ACT PREP
ENGLISH
How to Increase Your Score:
Time Management
Test-taking Strategies
SET YOUR ENGLISH ACT GOAL
Score
Ranking
Percent Correct on ACT
31
top 1%
90% correct on ACT
26
top 10%
75% correct on ACT
23
top 25%
63% correct on ACT
20
national average
53% correct on ACT
SEVEN BASIC RULES FOR TAKING THE ACT
These seven rules apply to every section of the ACT. They
really are just commonsense guidelines, but it’s amazing how
the pressure and time constraints of the ACT can warp and
mangle common sense.
Remembering and practicing these seven basic rules will help
you save time and cut down on careless errors.
1. Know the instructions for each subject test
Guess what? The subject test instructions are always
the same—learn them ahead of time and save time.
Since you’ll need all the time you can get, don’t waste time
reading the Subject Test instructions during the actual test.
Learn the instructions beforehand by taking practice tests and
reading our chapters on the Subject Tests.
2. Use Your Test Booklet as Scratch Paper
A pristine test booklet is a sad test booklet.
Use the margins to make notes of key points.
Make marks beside questions you skip and need to return to.
Underline key words, names, dates, and facts.
Note your “figuring,” draw diagrams, jot down solutions in the math and
science subject tests.
 In the reading subject test, use your test booklet for the “skim and
scribble” strategy—note as you go.
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3. Answer Easy Questions before Hard Questions
 This is a crucial strategy for the ACT. All questions within
a Subject Test are worth the same number of points,
there’s no point slaving away over a difficult question if doing
so requires several minutes.
 Answer the easy and moderate questions first. That
way you’ll make sure that you get to see all the questions on
the test that you have a good shot of getting right, while
saving the leftover time for returning to the difficult
questions.
4. Don’t Get Bogged Down by a Hard Question
 If you’ve spent a significant amount of time on a problem and
haven’t gotten close to answering it, just let it go. (In ACT
world, a minute and a half is a lot of time.)
 Finish answering the easy and moderate questions about the
passage and then return to the more difficult questions.
 If you need to guess, choose B or C as your “guessing letter”
and use that throughout the test (experts say your chances
are higher than randomly guessing). In the English test,
generally choose the shortest answer.
5. Avoid Carelessness
 Don’t move too quickly through the questions. Speeding
through the test can result in misinterpreting a question or
missing a crucial piece of information.
 Don’t be tempted by “partial answers” among the answer
choices. (Yeah, test makers do this deliberately.) Everything
given in the answer must be correct.
 Don’t allow yourself to assume a defeatist attitude toward
questions that appear to be complex. Jump in; you may find
the question is easier than it appears.
6. Be Careful Bubbling In Your Answers
 Imagine this: you get all the right answers to the ACT questions, but you fill in
all the wrong bubbles. The scoring computer doesn’t care that you did the right
work; all it cares about are the blackened bubbles on the answer sheet, and the
wrong answers that they indicate.
 Protect yourself against this terrifying possibility with careful
bubbling. An easy way to prevent slips on the ACT answer sheet is to pay
attention to the letters being bubbled. Odd-numbered answers are lettered A,
B, C, D (except on the Math Test, where they are A, B, C, D, E), and evennumbered answers are lettered F, G, H, J (except on the Math Test, where they
are F, G, H, J, K).
 You may also want to try bubbling in groups (five at a time or a page at a
time) rather than answering one by one. Circle the answers in the test booklet
as you go through the page, and then transfer the answers over to the answer
sheet as a group. This method should increase your speed and accuracy in filling
out the answer sheet. To further increase your accuracy, say the question
number and the answer in your head as you fill out the grid:
“Number 24, F. Number 25, C. Number 26, J.”
7. Always Guess When You Don’t Know the Answer
 Don’t leave any blanks on your score sheet. The scoring
computer will not know or care whether or not you “really”
knew the answer.
 Before guessing, eliminate one or two answers you
know are wrong. This improves your odds from 25% to
50%.
 With a 50-50 chance at a right answer, about half of your
guesses on the test will be correct, and your score will be
about a 19, which is an average score on the ACT.
Multiple Choice: You Already Have the Answers
 When you look at any ACT multiple-choice question, the
answer is already right there in front of you.Your job on each
question is to find the right answer. Because the answer is
right there, you have three methods you can use to
try to determine the correct answer:
 Think of the right answer before looking at answer
choices.
 Look through the answer choices and pick out the one
that is correct.
 Look at the answer choices and eliminate wrong answers
until there’s only one answer left (POE).
What the English ACT Tests
 Sentence sense (rhetoric)—order of ideas, logic,
smoothness, purpose, placement: 1/3
ASK:
Does it make sense in the passage?
What the English ACT Tests
 Economy—relevance, redundancy, conciseness,
wordiness: 1/3 (that’s why you should choose the shortest answer when guessing)
ASK:
Is it needed?
Can it be said in fewer words?
What the English ACT Tests
 Technicality—grammar, punctuation, syntax (sentence
structure, awkwardness): 1/3
LISTEN—ASK:
Does it sound right?
The ACT English test includes:
11 organization questions
rhetoric
12 strategy questions
rhetoric / economy
12 style questions
economy / rhetoric
12 grammar and usage questions
technicality / economy
10 punctuation questions
technicality
18 sentence structure questions
technicality
How the Reading and English Test
Strategies Differ:
Reading:
Skim the section, reading for general meaning, and make
quick, brief notes in the margins.
English:
Pay close attention to the underlined parts and all
surrounding text.
The Day of the Test
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You must bring the following items to the test center on the day of the test:
Your admission ticket
Photo ID or a letter of identification
Unless a test proctor recognizes you, you will not be allowed in the test room
without appropriate identification. We also suggest that you bring the following:
Number Two pencils
A calculator.You should bring the calculator you normally use (preferably with
an extra battery).You don’t want to get stuck searching frantically for the right
buttons on an unfamiliar calculator.
A watch.Your test room may not have a clock, or the clock may not be visible
from where you’re sitting. Since the test proctors only call out the time five
minutes before the end of each section, you have to rely on yourself to know
how much time remains.
A snack, to keep up that energy.
Lucky clothes. Why not?