ACT Math Prep: Big-Picture Strategies for Defeating the ACT Math Section
ACT math prep focuses on increasing familiarity with the format and wording of the questions, frequent practice of the concepts tested, and, as always, identifying tips, tricks, and strategies that work for an individual student to help with combatting the time constraint of the ACT math section.
The ACT math section can be difficult and frustrating for many students. Questions range from testing students on probability and statistics to algebra, algebra II, geometry, trigonometry, and more. Questions are ordered from easiest to hardest, and, as time goes on, students can become increasingly frustrated as questions become very complex.
In addition to difficult questions, the math time constraint is pretty intense: 60 questions in 60 minutes. That means you have one minute for each question on the exam. The math section tests students on concepts that are mainly covered in high school statistics, algebra, geometry, algebra II, and trigonometry courses. Many students will not have reviewed these concepts in quite some time when they begin their ACT test prep, so the first step to combatting the ACT math section is to brush up on the concepts tested. You can do this by completing practice tests or working through sample problems on the ACT website. Once you’re able to consistently work through the majority of the types of questions and topics that show up in the math section, it’s time to think about overall strategy to help you be effective with the time constraint. Assess whether your testing pace on this section is appropriate for the time constraint, and go from there to determine what other strategies and tips and tricks you should keep in mind to help you move quickly through the problems.
We encourage students to use trial-and-error to identify strategies and tricks that will help them on test day and eliminate those that do not produce results. Check out some of our recommended big-picture strategies that you can try below. Keep track of which ones help you 1) increase your pace and thus lower the overall time it takes you to complete questions, and 2) increase the number of questions that you answer correctly and thus increase your overall section score. The goal is to identify strategies that will speed up your pace AND increase your overall score simultaneously. Make note of which strategies work, and make sure to use these consistently as you continue to prep leading up to test day.
Big-picture strategies that can help anyone increase their ACT math score:
1. Think of the section in chunks
When you think about the math section as 60 separate questions that you have to work through, it is a lot more overwhelming than if you break the section up into smaller chunks. We instruct students to think about the ACT math section as three separate sections:
Section 1: The “Easy” Section – Questions 1-20
Section 2: The “Medium-Level Difficulty” Section – Questions 21-40
Section 3: The “Hard” Section – Questions 41-60
You can set yourself up for success by creating a separate goal score AND goal pace for each of these sections. Your individual goals for each section should be determined based on your ACT composite score goal. Once you’ve determined your composite score goal, use the information below to figure out how you need to perform on each of the three parts of the math section to get you to your goal.
If you’re aiming for a lower composite score of 21-23, you should focus most of your efforts on the first section and some of the second section, making sure to really take your time so that you’re consistently working through the questions correctly. For a score goal in this range, you don’t necessarily need to worry about having time to attempt all questions in the math section. In fact, if you try to rush through and try every question, it will likely LOWER your overall score, since you won’t have time to thoroughly work through even the easier questions.
If you’re shooting for a score that’s a little higher, maybe 28-30, you’ll want to focus your attention on sections 1, 2, and part of section 3. Again, it may not be necessary for you to have time to try every single question that shows up in the third section, so long as you are consistently answering the majority of the questions that you attempt correctly. In order to score a 30 on the math section, you need to answer about 50 questions correctly. That means you can miss or skip 10 total questions.
For students aiming for a score in the 30’s, you’ll definitely want to make sure to have a strategy in place that allows you time to answer every single question.
The point is to make sure that you aren’t aimlessly working through 60 individual questions and not knowing what your performance needs to look like in order for you to reach your goal score.
Lets take a look at what works well for many of our students:
Section 1: The “Easy” Section – Questions 1-20
While we refer to this section as “easy,” it’s not actually going to be super simple math. It is, however, going to be the simplest math that shows up in the ACT math section. This section consists of many one- or two-step problems that should be concepts you’re pretty familiar with. Concepts often include simple probability questions, basic algebra, story problems, functions, and straightforward geometry, to name a few.
