Making the most of your ACT text day
Certification: Test Prep ACT - American College Testing
As the ACT test day approaches, the most obvious feeling for any student taking up the test is anxiety. The anxiety for some of the students may in the form of enthusiasm to accomplish the test or edginess on taking up the test and the final results thereafter, and for majority of others it’s a combined feeling of both enthusiasm and edginess. Though the feeling is intelligible, it is important for the students to make sure that anxiety is constructive helping them to avoid any kind of distractions on the day of the test.
By the test day, the students are usually done with all the preparations and practice tests to be ready to take up the ACT test. However to make the most of the test day, there are many other simple things that a student should follow to be able to completely focus on the test and to utilize their knowledge and skills effectively to succeed in the test.
Day before the Test
It is essential to get at least 8 hours sleep in the last two days before the exam to avoid any kind of fatigue on the day of exam. The day before the test spend time revising the concepts during the daytime and take the evening time to relax. Preparing their bag a day ahead of the test is a good way to avoid hassle on the day of test. Students must have their printed ticket copy, an acceptable photo identification, No.2 pencils, erasers and a calculator permitted under the ACT Calculator Policy. Students should ensure that they sleep early the night before the test. It is important for students to calm themselves by relaxing their mind and to develop a positive mental state for the exam. Late night studies are not advisable on the day before the exam as it usually proves to be of not much help in scoring more in the test.
Tips for the Test Day
Students must ensure they have their breakfast and carry water or an energy drink for the break during the exam to ensure any kind of distraction or lack of focus due to lack of physical energy. Dressing comfortably and in layers is another factor that should be kept in mind on the test. The students must make sure that they reach the test centre before the reporting time to avoid any kind of hurry and get enough time to find the test room and settle down for the test.
Test-Taking Strategy
Before starting with test sections, the students must carefully read the instructions on the booklet to be clear about the rules and prohibitions during the test. It is equally important to read and understand the directions for each test and carefully read and understand the questions before answering. Some of the basic strategies that a student should follow for successfully taking up the test include time management, attempting all the questions as there is no negative marking for guesswork, answering the easy questions first, eliminating the wrong options of the multiple choice to arrive at the right answer in difficult questions, avoid making mistakes in marking the right bubble for the corresponding question, and stop answering immediately after the time for the test is called off to avoid dismissal.
Writing Test Guidelines
Understanding the prompt clearly is primary step before starting the writing test. Once the students get the clarity on the topic for writing, the next step must be to decide on their perspective, listing down the ideas and finally organise the ideas for presenting in the best way in the form of an essay. The essay must begin with explaining the student’s perspective in a clear way, followed by discussing the topic in detail and supporting the view point with examples, assessing the implication of the issue, counter-arguments to disprove the opponent’s view point and finally, ending the essay with a sound conclusion by summarising the perspective chosen by the student.
Tips to Avoid Mistakes in Marking Multiple-Choice Answers
In order to complete the test on time, students often make mistake to marking a wrong answer despite knowing the correct answer. This usually occurs when a student skips a question but does not skip it in the answering sheet which often leads to marking of wrong marking of answers for the rest of the remaining questions. The student may only realise towards the end of the test about the omission of a question and may have to correct all the markings all over again before the test time ends. The best way to avoid this blunder during the test is to write the answer on the question booklet and transfer all the answers to the answering sheet at the end of each page of the question booklet.
Following these tips would definitely help a student in making the most of the ACT test day to get a good score and succeed in getting college admissions of their choice and even win scholarships. However, if a student is unable to score well in the test due to any reason, what they need to be aware about is that the score of these standardised tests are not the only criteria for admissions in college. Students with good grades in high school and involvement in various extracurricular activities can definitely make up for a poor ACT score for getting admissions. Moreover, the students can also retake the test if they have taken the test in their junior year of high school. The last date for taking up the test for students is the fall semester of the senior year of high school. The students can utilize the opportunity of retest to improve their score and send the best score to colleges by opting for the Score Choice with ACT.