Recently, juniors took the ACT test. Every student dreads taking the ACT. It is long, difficult, and hard on the brain. The best thing to do is walk in with a good mindset and to try your best. The ACT has a lot of pressure around it since a lot of colleges look at it as part of admissions for incoming students.
There are five different sections to the ACT. They are English, math, science, reading, and a writing portion. We got a certain time limit for each section. Kylie Reuter, a junior who just took the ACT this year said, “My least favorite section of the ACT was the math section. It felt like we didn’t learn any of it before and that made it really difficult.” I agree with Kylie. It was definitely the most difficult portion of the ACT.
There really isn’t a way to study for the ACT besides working on time management. We got booklets with practice tests that helped us with that. Although we had the ACT workshop and different practice tests and spent time practicing, it was still hard to feel prepared for the actual test. It seems like this school year went by really fast, so it felt like the ACT crept up on us without warning.
I think that the easiest section of the ACT was the English portion. It went by quickly and the questions were pretty easy. It might have also been the easiest because it was the first section of the day. Kylie also said, “English was my favorite section of the ACT because I felt like it was easy.”
We had the opportunity to do an ACT workshop. It was the Friday before the ACT down at Holiday Gardens. During the ACT workshop, we got a lot of tips and tricks to help us with certain types of questions. The workshop definitely helped. We learned more tricks for the English section than any of the other sections. We learned that the shortest or simplest answer is the best answer. Another thing we learned is that a lot of the answers were no changes. I would recommend continuing to do this workshop for juniors.
The ACT is still difficult even with these tricks. It can take a lot out of you but it is worth it to try your best. It is easy to forget that the scores you receive on the ACT could be a major factor in getting accepted into college. The ACT is administered statewide to all students. You can retake it if you are unhappy with your scores. It is free the first time you take it, but you have to pay for retakes.