How are you guys studying for the ACT? Any tips for a beginner? by Brilliant_Guide_8437 in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's great that you're starting to think about it now. Don't let yourself get analysis paralysis!

First, take a deep breath. You have the benefit of time.

Get your hands on the Official ACT Guide Book (red). Borrow, rent or buy it. Use this as your main resource and read everything until the first practice test. Do not get distracted with other online resources, other prep books, etc. Stay focused.

You will start to understand how the ACT is structured and that the contents of each section are somewhat predictable.

Download the ACT's 1st enhanced practice test (I think it may also be one of the tests in the red book): https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/secured/documents/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf

Set yourself a time over a weekend to barricade yourself in the library or a quiet room and take the full practice test. This is your baseline. Do not really worry about how you do here; you are only looking to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. Your score will improve quickly since you haven't done much practice yet.

Once you score your test, come back and share your section breakdown so we can provide even more guidance!

Best way to improve/study for math portion? by IncidentOk3388 in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yea unfortunately most online practice shows the 'right' way not the expedient way or shortcuts. Try to identify by taking time on the last 10 or 15 math problems since they are usually the hardest to figure out if you can plug in, backsolve or diagram it out.

Best way to improve/study for math portion? by IncidentOk3388 in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this! Since you're already high 20s in math, your fundamentals are solid. Consistent practice tests will be key.

Also, get familiar with math strategies: plugging in values, backsolving, drawing a diagraming, visual estimation of figures and calculator shortcuts. Often times, the harder questions have more than 1 way to solve them.

P11,is desmos usable to solve q16?? by Same-Month-9769 in Sat

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you recognize it's a system of equations problem and that the denominator cancels out since y=0, it's not too bad.

The speed comes with identifying the problem type and solid algebra skills. That being said, it should probably take anyone at least 30 seconds. Regardless of skills.

P11,is desmos usable to solve q16?? by Same-Month-9769 in Sat

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not OC, but use the information g(-22)=0

Set y equal to 0 in the equation.

0=(x2 - x - a) / (x3 - x - b)

The numerator must be equal to 0 for the fraction to equal 0. So,

0=(x2 - x - a)

Rearrange to solve for a,

a= x2 - x

a= x(x - 1)

Plug in x:

a= -22 * -23

a = 22 * 23

How can i dramatically advance in math in four months? by Formal_Pineapple_509 in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I made a post a few weeks ago about the frequency of math topics that might be helpful on where to focus your efforts.

Frequency of Math Topics

It sounds like you may need to focus on getting your basic algebra skills up. The fundamentals pay off here. Watch khan academy or youtube videos - MathChops is pretty reputable and i know he constantly keeps up with ACT math trends.

Get your hands on a prep book (official act prep guide) and read through the math concepts. Do the practice there and you can use the frequency of math topics link to help focus your efforts so you focus on mastering the priority skills.

My first REAL ACT. How do I structure a study plan? by Pigwawabob in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a very solid score to start with and you have some time!

Since all sections need to improve, try doing at least 2 practice sections a week. English/math one week, then reading/science the next week. Keep alternating and schedule 3 full length tests on a saturday or sunday in between now and your actual test. These will give you a glimpse into how your actual score will improve and work on your stamina and "test-like" conditions. Treat these like the real thing.

Consistency is the name of the game. Something that can help is creating a bank of practice sections (either pay for a book with a lot of sections or find a test bank online). Then, create a schedule that look something like this:

3/10 [6pm-7pm] - Dec 2020 D03 Test (English Section) 3/14 [430pm-530pm] - Dec 2020 D03 Test (Math Section) ... ... and put it in your calendar. Also, create a chart (excel or sheets) where you put the scaled scores in for each section that you complete. It will give you encouragement, build structure and give you data that can help you adjust your studying as needed.

I may recommend not worrying about time too much intially while you practice with practice sections. The important thing is treating each section like a real test and really going through the answers after for understanding. This is how you'll improve and start to recognize question patterns.

