Raise Your ACT Exam Score

While many students don't enjoy taking the ACT college entrance exam, it is required for most students seeking entrance into college. Though a few colleges are no longer requiring the exam, many institutions still require them, and use them in the admissions process. At the prestigious University of Michigan, the ACT scores for the middle 50% fall within 27-31 out of a maximum score of 36, states the College Board website. By preparing for the ACT exams, a student can improve their chances of achieving a high score on the exam, and receive an offer from the college they want to attend.

Achieving a score of 25 or higher can be accomplished for many students by properly preparing for the exam. Preparation for the exam does not need to be expensive or time consuming. Rather, by learning what is on the exam and studying the right material, it is possible for the student to receive a high score without devoting much effort.

The first step in reaching the potential of a high score comes from understanding what is on the ACT exam. For a student to get an idea of what is on the exam, it is best the student buys an ACT study guide from Princeton Review or ACT Inc. Whether or not one book is better than the other is debatable, nevertheless both offer a good overview of what the exam will cover. Having a student skim through the book will help them get the insight into what will be on the exam.

The next part involves focusing on the individual subjects on the exam. In the exam there is the Reading portion. This requires the student to read a passage and answer questions regarding what was read. A helpful method for this portion involves simply reading magazines. Reading articles from Time, The Economist, and The New Yorker, should help the student increase their reading abilities. The articles are short and mimic the word count found on the exam. In addition to helping the Reading section, there is also the possibility of the magazines improving the student's English section.

Another technique in achieving a higher ACT score comes from improvement in the Mathematics section. Achievement in the Mathematics section should not be as hard as it might seem. Rather than bringing out the textbooks throughout the years, a student can prepare by purchasing CliffNotes covering: Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. The material in these short books should provide the student with the majority of the material found on the exam.

The last section involves preparing for the speed of the exam. A large problem students encounter during the exam isn't the questions being difficult, but not having enough time to think about the questions. Improving this portion can be done similar to the training done for a track race. Similar to the training of a track race, the training for the ACT exam entails a series of timed trials. In the back of the Princeton Review and ACT Inc. books, there are a series of practice exams. Taking an entire exam in one sitting is a chore and can prevent any interest in further studying. Rather, a student should take one section every other day, until the last week prior to the exam. On Monday a student could time themselves on the Reading portion, and then follow with the Mathematics section on Wednesday. It should be advised the student take more than one exam total, however. Taking as many as five exams would be overboard. Practicing timed section exams should provide the student with the necessary fundamentals to take the exam without running low on time and guessing at the end of the section.

Preparation for the ACT entrance exam should somewhat relaxing, but very helpful. The tips provided above will help the student understand what is on the exam, know the answers for the exam, and how to answer the questions without running out of time. Following the information above should help the student achieve a higher score on the exam than some of the other methods people use to prepare.