The SCORE goal for this section:
Since this is the easiest part of the math section, you want to try to get as many of the questions on this section correct as absolutely possible. Obviously that’s always the goal for all of the sections, but since the questions in this section are going to be much easier than those of the other two sections, you want to be sure to focus and make sure you’re working through questions 1-20 correctly. Make sure to double-check your answers – the ACT does not give arbitrary answers on the math section. What does that mean? It means that every WRONG answer in the list is the answer that you arrive at if you make a mistake in working through the problem. If you accidentally add 3 when you were supposed to subtract 3, the answer you get is going to be one of the options listed. This is why it’s important to review your work and double-check answers with your calculator. This first section is where you have the highest probability of getting all 20 questions right. You want to get as many of these questions correct as possible so that there is less pressure to do well on the other two sections. If you can work through questions 1-20 and get every single question correct, you’re building yourself a great foundation. In fact, if you miss none of the first 20 questions, you can’t score lower than a 17 or 18 on the whole test. That’s a really good foundation to set yourself up for the harder problems that you know are coming up.
The TIME goal for this section:
Since this is the easiest part of the math section, in addition to aiming for high accuracy with answering the questions in this section, your goal should be to complete these questions in less than a minute each. You’re given 60 minutes for 60 problems across the whole section, but if you can complete any of the questions in less than one minute, you’re going to build up some extra time that you can use to slow down on the harder questions. As a whole, students who can complete the 20 questions in Section 1 of the math test in under 15 minutes will have a better chance of having time to attempt all of the problems of this section. But remember that this does not mean you should rush through these problems. The more you practice the math section, the faster you will become at working through the questions. Practice, practice, practice until you’re able to work through questions 1-20 in-depth in less than 15 minutes.
Section 2: The “Medium-Level Difficulty” Section – Questions 21-40
During this middle chunk of the math section, the questions will start to become more difficult. However, the questions don’t get too complex yet. The ACT mainly will make questions more difficult in this section by giving 3+ step questions that are based on the same concepts that they’ve already been testing you on in the first section questions 1-20.
The SCORE goal for this section:
As always, the goal is to answer as many questions correctly as possible. However, your individual goal will depend on what your ACT composite score goal is. Depending on your goal, you may need to attempt all of the questions in this section and quickly, or you may only need to focus on some of the questions in this section. During this section, it can be helpful for students to play on their strengths and weaknesses. This means that students should pick and choose which questions to work through, focusing on the questions that ask about concepts that are your strengths. If you’re really good at geometry, take the time to work through the mid-level geometry questions more carefully than other topics that you’re less confident about. This will help you raise your overall score and continue to ensure you’re answering the questions that are easy for you correctly. If you can answer all of the questions in Sections 1 and 2 correctly (1-40), you can’t score less than a 25 or 26 on this section of the ACT. That means that you can score a 26 without even attempting the last 20 questions on the exam. Most students have no idea that’s true and think they need to rush and attempt all 60 questions. Again, it all goes back to what your end goal is.
The TIME goal for this section:
The time you spend on Section 2 will also depend on your composite score goal. Students seeking higher scores should aim to complete this section by the 40-minute mark. This leaves them with a full 20 minutes to attack the last 20 questions in Section 3. In contrast, some students who are only looking for a low- to mid-20s score and who prefer to take their time working through problems may take longer to work through Section 2 and spend less time (or maybe no time) on Section 3.
Section 3: The “Hard” Section – Questions 41-60
This is where questions start to get really complicated. The ACT will continue to give you multiple-step problems on concepts that they’ve already been testing you on, but they’ll stop holding your hand through the questions. What do I mean? Questions may seem like you don’t have enough information to work through them, but you actually will as long as you’re familiar with certain equations and rules as they relate to the concept being examined. Similarly, in this section you could start to see concepts that have not shown up previously throughout the math section. These could include things like logarithms, invisible numbers, and asymptotes, to name a few.
The SCORE goal for this section:
The point of this section is to really separate the students who receive high 20’s scores from those that score into the 30’s. Students looking to receive a 30 on the math section need to answer approximately 50 questions right; those looking to score a 33 need to answer 55 questions right. If you’re aiming for a composite score in the 30’s, make sure you know how many questions you need to answer correctly to obtain your specific goal score.
The TIME goal for this section:
Unless you choose to complete the math section out of order (which we don’t often recommend), this section will be the last one you complete of the math. That means you’ll likely use up any time you have left after Section 2 completing Section 3. Students aiming for a score in the 30’s should practice the math section often to make sure you’re able to complete all 60 questions in the 60 minutes given. The more practice you do on the math section, the faster your pace will become, but this is often a slow, steady climb, so practice often.
