{"id":6601,"date":"2016-04-19t11:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-04-19t18:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=6601"},"modified":"2018-10-24t20:07:44","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25t03:07:44","slug":"5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things i wish i had known about the act"},"content":{"rendered":"

it was spring 2003, and i was just a 17-year-old high school junior in franklin, tn. i was doing everything that i could to get into my dream college, stanford university<\/a> (sorry that didn\u2019t work out, younger me). i was in the ib programme and taking ap courses. i was even the treasurer of the french club. then there was the act, a key piece to my future college applications.<\/p>\n

if this is the spring of your junior year of high school, you, too, probably have a lot on your plate even without the act. if you\u2019re preparing to take the act for the first (or even second time<\/a>), you might be wondering if you\u2019re forgetting anything important. or maybe there\u2019s some \u2018secret\u2019 knowledge that can help you succeed. i don\u2019t know about any secrets, but here are 5 things i wish i had known about the act in 2003.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

focus on your weaknesses, not strengths<\/strong><\/h2>\n

it\u2019s not easy for anyone, especially teenagers, to admit that they don\u2019t know something. yet the first step to act success is identifying gaps in your knowledge and skills.<\/p>\n

the best way to identify weakness is, you guessed it, a practice test<\/a>. before you do anything else, take a full-length, timed practice test. the results will give you a clear picture of what you know and don\u2019t know. afterwards, focus on these weaknesses for the majority of your study time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

make a plan<\/strong><\/h2>\n

you can\u2019t study everything at once. instead, come up with an act study plan<\/a>. in your plan, set goals, but make sure they\u2019re realistic. for example, if you only have a month until the act, aiming for a 5-point improvement to your composite score might be a little much, especially if you\u2019re studying by yourself. also, setting unrealistic goals has the added negative effect of killing your enthusiasm when the expected results doesn\u2019t happen by a wide margin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

get help when you need it<\/strong><\/h2>\n

if you\u2019re running into a few roadblocks while studying for the act, that means it\u2019s time to get help. whether a teacher, tutor, or classmate, another person\u2019s view on a problem or topic can go a long way in clearing up any fuzzy areas you may have.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"5
when it’s time to get help on the act.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

train your body as well as your mind<\/strong><\/h2>\n

besides training your mind for the act, your body, too, can make or break you on test day. in the week leading up to the act, try to sleep 8 hours each night. lay off the processed foods as much as possible, too. on the morning of the act, eat something high in protein. protein is a slow burning energy source that will keep you awake during the test. eat sugar and you\u2019ll likely burn out halfway through.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

retakes are okay!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

the last thing i wish i had known about the act is that retakes are okay! it\u2019s natural to feel a little down at the sight of low act scores, especially if you put in a lot of effort leading up to test day. yet there\u2019s no shame in having to take the act a second time.\u00a0 in fact, taking the act twice is the best strategy!<\/a><\/p>\n

