10 Tips to Improve Your ACT Score

Regardless of your first experience taking the ACT, the good news is that it’s likely that the test will get easier the second time you take it. While the questions, pacing, and format will remain the same, you will go into the test with a better idea of what to expect. Even your test anxiety is likely to subside slightly each time you walk into the testing facility.

Even better, the majority of students who retake a standardized test such as the ACT increase their scores the most between the first and second test administration. Furthermore, the lower your starting score was, the greater the average increase is between test scores. So if you’ve taken the ACT and are less than happy with your score, don’t lose hope. There are many ways to improve your score, and taking the test at all is an important first step.

Read on for our top 10 tops for improving your ACT score.

ACT Study Guide

The preparations for your next ACT start the second your first ACT is over.

The ideal scenario is this: You finish your ACT, the proctor collects your materials, you gather your belongings, and before you talk to anyone else, you get out a notepad and jot down every single thing you remember about the test. You might write down specific questions, you might list content areas that seemed foreign or more difficult than you expected, you may remember sections on which you ran out of time or had extra time. You might even write down parts of the test that seemed way too easy. These notes will become an important part of your study plan for future tests.

But don’t worry if your test is long over and you didn’t write anything down. Odds are, you remember more than you think you do. Set aside a few quiet minutes to really reflect on your testing experience. Actually visualize yourself in the testing room and try to remember as much as you can about the content, format, and general testing experience itself. Any memories are important, whether they’re parts of the test that seemed easy, features of the testing facility that distracted you, or sections you didn’t have time to finish. Use this list to guide your studying.

Know how to interpret your score report.

Usually your ACT test results are available two to eight weeks after your testing date. These results will be available online through your ACT web account, and they are also mailed to your high school. Your inclination is probably to view your composite score, have a glance at your section scores, and then either pin them on the fridge for all to see or bury them in the trash, depending on how you did.

Don’t be fooled into glossing over your score report. It actually contains a ton of useful information that can help to guide your studying for future tests. Specifically, you should pay attention to your subscores or “reporting categories.” This is a simple way to identify weak areas of content knowledge. Look at the Detailed Results section of your score report and find which subscores were lowest. This will give you a good idea of where you need to focus your studying.  

Set a target score.

Before you begin improving on your ACT score, you’ll need to set a target score to focus your study plan. Having a target score will give you a better idea of what you need to do to achieve it.

For example, if you know you want to score a 32, you know that on each section test your score should be no lower than a 30, and if you do think you’ll score a 30 on one section, you’d better be prepared to score a 34 on another section to even it out. You will also know that if you’re aiming for a 34 on the Science ACT, you can’t get more than two or three questions wrong. This might mean guessing on two questions that seem like they will take a lot of time, and devoting the rest of your attention to getting every single other question correct.

There are two factors to consider when setting your target score. First, you’ll need to consider your score on the first test. While it’s true that the lower your score, the more room there is for improvement, it’s also true that you need to set realistic goals. If you score a 22 on your first ACT, it’s pretty unlikely that you’re going to get a 36 the second time around. If you score a 23 or below, it’s probably feasible to aim for a five or even six point improvement if you really put yourself to work. However, if you score a 27 or above, a three or possibly even four point improvement, though possible, will be more difficult to achieve.

The other factor to consider is the score range of admitted students at schools you hope to attend. You can narrow your options by using the search tool at College Simply, which allows you to search by test score for colleges. Try entering your target score and see if the schools that come up are in line with the schools you hope to attend. If not, you’ll need to consider making some adjustments. You can also use our own CollegeVine college discovery tool. By signing up for your free CollegeVine account, you can discover schools in line with your GPA, test scores, preferences, selectivity, cost, and other factors. You can also save these schools to a master list and write notes about each one of them.

Figure out which mistakes you make most frequently.

After you’ve taken the ACT once, it’s much easier to identify the errors most likely to trip you up again in the future. If your score on the ACT is much lower than your score was on any of the practice ACTs that you took, it’s very likely that your performance suffered from test anxiety. The good news is that test anxiety generally abates each time you take the test. So, having taken the ACT once already, you’re likely to see an improvement the next time. To learn more about coping with test anxiety, read CollegeVine’s Dealing With Test Anxiety. 

If you find that your mistakes are clustered by content area, as identified on the Detailed Results section of your score report, then your weakness is likely specific content knowledge. This is fixable through further reinforcement of the content commonly found on the test.

If you find that your errors are spread across all content areas fairly equally, yet you had time left at the end of every test section, you may be rushing through your work and making careless mistakes on your way. You can test this theory by taking an untimed practice test and double-checking each answer. You may find that your mistakes almost disappear when the time requirement is gone. If this is the case, you’ll need to learn some time management strategies.

Evaluate your time management.   

The ACT is notoriously quick-paced. If you don’t keep moving through the questions at a rapid pace, you won’t have time to answer them all. Think carefully about your pacing during the test. Did you have tons of time leftover at the end of each section? You might be rushing too much. Did you run out of time during any sections? You aren’t moving through it quickly enough. A delicate balance must be struck in order to be successful on the test.

Be sure to bring an acceptable watch to the test and know exactly how much time you have for each section. Keep in mind that any watch that makes noises or has capabilities outside of timekeeping (e.g. internet connectivity, camera, etc.) is strictly prohibited. One good starting point is to have a general idea of the pacing for each section. 

For example, the math section has 60 questions that you’ll need to answer in 60 minutes, but because the questions are arranged by ascending difficulty, you should move through the earlier questions at a quicker pace to conserve time for the later, more difficult questions. Aim to complete the first 20 questions in 12 minutes, the second 20 questions in 15 minutes, and the remaining 20 questions in 30 minutes, with three minutes remaining to check your work or review.  

Here’s a table of how long you have for each section, and how many seconds you have per question.

Also know that it’s okay to skip difficult questions on any section, and return to them at the end of that section. By not dwelling on questions that eat up your time, you’ll have that time to spend on the questions that you’re more likely to get right. Just make sure that even when you skip a question, you fill in your best guess on the answer sheet. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so no questions should ever be left blank.