By thinking about the math section as three individual chunks, it helps you to see the big picture and the section as a whole rather than fixating on 60 individual questions. By having separate goals for each of these sections regarding timing, you’ll be more easily able to keep yourself on an appropriate pace during the exam. By having a separate goal for consistency for each section, you’ll also help to keep your anxiety levels lower because you know what to expect from each section and you know how you need to perform as a whole to reach your specific score goal
The Key Takeaway: Create a math strategy that reflects your composite ACT goal. Break the math section into three separate chunks and determine your score goal and pace goal for each to put you on track to reach your composite goal.
2. Pay close attention to your pace
Many students will elect to wear a watch on test day to pace themselves more easily than simply using the clock in the classroom. Other students prefer to just use the clock in the testing room. Either of these is completely fine. What’s important is that you ACTUALLY pay attention to your pace.
It can be really easy to get absorbed into the math problems and work through them one after the other and completely forget to make sure that you’re working at an appropriate pace. This is an easy way to get off track on your pace. Make a plan for how frequently you’re going to check the clock. Use your Section 1, 2, and 3 plans (from #1 above) to help you keep track of what questions you should be working through at what time. Many students prefer to check the clock at the end of each page of questions that they complete. Figure out what will work well for you and make sure to use it on test day.
Similarly, it can be easy to get frustrated about a question that you know you remember learning but you can’t seem to remember the specific equation or rule that you need to know in order to find the answer. You become stubborn and don’t want to let the question defeat you when you KNOW you remember how to do it. You sit there and fight with it for 6 minutes and never do remember the equation, so you finally guess and move on. This is like a death sentence for the math section of the ACT. Think of how many other questions you could have worked through during those 6 minutes that you just wasted on one question. Recognize when your time will be better spent skipping a question than trying to fight with it.
Paying attention to your pace doesn’t only mean to hurry through questions. It also means recognizing when you should skip a question and move on to the next one for the sake of using your time wisely. After all, every single question is worth the same amount of points, so you’re better of trying anything that you know how to do and skipping anything that you can’t quite remember or aren’t sure how to approach, even if that question shows up in the “Easy” section.
The Key Takeaway: Have a plan for keeping track of your pace on test day. Pay attention to your timing frequently throughout the exam, either by using your personal watch or the room clock. Recognize when a question is going to take you a long time to work through, and know when you should skip these questions.
3. Know your strengths (and weaknesses)
The math section covers a lot of concepts that are taught throughout different math classes. Algebra and geometry are two examples of concepts that show up frequently throughout the math section. These are two VERY different topics, and students frequently find that they are better at one than they are the other. It’s important to recognize your strengths and weaknesses and use them to your advantage. Maybe you really hate everything about algebra because the idea of variables confuses you and you don’t get the point, but conversely you shine when it comes to geometry and finding the area and perimeter of various shapes. Use this knowledge to your advantage by allowing yourself to work through the geometry questions more slowly and with more focus, knowing that this is a strength and that you’re likely to get those questions right. Similarly, don’t hesitate to skip over even simple algebra problems that baffle you. You might be better off spending your time working through a geometry problem that shows up as question 48 than an algebra question that shows up as question 23.
The Key Takeaway: You know what areas of math you think are easy and what areas confuse you. Take this information and use it to help you determine which questions to attempt, which questions to skip, and which questions to take your time on.
4. Skip the last 10-15 questions
This strategy is directly related to breaking the section into three parts, as discussed above in #1. We’ve discussed how you need to get 50 questions right to get a score of 30, and how you need to get only 30 questions right to get a score of 21. Based on where your composite score goal falls, you can decide how many of the questions in the math section you should try to complete in order to hit your goal score. Most students will not comfortably be able to work through 60 math problems in full in the 60 minutes given. As we’ve already gone over, it’s in your best interest to skip some questions so that you have time to work through others in depth, rather than working quickly through all of the questions, unless you are aiming for a high score in the 30’s.
A common strategy for many of the students we work with that are looking to score between 20-28 on the math section is to skip 10-15 questions at the end. If a student is aiming for a score of 25, they know they need to get approximately 37 questions right. Knowing that, the student may decide to spend time only on questions 1-50 and guess on the last 10 questions. This will give them more time to work through the 50 questions than if they tried to attempt all 60, and it will also give them a buffer of 13 questions that they can miss and still hit their score goal. (That’s assuming that they also get none of their guesses right on the last 10 questions – remember that you’re not penalized for guessing on the ACT, so NEVER leave a bubble empty!)
