ACT Strategies: How to Succeed in College Admissions, on the Test, and Beyond
While the ACT measures the skills and knowledge you have learned in high school, it is also an excellent way to gain more choice in your first-year class schedule, receive merit aid, and stand out from other applicants in the admissions process.
The ACT is fundamentally an achievement test that is designed to evaluate the academic skills you have developed in high school. The reading section of the test emphasizes rapid comprehension and attention to detail, the math and English sections evaluate your knowledge of a wide range of content, and the science section examines your ability to synthesize tedious information. Although the ACT is primarily used by college admissions offices to determine who they will admit for a given academic year, strong scores can reap rewards beyond admissions.
What is the ACT used for other than admissions? What about test-optional admissions?
In addition to helping admissions officers evaluate a class of incoming students, strong ACT scores may allow you to earn acceptance into honors colleges, qualify for merit aid, place out of introductory courses, as well as receive in-state tuition at universities not in your home state. The NCAA also uses your ACT scores and GPA to determine your eligibility to compete as a Division I or II college athlete.
“Test-optional” admissions means that tests are not required by the college to which you are applying, but that your scores will be considered in your application if you choose to submit them. If you can earn a competitive score, this can help you stand out and potentially balance other components of your application.
A competitive score is any score that is above average compared to the scores of previously admitted students. These scores can be found on particular college’s websites, and are listed as a range of two scores from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile of admitted students.
“Test-blind” admissions means that tests are not considered at all in your application. Even if you send your test scores to test-blind schools, they will neither view them nor take them into consideration when reviewing your application. If you have more questions about test-optional admissions, check out our blog post on the topic.
Strategies for success on the ACT
The ACT is a challenging exam no matter how well-prepared you are. Here are strategies that our team of expert tutors have developed that will help you succeed on all sections of the exam:
Approach the test with a methodical and suspicious mindset. Unlike the tests you’ve taken throughout your high school years, the ACT is designed to trick you. Make sure to identify a clear order of operations for each question type on the test so that you can avoid the psychological tricks, and be on the lookout for trap answers and questions.
Eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. Work through every answer choice with the goal of eliminating three wrong answers. The ACT questions have 4 answer choices (5 on math), which means you already have a 25% chance of guessing the correct answer (20% on Math). Any way you can improve on this — by eliminating one or more answer choices — only raises the odds in your favor!
Practice active reading. Engage tactilely with the test booklet — mark up passages, underline words that jump out at you, physically strike out things that you think are wrong. Making “tracks” on your page will help you stay engaged mentally and also provide a record of your thought process if you need to leave and return to a certain problem/passage.
Be strategic in how you spend your time. Because you’re not awarded any more points for hard questions than you are for easy questions, it’s best to spend the appropriate amount of time on each. That “appropriate” amount of time is going to be different for each student. As you do practice problems, think about how long you need for each math question, each reading passage, and each test section.
If you would like personalized, 1:1 tutoring to help you achieve your college admissions or score goals, reach out to our team of expert tutors. We’d love the opportunity to assist you in your learning journey, wherever it may lead.