Tips & Tricks:
Basic Strategies to Boost your score... A LOT!
Basic Strategies to Boost your score... A LOT!
LIZZIE'S MEGA RULE OF STUDYING FOR THE ACT: LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!!!
When we practice and quiz ourselves, we are not learning if we just say "oh well" whenever we get a question wrong.
You learn by thinking "why did I get that question wrong?" and figuring out how to find the answer to that question.
Next time you see this question, or a similar one, you will know how to approach it
This is called metacognition, and it is scientifically proven that you learn better when you know what you do not know!
More ACT Basic Strategies
Below are ACT strategies that you should apply to every section that you take. You can also apply these to tests that you take at school!
Show what you know:
Do NOT waste time on questions that you have no idea how to solve. If you cannot figure out a question quickly, it is better to *star* questions that you do not know and move on to questions that you feel confident about. At the end, you can go back to your starred questions if you have time.
Target accuracy, do not target score:
Instead of reaching for a specific score, reach for a specific number of questions right on each section. This makes your goal seem much more real on test day!
Fill in a bubble for every question:
The ACT does not penalize you for wrong answers. They have no way of knowing whether you guessed or not! Do not leave any questions blank.
Pick a letter as your "guess letter":
Decide before the test a letter that you are going to fill in when you do not know the answer to a question. This will speed up your decision-making process and save you time for other questions. If you make a guess based on what "look right", you are more likely to fall into traps that the ACT has embedded into the answers.
An educated guess is better than a "blind" guess:
If you can for sure eliminate an answer, do it! In this case, you can break your "guess rule" letter. You have better odds of getting a question correct when you know 1 or 2 answers are definitely wrong.