Obviously, the ACT is not the SAT. Though exam is designed for the same essential purpose — to test the college readiness of high school students — each one is different in essential ways. This means that no matter how much college test prep tutoring you might have received for the SAT, you still need to do even more test prep review in preparation.
It also means that you can’t answer the ACT study questions the same way you can with the SAT’s. Both questions dock points for wrong answers, but only the ACT will dock points for no answer. Consequentially, if you don’t know the answers to your ACT study questions, you need to take a guess, which can be pretty tricky to do.
Here are a few tips that can help, though.
Budget Your Guesses.
One popular strategy is to budget guesses. Say for example the student decides to guess on the last 15 ACT study questions. This gives her more time to properly, carefully answer the first 45. If she rushed through them all, she might incorrectly answer questions, even though she knew the answers. This method of answering ACT study questions increases the probability of getting more right answers.
Skip and Come Back.
The “skip and come back” strategy is a classic. Often times, students will answer the easy ACT study questions first, skip the hard ones, and come back to them when they’re done. This way is particularly useful because it gives students the time they need to answer the ACT study questions that need more time.
Eliminating Answers.
In addition to budgeting guesses and time, students should also know how to properly guess on their ACT study questions when the time comes. The most effective way to guess — if there ever was one — is to eliminate the answers that seem wrong, and then trust your gut and fill in the answer you feel is right.
If you know of any other studying tips for exams, feel free to share them in the comments. More like this article.
