Life is busy. You have school, extracurriculars, a social life, hobbies, parents to keep happy, homework to complete, TV to watch, etc., etc. It’s hard enough to balance all this, having to add standardized test preparation to the equation can be overwhelming and chaotic. It doesn’t have to be. It’s a long road to a great score on the ACT, but with enough preparation, this road doesn’t have to be a tough one. Here’s how to create a study schedule that works for you.

Get out ahead of the test by creating a study schedule early. OK, this is easier said than done. Some of us are procrastinators. We wait until the last minute to get things done, we stay up all night the day before a big assignment is due instead of spending an hour every night on it in the week leading up to the due date. Again, that’s OK. We’re all human, and we’re all different. If you know that you’re a procrastinator, this is the time to finally start something ahead of time. Studying for a couple hours every weekend is much more valuable than cramming for eight hours every night the week of your test date. As we discuss in our online course, one of the worst mistakes students make is pulling an all-nighter the Friday before the test, trying to cram in math equations, science terms, and punctuation rules. Being well rested is essential for success, don’t put yourself at a disadvantage.

​ Welcome to the ACT Science test, where you’ll see complicated graphs, dry text, and arguing scientists. The big secret to the ACT Science test is this: it’s a glorified reading test. There’s very little actual science knowledge you’ll need to know to succeed on this section. ​

The Basics

​ The test is 35 minutes long, consisting of 40 questions split over 7 passages. The passages you’ll see on the ACT Science Test can be sorted into three different categories: ​ Research Summary, which asks you to evaluate the design, data, and conclusion of an experiment. There will be three Research Summary passages on the test. ​ Data Representation, which asks you to interpret charts, tables, graphs, and diagrams. There will be three Data Representation passages on the test. ​ And finally, Conflicting Viewpoints will present two or more theories on a scientific topic. There will only be one Conflicting Viewpoint passage on the test. ​ Check out TutorMe’s ACT Preparation Course for in depth breakdowns and strategy for each of these categories. ​

​ The ACT Reading test is 35 minutes long, and has 40 questions split evenly over 4 different passages. ​ The four sections are as follows: ​ Prose Fiction, which is an excerpt from a novel or short story, Social science, which will be research based, analyzing civilizations and societies, Humanities, which analyzes art or literature, and Natural Science which analyzes science and experiments. ​ Check out TutorMe’s ACT Preparation Course for in depth breakdowns and strategy for each of these categories. ​

How to Study and Succeed on The ACT Math Test

The section on the ACT that provides the highest percentage of difficulty for most students is the ACT Math test. It’s the longest section both in time allotted (60 minutes) and in the number of questions (60 questions). Logic would tell you that this mean you should spend an average on 1 minute per question. While this logic stands mathematically, it does not apply to the actual test. There will be questions that take you twenty seconds to solve, and some that will take up to 3 minutes.

Introduction to ACT English

Welcome to the ACT English test, where you’ll see lots of underlined words, boxed in paragraphs, over punctuated English, and under developed fragments.

Here are the details: the ACT English test is 45 minutes long, with 75 questions split over 5 different passages. There are exactly 15 questions per passage, and all are roughly the same length.

An important note: The essays and passages on the ACT English test are written in the voice and quality of average high school upperclassmen. This means that you should always be on the lookout for colloquial language, but know that the passages will not be out of your pay grade when it comes to reading comprehension. You’re not going to get a complicated breakdown of nuclear physics or the planetary orbit (Don’t be too upset, those will be on the science and reading tests).