Your Comprehensive Guide to the ACT

Conclusion

As I'm sure you're incredibly tired of hearing by now, the ACT is all about question types. It's simply a matter of learning how to recognize them and the simple answers to get to the right answer. However, don't be fooled. There are some basic abilities a student must have before they reach a certain level on the ACT: basic math, reading, and critical thinking skills. Fortunately these skills are basic and can be learned well enough in a short amount of time to see major increases.

If you or your child is planning on taking the exam soon (as most soon-to-be seniors certainly are), the first thing you should do is see where you stand. Take a practice test, but just make sure it's a REAL ACT. You can five of them in the The Real ACT book (you can find the link in my FAQs), or you can contact me for one for free. The more of these basic skills you have (particularly in math), the better along you already are. The easier time you'll have learning the proper test taking strategies that have been so successful for so many of my students.

Two months is an ideal amount of time before the exam to begin preparation. One 1.5 hour session per week, with a good amount of homework and a 2 or 3 full-length practice tests, is a sufficient amount of preparation for nearly anyone. For students who are already scoring very high (28 or 29+), beginning this early allows them sufficient time and the option to decrease the frequency of meetings as they reach their desired level of performance.

If there's anything I can leave you with, it's this: anyone can improve their scores. This test is learnable because of its repetitiveness. Learn how the test composed and how to exploit it. Please give me a call, text, or email for answers to any questions you might have or for a practice test. I'd love to help in anyway I can.