calculator to save yourself time, the some of the ones you’re allowed to use like the TI-84 can make many problems effortless if you know how to use it.

Another strategy if you find yourself getting mentally fatigued before you even get to math section, would be to simply put your head down and rest during the English section since it comes first. Going in with a fresh mind might give you a bit of an edge. A little unorthodox but it could help some people. If you do this, I’d only recommend sending the scores to colleges that superscore including USNA.
 
I can't really add much to the great advice above (practice, practice, practice!). But as a point of encouragement, our DS got a 26 composite on his first unprepared try and was able to move it up to a 34 composite (natural, not superscore) by thorough preparation (no formal prep courses, just practice tests and the College Board prep book). So it can be done!
 
Kierkegaard said:
....
Another strategy if you find yourself getting mentally fatigued before you even get to math section, would be to simply put your head down and rest during the English section since it comes first. Going in with a fresh mind might give you a bit of an edge. A little unorthodox but it could help some people. If you do this, I’d only recommend sending the scores to colleges that superscore including USNA.
Click to expand...
.
@Kierkegaard ... no, please no to this strategy.

Decent scores across the board in “One SAT/ACT” sitting will always trump superscoring. The SAs and colleges can see when the test taker is gaming the system.

The SAT/ACT was always meant to be a Marathon.

You can’t win at a Triathlon, or Life, by picking and choosing this way .... it’s just plain wrong .... plain wrong I say again.
.
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
.
@Kierkegaard ... no, please no to this strategy.

Decent scores across the board in “One SAT/ACT” sitting will always trump superscoring. The SAs and colleges can see when the test taker is gaming the system.

The SAT/ACT was always meant to be a Marathon.

You can’t win at a Triathlon, or Life, by picking and choosing this way .... it’s just plain wrong .... plain wrong I say again.
.
Click to expand...

By definition if a College superscores, then there is no difference to them whether your scores came from the same test date. If they view it differently then that’s not superscoring and they’d be violating their own policy. It’s reasonable to take the Admissions Office at their word that they look only at the high scores for both sections when evaluating candidates. Anything else is conjecture.

That said, I tend to agree it’s a bit of a “wise-guy” strategy. However it is allowed under the rules and anyone is free to do it if they so choose, so I don’t think it creates any moral dilemmas. I honestly don’t think it would make much of a difference in scores anyway, but successful people make use of every fair advantage available to them. If an applicant wants to maximize their competitiveness for admission and believes going into a section fresh would help them, who are we to judge?
 
Dr. Strange Love said:
.
@Kierkegaard ... no, please no to this strategy.

Decent scores across the board in “One SAT/ACT” sitting will always trump superscoring. The SAs and colleges can see when the test taker is gaming the system.

The SAT/ACT was always meant to be a Marathon.

You can’t win at a Triathlon, or Life, by picking and choosing this way .... it’s just plain wrong .... plain wrong I say again.
.
Click to expand...
Unless you are a brilliant student and can ace the standardized tests on the first try you should use the rules to your benefit. It is a competition for appointments, you wouldn’t fight Mike Tyson with one hand tied behind your back. All this being said my DS is a 3rd time reapplicant to SA and with this December ACT test he has taken the ACT test 12 times! DS raised his score from 21 to 33 over these 3 years. I do not know if he will receive an appointment this time around but I do know that he would not be receiving an appointment if he didn’t improve his ACT. DS was not lucky enough to be selected for Prep School the previous cycles nor does he have the advantage of being a recruited athlete. DS is in ROTC and doing well but his dream is WP, he realized he needed to greatly improve his test scores and he did. My advice to any SA candidate is to not give up, study hard and retake the tests as many times as you can. JMO
 
Another issue is whether taking it easy for one section is really helpful for the other.

I thought I read where that strategy doesn’t help. It’s better to try to do your best on every part.
 
Oldest son who is a very good standardized test taker said that ACT was really more of a time management exercise than an academic challenge. All about learning how to take the test to get through as many questions as possible. For example, on a math question, rather than trying to solve the problem for the exact answer, try to rule out choices quickly so you are left with only one potential answer. Definitely practice under timed conditions to get used to the pace.
 
For math, definitely use Khan Academy religiously as mentioned above. Do the practices daily and a practice test every other week. Make sure to do the practice tests with the same time constraints as you’ll have on test day, eliminate all distractions, and wear similar clothes to what you intend to wear on test day to develop an “ACT” locked in mindset. Worked for me for the SAT, sure it applies to the ACT as well.
 
1. Questions
2. Questions
3. Questions
4. Questions
Oh, and then do questions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top