ACT Madness

By: Amel Fazlagic, News Editor

Photographer: http://mmhs.nebo.edu/node/83

Photographer: http://mmhs.nebo.edu/node/83

Every year around this time, the ACT causes panic for Juniors as they plan for college. The right preparation, however, greatly reduces stress.

Colleges look at the ACT during the application process. This timed test consists of an English, Math, and Science section. The English test contains a reading sub-section and a grammar sub-section. Many high schoolers worry about the difficulty of the ACT.

Students often stress about time management. Since there are many questions, and little time to answer these questions, it can be difficult to answer all of the questions in the given amount of time. In addition to that, the ACT is a long test. Without breaks, the whole tests lasts two hours and fifty five minutes. Test takers need test endurance.

When preparing for the test, students should take account of all the difficulties included in the tests. These challenges are placed for a reason, and the only way to overcome them is by practicing. To start, students should buy an ACT prep book. The Real Act Prep Guide is highly recommended. It contains content review, strategies, and practice tests. Also, this book is not expensive; it can be found for about twenty dollars on Amazon.

Next, it is important to create a consistent study plan. With three weeks left, it is important to practice every day before the test. Students should take school events into consideration. A minimum amount of thirty minutes should be spent studying per day.

Towards the beginning of the study process, students need to familiarize themselves with test content and basic strategies. Furthermore, students should look over each test to understand how it will function. This process sets up the other study steps.

Next, it is time to apply your knowledge while doing some broad content coverage. Students should take practice tests and questions from the book. Towards the beginning, more emphasis should be placed on content and less on time. About twenty questions should be solved per day from each practice test. If a students gets the question wrong, he or she should go over the question and and understand what went wrong. The Real Act Prep Guide is particularly useful for this process, because it has explanations for every question.

Finally, with about a week away from the test, students must start intensifying the study process. At this point, students should start timing themselves and taking full practice tests. This helps with time management.

These are just general tips that can be specified and modified. However, by taking practice tests, going over the basic content, and familiarizing themselves with the test, students will surely benefit when test day comes around.