11 Helpful tips to prepare for the ACT

The American College Testing is an exam for admissions in the colleges of the US. It was first introduced in 1959. It measures the readiness of the students of the high school to enter the college. Here are 11 Helpful tips to prepare for the ACT:

Make a plan

Take a look at the entire structure of the test and its components. Familiarize yourself with it. Then, make a plan accordingly. Your plan should focus on all the components and their individual preparation. The plan should not be too rigorous. You should be able to follow it on a regular basis with ease. Take advice from the previous test takers but make a plan tailored to your needs.

Eliminate the wrong ones

While attempting the questions of the ACT, you might face some difficult questions. Sometimes, instead of finding the right answer, you should work on eliminating the wrong ones. This approach is useful as it takes more time to find the right ones than eliminate the wrong options. This is a great advantage that MCQs offer to the test takers. Cross out the wrong options and then guess among the remaining ones.

Easy first

You should answer the easy questions first. Do not get stuck on a difficult question. Instead, just skip that and solve the questions that you can solve in the first attempt. Just mark the questions that you skip so that you do not have any difficulty finding them. Once you have attempted all the questions, you can go back and work out the difficult ones. Usually the hard questions are present after the easy questions. This way the exam gets harder as you proceed further.

Practice

Practicing for the exam is extremely important. There is no alternative for practice. Gather resources and prepare well. Then, practice as much as you can. Give mock tests to simulate the real exam. The mock tests should be timed too. You should be able to finish the mock test within the duration. It will help you assess your preparation. For performing to your full potential, you must practice well and then appear for the exam.

Time management

Divide your time among the questions. You must not spend too much of your time on a question or you will not be able to answer the rest of the questions. Pay attention to the time that you must invest in every section. Usually, you should be able to solve the easy question within 20 seconds and the difficult ones, within two minutes. It is advisable to bring your own clock to the exam.

Be careful while answering

You should never skip reading the whole question. Read it till the end carefully. Go through all the answers. It might be similar to a question you might have practiced but some differences can be present in it. If you mistake it for a similar question, you might end up circling the wrong answer.

Update the knowledge

First of all, you should identify the correct resources for preparation. After that, you should focus on updating your skills. Review the areas that appear in major portions of the exam. Dedicate time to taking up courses in those areas or preparing it yourself using the resources. You should try to update your knowledge but do not try to cram. This is one of the most important tips to prepare for the ACT.

Identify improvement areas

You should give mocks on a regular basis. They will help you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Work on your weaknesses. Figure out what went wrong and try not to repeat it the next time. Along with this, work hard to score full marks in the areas of your strength.

Frequent questions

In the English and the Maths section, there are a lot of concepts that are tested frequently. For example, grammar, geometry, trigonometry, etc. You need to identify these concepts for your preparation. The questions from such concepts are highly predictable. You need to figure out what is already known to you and work rigorously on what you do not know much.

Prepare your mind

Test taking is a skill that is earned over time. Fetching good marks in the exam is not something that can be inherited. Be positive and try to achieve your daily targets. Remember that making mistakes is important for your improvement. The mistakes help you identify the areas in which you must work upon.

Take guesses

There is no negative marking in the exam. Hence, if you cannot solve a question, it does not mean that you do not answer it. Pick up a two letter combination for yourself and stick to it, while answering such questions. You can choose A/F or C/H. If you stick with a combination, you are more likely to score marks for every guess gone right.

There were 11 Helpful tips to prepare for the ACT.