retaking the act? you’re not alone—lots of test-takers find that after their first official exam, they want different results. but the reality is most students sign up for an act retake and do exactly the same thing over again. it’s time to learn from the experience! let’s do some soul-searching about how to study for an act retake.
are you wondering how to retake the act? you need to focus on all aspects of the testing experience. this means evaluating your previous preparation–academically, strategically, mentally, and physically–and knowing which areas you need to improve to get a better score. by assessing all of the key areas, you’ll have a much better chance of giving the act the one-two (three-four) punch on your retake and avoid the frustration of the same old result.
how to prepare for an act retake
1. brush up on your weaknesses…
as soon as you can, write down everything you remember about the question types you struggled with on the act. did you want to kick yourself when you couldn’t remember your trig identities? did you spend too much time reading (and rereading) a passage and then ran out of time to answer the questions?
as you continue to practice for your retake, keep a running list of your weak areas so you can practice them more. writing them down is crucial. it keeps you accountable and ensures you have a game plan for your studying.
if you haven’t done so already, i suggest going through these lists of what to study for the act english, math, reading, science, and writing sections. don’t fall prey to unfamiliar questions again. it’s okay if you are still weak in certain areas, but knowing your strengths and weaknesses is half the battle: this is how you know when to tackle problems and when to take a guess and move on.
2. …but capitalize on your strengths
each question counts exactly the same. so if you are really good at a certain type of question, make sure you practice these too so you can nab as many points on them as possible. particularly if you’re retaking the entire exam, you should be very careful to not brush up only on your weaknesses when you study for a retake.
i’ve seen countless students be disappointed by their overall score when they see their weak section scores go up, but their strong section scores go down. but the act has recognized this is a problem. and with that in mind, they’ve come out with some exciting news!
as of september 2020, the act will allow you to retake individual sections, rather than the test as a whole! this is great news if you’re struggling with an individual subject but don’t want to risk lowering your score in other sections.
3. use the incredibly helpful test information release service
if you took a december, april, or june test, i highly suggest you order the test information release service if you have the time to wait for the report.
this service provides you with a booklet of all the questions and your answers on the act, so you can see exactly which questions you missed that you can use as you figure out how to study for an act retake, providing you with extremely useful data about why you ran into trouble.
4. define your goals for the retake
after you receive your act scores, make a plan. do you want to increase your score by 2 points? 10 points? do you want to remember to relax and breathe so you can think of a good response on the essay section? write down a concrete list of your goals for your retake and a timeline and plan of attack for accomplishing them.
as you make this list, consider what your goals are for each section. remember, sectional retakes will be a possibility after september 2020!
finally, if you are targeting certain colleges, make sure you know the act score ranges of admitted students, so you know what you are aiming for and make sure you have the time and resources you need to accomplish this gain.
5. determine your retake study method
it’s time to be honest with yourself about how you study best to figure out how to study for an act retake successfully. there are a few main categories of test preparation:
- self study (or guided self study like our one month act study plan or act streaks schedule!)
- classes
- tutoring
everyone learns differently. evaluate how you studied the first time and ask yourself if it was best suited to your needs. do you need a class that will hold you accountable for your homework? would self study fit better with your busy schedule? do you need a tutor who can help you with stress management? could you benefit from a combination of all of these methods? now’s the time to make a change and give yourself a fighting chance on your act retake.
6. use score choice
being strategic in your preparation also means keeping in mind the bigger picture. many colleges allow you to choose which composite score you send, which is great because it puts you in control of what test report you send, taking the risk out of retaking the test. even better is what is popularly known as superscoring.
although it is more common with the sat than the act, some colleges will allow you to combine your highest section scores across test administrations. that means you can combine your best individual section scores into a super-awesome overall score. as you determine how to study for an act retake, considering using the superscore may provide you with an important tool to cut your study time down.
keep in mind that there are a handful of competitive schools out there that require you to send all of your scores. so if you are eyeballing these schools, make an effort to identify how many times you should retake the act.
7. prepare both mentally and physically
many students fall victim to test pressure and anxiety on the act, particularly the first time because it is a new experience. the second (or third or fourth) time you take the test, you will have a better idea of what to expect.
so now is the time to do some really great mental and physical preparation. if you got tired or hungry or overwhelmed, your most important preparation may not be studying questions. instead, learning how to be healthy and manage stress may be the best thing you can do as you determine how to study for an act retake. snacks and sleep can make a world of difference.
and don’t forget that there is such a thing as too much act prep. some students are simply burned out on test prep. if this sounds like you, ask yourself if what you really need for your retake is a temporary break.
how to retake the act: a student’s perspective
for a firsthand account of how to study for an act retake, watch the embedded video below!
in “how to raise your act score: my retake tips” magoosh student, nikolai, explains how he took his act score from 24 to 33 over the course of several retakes.
click the arrow to expand the full “how to raise your act score: my retake tips” transcript
hi, my name’s nikolai, here are a couple of tips for those of you who are retaking the act.
tip number one is go to the act website and see what you need to work on.
if you go to act.org and you sign in and view your score, you see what places—like math, reading, english—that you have a low score in.
and if you get scored below 33, i believe, um, it’ll tell you what you need to work on based on what score you got.
um, they usually have, like if you got between a 32 and a 29, they’ll tell you “hey this is what people missed who got scores within these sections.”
tip number two is study the sections that you need to work on with a teacher or mentor.
um, i know, uh, the third time that i took the act i noticed that my math score was still incredibly low.
so i went to my calculus teacher and i asked her, well based on my past tests, what do i need to work on? how can i really, i guess, improve my score?
tip number three is sleep early.
you want to make sure that you’re properly energized for the wonderful day of testing that you have ahead of you.
um, you’re going to be sitting in a classroom for four hours, and you want to make sure that you have as much energy as possible so that you can tackle it.
step number four kind of piggybacks off of step number three, and it is have a good breakfast and drink plenty of water so that you’re hydrated.
you want to make sure that you’re hydrated and you’re actually feeling well for the day of test taking.
step number five is don’t focus on what score you got last time, or what you want to get this time. just focus on doing your best.
um, i know the first couple of times i kind of focused on “hey i got like a 24 or a 25 last time, i really need to bump my score up.”
on the last time that i took it i just said, “hey, i’m just going to forget all of this, i just need to do my best.”
step number six is that if you notice that you didn’t score as well in a certain section the first time—uh, my problem was math—for simple things, make sure that you pay close attention to as many problems as you can.
on my last test i went back and i reworked all of the problems that i could, and i fixed about six of them that had really simple mistakes, uh, like, i missed a sign or i subtracted wrong.
so just make sure that you go back on things like math where you can, like, miss like a really small thing, and, just, it’ll mess up your test.
i’ve tried other act prep classes like the one that my school offers, the one that a local college offered, and i’ve tried numerous textbooks, and it just really wasn’t working out for me.
magoosh really helped me in that it was—it kind of progressed along, like if you wanted a harder problem it actually gave you a harder problem that you can work on.
and it really strengthened me for the act that i took in…june, i believe?
on that test i got a 33. on my previous test i had a 28, so magoosh helped me jump up a total of 5 points!
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