what to know if you are taking your act tomorrow

by

rachel kapelke-dale

on

in

hey there, test takers! if you’re taking the act tomorrow, congrats! you’re about to clear a big hurdle on your way to college. if it’s after midnight, give this post a quick skim and go off to bed—a good night’s sleep is the best thing you can do for yourself right now. if it’s early in the day, first of all, why aren’t you in school? second of all, you’ll want to focus on two things today: test logistics and test content.
 

test logistics

first things first. get there by 8:00 am. usually late to things? you know who you are—aim to get to the test center by 7:45 in that case. if you’re late, you probably won’t be let in. the test will start at 8:30 am or thereabouts, but there’s all that nitty-gritty checking in, finding a seat, and bubbling in your name to get out of the way first, so get there on time.

make sure you know where your test center is. it’s a good idea to do a test drive to make sure you know how long it takes to get there (or at least google map it).

know what you’ll need! go read kristin’s awesome act tips for test day and follow them. to the letter!
 

test content

“yes, but rachel!” i can just hear you saying. “how can i bring my score up ten points by tomorrow?”

you probably can’t. not unless you’ve put the work in already. sorry! you might consider registering for the next test date, just in case you don’t like your score and you still want to boost it. but if you want to grab a few extra points right this moment, there are some things you should keep in mind: we’ve got some great tips for smooth sailing on test day.

major points: don’t leave any questions blank—the act doesn’t take points off for wrong answers, so if you’ve got no clue, pick your favorite letter and go for it. try to eliminate at least one answer choice beforehand (there’s often one that will seem super wrong to you, but not always) to up your odds of getting the question right.

if you often run short on time—or even if you don’t—skim the section you’re supposed to be working on (but only that section!) and pick out the questions in areas you know you’re awesome at. work on these first. (almost) guaranteed points! just make sure you bubble them in the right number on your answer sheet—that’s one of the worst ways to lose points.
 

a final word

before you get your eye hours of shut-eye, read about common act test day mistakes. and then? take a few deep breaths and get your beauty sleep. you’re as ready as you’ll ever be, and you’ve done all you can do at this point to maximize your chances of success tomorrow.

click here for an act test day checklist!
 

author

  • rachel kapelke-dale

    rachel is a magoosh content creator. she writes and updates content on our high school and gre blogs to ensure students are equipped with the best information during their test prep journey. as a test-prep instructor for more than five years in there different countries, rachel has helped students around the world prepare for various standardized tests, including the sat, act, toefl, gre, and gmat, and she is one of the authors of our magoosh act prep book. rachel has a bachelor of arts in comparative literature from brown university, an ma in cinematography from the université de paris vii, and a ph.d. in film studies from university college london. for over a decade, rachel has honed her craft as a fiction and memoir writer and public speaker. her novel, the ballerinas, is forthcoming in december 2021 from st. martin’s press, while her memoir, graduates in wonderland, co-written with jessica pan, was published in 2014 by penguin random house. her work has appeared in over a dozen online and print publications, including vanity fair hollywood. when she isn’t strategically stringing words together at magoosh, you can find rachel riding horses or with her nose in a book. join her on twitter, instagram, or facebook!

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