that\u2019s all for now, act scholars. follow these steps and you\u2019ll be well on your way to act success!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24915],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 things i wish i had known about the act<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 things i wish i had known about the act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-19t18:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-25t03:07:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2016\/04\/eb10d60c10_1458053531_na-het-afrekenen-ga-je-naar-huis_-en-ineens-heb-je-een-nummer-in-je-hoofd.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"thomas broderick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"thomas broderick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"thomas broderick\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/0a42ebf95f4c3aaf08c7f83b3ca64abe\"},\"headline\":\"5 things i wish i had known about the act\",\"datepublished\":\"2016-04-19t18:00:14+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2018-10-25t03:07:44+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\"},\"wordcount\":594,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"articlesection\":[\"act\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\",\"name\":\"5 things i wish i had known about the act\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website\"},\"datepublished\":\"2016-04-19t18:00:14+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2018-10-25t03:07:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"readaction\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"breadcrumblist\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemlistelement\":[{\"@type\":\"listitem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"home\",\"item\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\"},{\"@type\":\"listitem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 things i wish i had known about the act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"website\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\",\"name\":\"magoosh blog | high school\",\"description\":\"act, sat, college admissions, life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"searchaction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"entrypoint\",\"urltemplate\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\"},{\"@type\":\"organization\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\",\"name\":\"magoosh\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"contenturl\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png\",\"width\":265,\"height\":60,\"caption\":\"magoosh\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameas\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/magooshsat_act\"]},{\"@type\":\"person\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/0a42ebf95f4c3aaf08c7f83b3ca64abe\",\"name\":\"thomas broderick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"imageobject\",\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/b43e9165768c593b03cdda1176046ffe\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2440e7ada4c33c5a02d9d60193dd7b90?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contenturl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2440e7ada4c33c5a02d9d60193dd7b90?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"thomas broderick\"},\"description\":\"thomas spent four years teaching high school english, social studies, and act preparation in middle tennessee. now living in northern california, he is excited to share his knowledge and experience with magoosh's readers. in his spare time thomas enjoys writing short fiction and hiking in the sonoma foothills.\",\"knowsabout\":[\"english\",\"social studies\",\"act\"],\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/tbroderick\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ yoast seo premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 things i wish i had known about the act","description":"in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/","og_locale":"en_us","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 things i wish i had known about the act","og_description":"in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test.","og_url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/","og_site_name":"magoosh blog | high school","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/","article_published_time":"2016-04-19t18:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-10-25t03:07:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2016\/04\/eb10d60c10_1458053531_na-het-afrekenen-ga-je-naar-huis_-en-ineens-heb-je-een-nummer-in-je-hoofd.gif"}],"author":"thomas broderick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@magooshsat_act","twitter_site":"@magooshsat_act","twitter_misc":{"written by":"thomas broderick","est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"article","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#article","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/"},"author":{"name":"thomas broderick","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/0a42ebf95f4c3aaf08c7f83b3ca64abe"},"headline":"5 things i wish i had known about the act","datepublished":"2016-04-19t18:00:14+00:00","datemodified":"2018-10-25t03:07:44+00:00","mainentityofpage":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/"},"wordcount":594,"commentcount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization"},"articlesection":["act"],"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"commentaction","name":"comment","target":["\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"webpage","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/","name":"5 things i wish i had known about the act","ispartof":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website"},"datepublished":"2016-04-19t18:00:14+00:00","datemodified":"2018-10-25t03:07:44+00:00","description":"in spring 2003 i was a high school junior about to take the act for the first time. here are five things i wish i had known about the test.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#breadcrumb"},"inlanguage":"en-us","potentialaction":[{"@type":"readaction","target":["\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/"]}]},{"@type":"breadcrumblist","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-the-act\/#breadcrumb","itemlistelement":[{"@type":"listitem","position":1,"name":"home","item":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/"},{"@type":"listitem","position":2,"name":"5 things i wish i had known about the act"}]},{"@type":"website","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#website","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/","name":"magoosh blog | high school","description":"act, sat, college admissions, life","publisher":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization"},"potentialaction":[{"@type":"searchaction","target":{"@type":"entrypoint","urltemplate":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inlanguage":"en-us"},{"@type":"organization","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization","name":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/","logo":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","contenturl":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2019\/02\/magoosh-logo-purple-60h.png","width":265,"height":60,"caption":"magoosh"},"image":{"@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/magooshsat_act"]},{"@type":"person","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/0a42ebf95f4c3aaf08c7f83b3ca64abe","name":"thomas broderick","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/b43e9165768c593b03cdda1176046ffe","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2440e7ada4c33c5a02d9d60193dd7b90?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2440e7ada4c33c5a02d9d60193dd7b90?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"thomas broderick"},"description":"thomas spent four years teaching high school english, social studies, and act preparation in middle tennessee. now living in northern california, he is excited to share his knowledge and experience with magoosh's readers. in his spare time thomas enjoys writing short fiction and hiking in the sonoma foothills.","knowsabout":["english","social studies","act"],"url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/tbroderick\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24915,"user_id":154,"is_guest":0,"slug":"tbroderick","display_name":"thomas broderick","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2440e7ada4c33c5a02d9d60193dd7b90?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"broderick","first_name":"thomas","description":"thomas spent four years teaching high school english, social studies, and act preparation in middle tennessee. now living in northern california, he is excited to share his knowledge and experience with magoosh's readers. in his spare time thomas enjoys writing short fiction and hiking in the sonoma foothills."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6601"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=6601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}