ACT and SAT PrepTesting Strategies

2013-2014Hyman

Key Strategies• Building Your Endurance• Time Management• Skipping and Coming Back• Guessing and Eliminating

Wrong Answers• Pacing by Target• Not marking “C” for every

answer!

Building Your Endurance

Strategy #1:

Building Your Endurance

Of the many annoying qualities of the ACT, one of the most aggravating is that it is REALLY

FREAKING LONG and unfortunately, it doesn’t account for nap-time.

In other words… TRAIN!

Faux Aesop:The Arrogant Horse and The Butterfly

One sunny day in the clover field, the Butterfly landed on the Horse’s ear. “Hi, Horse,” the Butterfly said. “I just

came to say good-bye, because I’m migrating south to lay my eggs.” “Gross,” said the Horse, “but moving on—how far south are you going?” “One hundred-million butterfly

miles,” said the butterfly. “I could never fly that far without practicing, so I’m training by flying back and

forth other the clover field.” “Pshaw,” said the Horse, “I can run across this clover field in a nanosecond.” Then

he went back to chomping on his food.

Faux Aesop continued:The Arrogant Horse and The Butterfly

The next day, the Butterfly landed on the Horse’s ear again. “Today, I’m training by flying back and forth over the hill.” “Pshaw,” said the Horse, “I could run up that hill in my sleep,” then went back to nibbling

on his food. This continued for a month. The Butterfly practiced by flying increasingly long

distances, until finally he told the Horse that it was time to leave. “I’ll race you,” said the arrogant Horse.

They both took off. After half a butterfly-mile, the Horse exploded from exhaustion.

Moral of the Story

The lesson here is that you should treat taking the ACT like the butterfly treated flying south: By

building toward your goal.

Just remember…When training, DON’T OVER STRETCH YOURSELF! Take a five minute stretch break every hour of continuous studying.

This is NOT a Marathon!

Time Management

Strategy #2:

Why is Time Management Important

ACT Reading • 4 Reading Passages• 40 Questions• 35 MinutesApprox 8.75 min per passage

ACT English• 75 Questions• 45 Minutes• 5 passagesApprox 9 min per passage

ACT Math• 60 Minutes• 60 QuestionsApprox 1 min per question

ACT Science• 40 questions• 35 minutes• 7 passagesApprox 5.75 min per question

Speed

Even worse than the length of the ACT, is the speed. You have to move fast. Maybe not zooming-car

fast, or even runaway-train fast, this is more cheetah-getting-shot-out-of-a-cannon-in-a-movie-

that’s-being-fast-forwarded fast.

Remember: You will only have an average of 49 seconds per

question asked on the ACT.

Increase Your Speed

As with endurance training, the best way to increase your speed if to take gradual steps. Take a practice section with no timer at all. The next time, set a timer and see how long the section takes. If you finish with time left

over, check your score. Was it perfect?If your answer is YES: YOU ROCK! Time to

drop this class and go take this test!If your answer is NO: It’s time to keep

practicing!

Word of Advice

If you’re not a watch wearer, wear one (or have it on your

desk) during practice tests. Use this to get a better idea of your time

limitations.

Skipping Around

Strategy #3:

The Run Down

If you have wrestled with a problem for a few seconds, and you still don’t “get it,” SKIP IT. Circle the number of the problem to

mark it, tackle two more problems.

Come back and try it again.

Why two problems? Why not one or three? This is because your mind, after it has read a problem, wrestled with it for a bit, and then moved

on, is actually still processing information even after you’ve left. In other words, your brain is doing work, even if you’re not aware of it!

When you come back to the problem, you will be able to start fresh and you will still remember the problem and its elements

Picture This

You come across a difficult problem. You stare at it for 5 seconds longer than you originally

intended. The next problem you come across you wrestle with for an additional 10 seconds. You

begin feeling frustrated, you may not notice this at the time, but your endurance begins to suffer. Even if you do solve the problem, that frustration

carries into the next problem thus making you more frustrated. It’s an endless cycle.

While this strategy may seem time-consuming, it’s going to save you a

ton of time by not dwelling on a particular problem.

BE CAREFUL! Do not skip the problem in your test

and not on your answer sheet.

This could be highly disastrous!

Guessing

Strategy #4:

Benefits of Guessing

What if you’ve skipped and come back to a problem a couple of times, and you still are having a “I don’t get it”

moment.

Remember: YOU WILL NOT GET A POINTS DEDUCTED ON THE ACT FOR

WRONG ANSWERS!

There is no downside to guessing, so you really only stand to gain.

2 Types of Guessing

Stupid Guessing: “I’m going to pick “B” because I had a banana and a bagel for breakfast while watching Batman! Oh wait, that’s alliteration! It’s a sign; “B” has to be the right answer!”

Intelligent Guessing“I’m going to choose “B” because “C” and “D” are both clearly wrong!”

More on Intelligent Guessing

If you are only looking for right answers you are missing out on a HUGE advantage!

Be strategic, read through a problem and, start marking off the obviously wrong answer choices.

Process of Elimination is HUGE!

A Helpful Analogy

A she-Viking named Vultra and her idiot cousin Bolti are surrounded by zombies. Vultra whirls back and forth from zombie to zombie, making precise, focused chops, rendering each zombie less and less of a threat, until she has massacred them all.

Meanwhile, Bolti is taking gigantic swinging hacks at one zombie, getting his sword stuck, pulling it out, and taking another hack. All the while, five more zombies close in behind him, their gory mouths open, their rotten tongues writhing in anticipation…

Let’s Try One…

SAT Test Question:Numerous illnesses that were once difficult to _______ may

now be diagnosed through _______ blood tests.

a) detect..perfunctory b) facilitate..tediousc) administer..pre-emptived) treat..gruelinge) observe..inconvenient

SAT Test Question taken from Android App SAT Prep Free (Yes, there is ACT Prep Free too!)

?

X

X?

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X

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XX

X

Now You Try

The _____ of trees in East Africa has caused the number of native antelopes to _____ sharply because they can live only where the forest is most dense.

a) planting..declineb) destruction..growc) felling..decreased) abundance..dipe) protection..drop

Since Antelopes thrive in dense forest, what is

the relationship between the numbers of trees and

numbers of antelopes?

Hint

Explanation

This sentence asks you to recognize a cause and effect relationship… a decreasing number

of trees causes antelope populations to decrease. The only option in which both

terms have a logical cause and effect relationship is:

“Felling..Decrease”

Pacing by Target

Strategy #5:

Adjust your pacing to the score you want, but be honest about the pace you can maintain.

The subsequent chart will give you an idea of the number of questions you need to get right in each

area in order to get the score you want.

Keep in mind these numbers are AVERAGED as the scores are scaled or curved on the ACT.

Pacing By TargetEnglish Reading

Target Score # Right Target Score # Right

36 75 36 40

30 69-70 30 35

26 60-62 26 30-31

23 52-54 23 26-27

20 44-46 20 22

17 36-38 17 18

11 19-21 11 9-10

Math

Target Score # Right

36 60

30 53-54

26 44-45

23 38-39

20 32-33

17 23-25

11 7-8

Science Reasoning

Target Score

# Right

Target Score

# Right

Target Score

# Right

Target Score

# Right

36 40 26 32-33 20 22-23 11 7

30 37 23 27-28 17 16-17

• Be familiar with content• Be prepared• Read directions carefully• Answer easy questions first• Mark your answers thoroughly• Pace yourself• Recheck your work• Breathe

Other Key Strategies for the ACT

Seriously!If Waka Flocka can use strategies to

make it through this test with a 34….

So can you!