The ACT Math test is, obviously, difficult. Unfortunately, as the ACT makes changes to the test by making it shorter (15 less questions), I think a lot of students and parents are going to mistakenly believe it will become easier. I guarantee you that these changes will not make the ACT easier.
That being said, a lot of students out there, in my experience, are stuck in a rut on this test, consistently earning a score of a 14 or a 15. If you were to look into the details, you would find that the student who is earning this score is, essentially, guessing on almost every question. Think about it like this: if I were to guess on every ACT Math question, I'd get, on average, 12 of them correct. Getting 12 out of 60 questions correct correlates to a score of a 14.
Now, this isn't a time for panic or fear. I want to help you and your son or daughter put themselves in the best position to raise this score, even if that means up to a 16 or a 17. Even higher than that is better.
Without getting into every single detail, let's remember this: the ACT Math test grows in difficulty, on average, as the test goes along. The first third (1-20 on the current test, 1-15 on the future test) is the easiest third, the middle third (21-40 on the current test, 15-30 on the future test) is of medium difficulty on average, and the final third (41-60 on the current test, 31-45 on the future test) reflects the highest average difficulty.
My advice for students in this situation is twofold (I've also broken all of this down in a YouTube video here):
First, immediately guess on numbers 41-60. Let's cut our losses and get 4 or more of these questions correct by guessing. If you want to get more specific, I have heard from someone who worked for the ACT that the only time certain letter choices are slightly more predictable than any other on any part on any ACT test is the final 10 questions of the math test.
Historically, it is slighly more likely that these final 10 questions will have a correct answer that is the first or last option (A/E or F/K on the current ACT, which has 5 answer choice options; A/D or F/J on the future ACT that will only have 4). Thus, guess these bubbles for the final 10 and the middle bubbles (B/C/D or G/H/J) for numbers 41-50.
Secondly, let's focus the full hour (again, the future ACT Math test will be different, being 50 minutes in length) on the 40 remaining ACT Math questions. Guessing on those more difficult 20 has opened up a pressure valve, and now we have an hour for 40 questions. Much better. These are the questions that are, on average, easier, thus with the added time, we should be getting more of these correct.
If you want an ACT Math book that will train you or your son or daughter in math content from most to least important, then check out The ACT Math System on Amazon.
If you want some free ACT prep cheat sheets that lay it all out in a few pages, then click here!
Comments