For this strategy, we encourage students to START by filling in the bubbles of the questions that they do not plan to attempt. The student that will attempt 1-50 should start the math section by filling in bubbles 51-60 with their “letter of the day.” Pick the same letter (A/F, B/G, C/H, D/J, or E/K) and fill it in for all of the questions you won’t be attempting. Remember that the answers are determined by a computer, so it’s pretty pointless to try and come up with a sly pattern for which answers to guess. By guessing the same letter option for all of the answers, you give yourself a better chance of getting at least some of the guesses correct. Additionally, by beginning with filling in the bubbles, you don’t have to save time at the end to do this, and you can continue to work through the other questions right up until you run out of time.
The Key Takeaway: Based on your goal score, determine how many of the questions you should make sure you attempt on test day. If you plan to attempt less than all 60 questions, begin the section by filling in the bubbles for the questions you will not attempt and spend the rest of your time focused on the remaining questions.
5. Fill in your bubbles in chunks
Here’s one that you can use across all sections of the ACT. It may not cross your mind to wait and fill in your answer bubbles in bulk, or perhaps you don’t see the point in doing this. This can actually be a pretty effective strategy for some students. The fact of the matter is that the tasks you’re having your brain complete when you’re working through questions on the ACT are completely different than the task of filling in bubbles on your bubble sheet. What does this mean? Well, it means that if you take five seconds to fill in a bubble after every single question, you’re having your brain switch back and forth between tasks CONSTANTLY. This may not seem like it will have much of an effect on something like your ACT test score, but it’s possible that if you hold off on filling in your bubble sheet, your brain will gain momentum while you work through the questions on the test. For this reason, we encourage students to give this strategy a try. For the math section, circle the letter of your answers in the test booklet and wait to fill in the bubble sheet until you’ve completed a full page of questions. By doing this, you won’t be interrupting your brain with a different type of task in the middle of working through a page of questions.
The Key Takeaway: Consider filling in bubbles only once you’ve completed a full page of math questions. This way you’ll be filling in 5-10 bubbles at once, and you’ll be keeping your brain from having to switch back and forth between two very different tasks: filling in answer bubbles and thinking through mathematic concepts.
6. SLOW DOWN
This is another one that can help across all sections of the ACT, not just the math section. In fact, this is kind of like the Golden Secret of ACT success. It seems so counterintuitive to tell students to slow down and take their time working through questions when they’re taking a timed exam, but, for most students, slowing down can actually increase their test scores. By slowing down, you’re allowing yourself to work through questions more in-depth, letting yourself double-check your answers and your reasoning, and letting yourself understand the question in full before jumping to a conclusion.
The math section in particular can be very overwhelming because, for most students, 60 minutes is not enough time to complete 60 math problems. BUT we’ve already talked about how you don’t have to attempt every single question to do well on this section of the test. The number of questions you aim to attempt should be directly correlated with your score goal. The average ACT score in the US currently sits at a 21. Student who score a 21 on the math section get approximately 29 to 30 questions correct on this section. That means the average student is only answering HALF of the ACT math problems correctly. Keep this in mind as you work to identify a math strategy that will work well for you. Unless you’re shooting for a pretty high score, don’t worry about having time to attempt every single question. If you’re rushing through the math section, you’re bound to miss important details within the questions and make small errors as you work through multi-step problems. Additionally, you’re not likely to think through your answer very carefully if you’re trying to hurry. Both of these things will lead to incorrect answer choices. Remember that every single question on the ACT is worth the same amount of points. If you answer all 60 questions but you rush through the whole section, you’re probably going to end up missing more questions than you would have if you’d let yourself slow down and only attempted 45 or 50 questions. Think about that for a second: The secret is in picking and choosing your battles – you don’t have to attempt every single question to get a good ACT score (unless you’re trying to score 32+, in which case you probably should make sure you have identified a strategy that allows you to answer all questions in each section thoroughly).
The Key Takeaway: Most students shouldn’t worry about having time to attempt all 60 math questions. Instead, focus on taking your time understanding as many questions as possible and answering them thoroughly. You’ll always answer more questions correctly when you give yourself the time to think through them compared to hurrying through the entire section. The goal is to answer questions correctly, not to just answer questions.
There you have it: ACT math strategies to help you reach your goal score.
The ACT math section can be pretty intimidating, mainly because of the intense time constraint. Most students are not used to being tested on their ability to work through questions quickly, but with practice, repetition, and a proven strategy, this is a section that anyone can do well on.
Good luck, and happy studying!
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