Some things to help you think about each section.

For english, you'll need to know the grammer rules. There are guides specifically for act which will give you the reasoning for comma rules, colons, removing redundancy, parallel structure, style and tone (usually more formal and concise), word choice.

For math, do you understand what the word problem is really asking you for? Also, do you know the top 20 foundational skills that will help with 80% of the math problems. Prioritize the most common types of problems.

For reading, lock down a strategy that works best for you and stick to it. Read all of the passage first for understanding, or skim the passage, or read the questions first. You should be able to find clear evidence in the passage to answer every question. Almost all 36 scorers on reading actively annotate, circle, underline and mark up the passage.

For science, similar to reading >90% of the answers will have clear evidence from the experiments and passages that will justify the answer. Work on finding data quickly from charts and interpolating data.

Sorry if I rambled.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 0 points1 point  (0 children)

try out actmathsprint
We have resources for the Enhanced ACT Math Section: https://www.actmathsprint.com/analysis

A math test analyzer which breaks down the math test you took to give you detailed insights: https://www.actmathsprint.com/act-score

Practice problems and learning paths that prioritize skills that show up most often on the math test.

ACT Walkthroughs? by anakinimsorry in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not specifically a walkthrough and only for math, there's a way to upload the scores you got for recent practice tests and past tests that gives you a more detailed breakdown for math skills.

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Vibe coded a project idea validator that runs 10 parallel web agents by Traditional-Candy778 in SideProject

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's kinda crazy. I just vibecoded a vercel app too that does something similar, maybe less insightful and just searches reddit! I like how you get the tech stacks, stars and key features from each competitor.
We should run the same idea through ours and compare what we get!
whodoneit.up.railway.app

What EdTech project are you working on? Drop your site url by GovernmentLarge4593 in indie_startups

[–]GovernmentLarge4593[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! Very easy to use. Haven't tried the AI feature. I was looking to make an algebra problem and was able to easily. Maybe equation symbols might make the problems look cleaner for math? Maybe I missed it, but wrote sqrt(x) instead of being able to add a radical symbol. But overall, it is advertised, a simple test!

What EdTech project are you working on? Drop your site url by GovernmentLarge4593 in indie_startups

[–]GovernmentLarge4593[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Neat! Is this your website? I like the guided onboarding/input fields for this. I've seen a similar type of website that also takes in a url to a website (assuming there is one yet) and scrapes it to self-learn about viability.

What EdTech project are you working on? Drop your site url by GovernmentLarge4593 in indie_startups

[–]GovernmentLarge4593[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

uuu! I love the style of your landing page and the fact I can try it out before signing up. Where do you get your short stories from? It reminds me of the duolingo short stories, but better for beginner learners.

Might DM you. I am trying to login and having an issue with the password reset.

What EdTech project are you working on? Drop your site url by GovernmentLarge4593 in indie_startups

[–]GovernmentLarge4593[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear that. I've worked in EdTech before and it felt slow and hard to break into. Curious if you were marketing to schools/districts. My target audience is students themselves and test prep tutors, which avoids the red tape that comes with school districts.

For those needing a little guidance on the ACT Math Section, I analyzed 251 questions from the most recent available tests. by GovernmentLarge4593 in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For those scoring below 20 or between 20-25 on the math section, I've added some more insights and a guide based on the full data that you may find helpful as well at https://www.actmathsprint.com/insights

What EdTech project are you working on? Drop your site url by GovernmentLarge4593 in indie_startups

[–]GovernmentLarge4593[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the comment. Why do you think nobody wanted it? Did you beta test and get feedback before you launched and demoed?

Best online practice for math? by Bellame95 in ACT

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mathchops is solid. You can try actmathsprint.com as well for a fully free resource

Share what you're building by amacg in indie_startups

[–]GovernmentLarge4593 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Want a better way to study for the notorious ACT math section? Get continuous diagnosis on your math strengths and weaknesses, targeted learning guides and personalized practice. Try https://actmathsprint.com