The Best ACT Test-Day Tips to Get a 36

As an ACT veteran, I know a few tips and tricks about how to ace this test. If you want to get a good score, make sure you use every one of those 210 minutes to your advantage. These tips will show you how:

Make sure you know how long each section is and how many questions there will be. Be strategic with your time.

The ACT isn’t all knowledge; there is some strategy to it. The English section is 75 questions with 45 minutes, the Math section is 60 questions with 60 minutes, and the Reading and Science sections are both 40 questions in 35 minutes. Make sure you are aware of these times. Bring a watch to the test or make sure a clock is in the room. The English and Science sections are easier to finish, but the math and reading might leave you in a bind. I would recommend using the first 25 minutes of the math test on the first 30 questions and allotting the rest of the 35 minutes to the last 30 questions. The last 10 questions are the hardest and the first 10 are the easiest, so make sure you know enough to blow through the first 10 questions easily without using much time. For the reading, you don’t have to do an in-depth reading of any passage. Just skim it over to get the main ideas. When you are asked specific questions about the text, you will have to check the passage again for the answer because chances are you won’t remember it from when you read it the first time. To be the most efficient with this, skim the reading before you do the questions and then go back to the reading when asked specific questions.

Fill in the bubble sheet strategically.

After you answer a question, do not fill in the bubble sheet immediately. Answer the questions on the entire page, or in 10s, or 20s, and then fill them out on the bubble sheet all at once. This will decrease the amount of time you waste filling in the bubbles. If your test is on the computer, you do not need to worry about this!

Know your calculator.

There is no time to waste on the math section, and this includes the time on your calculator. Make sure you know where each of the buttons you need is. These buttons include the square root, exponent, sin, cos, tan, pi, and log. (And obviously, the numbers and the operations). All of these buttons will be used on the test one way or another.

Don’t read the science passages.

I know how tempting they look, but don’t read the long paragraphs ahead of all the graphs. Instead, skip straight to the questions, as most of them will just have you read the results of the given graphs. The paragraphs are only there to make you lose time, and you don’t have to fall for this trick. You might get a couple of questions pertaining to the paragraphs, but a good skim will quickly get you the answers to those questions. However, there is one science passage that is only paragraphs, where you have to compare the views of “Student 1,” and “Student 2.” In that passage, start off by skimming their views. Like the reading though, don’t spend too much time on your initial reading as the questions pertaining. to the reading will be specific and you will have to look back at the words anyway (no matter how much time you spend on the first reading).