SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

ACT Science is really a misnomer. The test should be called the “reading with very confusing big words and tricky visuals” section. The reason ACT Science does not force you to memorize AP level Bio or complete IB Physics HL problems is that not everyone takes all of that math in high school. For ACT Science to be a fair standardized test for all high school students, the test asks you about basic science concepts in tricky or confusing ways.

If you're one of those people who runs away from Math and Science Questions or considers themselves a writer or artist rather than a scientist or mathematician, do not fear! You can still get a 36 on ACT Science.  

In these questions, math meets science. You might be thinking, “Wait, but the ACT Science section doesn’t let you use your calculator!” This is true! And this means the ACT Science questions that require calculations will only require very simple math that you can do by hand or in your head. 

Calculation questions require you to find a specific value based on the figures provided. However, the value will not be shown in the figure. Using the information you are given, you will need to predict what would happen past the edges of the graph or between values on a table. In this article, I'm going to cover interpolations and extrapolations, along with tips and realistic ACT Science practice questions.

No one likes to make mistakes. However, you cannot ignore the questions you miss, or you will not improve. In this article, I will help you figure out the mistakes you are making on ACT Science questions, and I will give you some ACT Science tips and ACT Science strategies to fix your mistakes.

In every section on the ACT, there are some questions that are more difficult than the others. Science is no different. However, unlike the math section, where the questions progress from easy to hard in a linear fashion, each of the 7 passages tends to have 1-2 hard questions that can appear at any point in the passage (though they tend to be the last questions of the passage).

These problems may seem challenging at first glance, but they're really just slightly more challenging than the others if you use the right ACT Science strategies and tips that we'll be covering in this guide. 

Reading graphs is like reading in a foreign language. It comes easy to some and is very difficult for others. If you struggle to understand graph, tables, and other visuals for ACT Science questions, this article containing tips, strategies, and practice questions is perfect for you.

If you're a “fluent” pro, this article will be a good review to make sure your skills are on point. Even if you are a pro, the ACT Science section often tests the basic skill of reading visuals in new and challenging ways, so this article will make sure you have strategies for both easy and hard questions.

The ACT Science section is basically the white and gold dress of the ACT. It's blue and black or white and gold. It's either really hard or really easy, depending on the viewer. In this article, I'm going to help you find a strategy that makes the ACT Science really easy always.

As I mentioned in a previous article, the ACT Science section is more reading than science. Therefore, to do well on the ACT Science, you need to have a good reading strategy. Counterintuitive, I know.

While using one strategy for the whole ACT Science section would be ideal, there is no single technique that works to read all of the ACT Science Passages. Your approach to reading the ACT Science Passages should vary based on the type of passage. If you're unfamiliar with the 3 types of ACT Science Passages, I recommend reading our other article first.

In this article, I'll outline all of the ACT Science reading techniques that I've personally tried and taught to students. I'll rank the techniques from best to worst. I offer all of the strategies (instead of just one) because my favorite strategy may not work for you.

Why is the ACT Science section so scary? When I took it the first time, it was fast paced, had a lot of difficult science terms, and seemed challenging. I think many students have a similar experience because the ACT Science section is unlike any other test you've taken, and is so different from the PSAT and SAT.

But there's a critical secret to ACT Science - you actually don't need to know much about science to do well. Instead, you need to be able to practice critical reasoning well - this is the fundamental basis for ACT Science!

In this article, I'll try to make the ACT Science section less mysterious. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you'll understand that any student can get a 36 on the ACT Science section - no matter what grades you got in your science classes.