Thursday, October 31, 2019

What Holes Has The Financial Crisis Revealed In The G8 Will The G20 Essay

What Holes Has The Financial Crisis Revealed In The G8 Will The G20 Fill Such Holes - Essay Example World’s wealthiest country; America was the major sufferer of this crisis. In fact many people believe that America was responsible for stimulating recent global recession. The unhealthy lending habits of American banks and the crazy life styles of American public have given momentum to the recent financial crisis. G8 and G20 are two of the major coalitions in the world at present. G20 was proposed by former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in 1999 to deal with international financial matters. Sustainable development is the major theme of G20. It is also interested in solving global energy crisis, economic problems, demographic problems etc. Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United States, India, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and European Union are the members of G20. On the other hand the Group of seven (G-7) comprises Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and United states. â€Å"The G7 is often referred to as G8 because Russia fully participated in all but financial and certain economic discussions of G7 since the 1998 Birmingham summit†. Before the formation of G7, G6 was formed in 1974 by world's major industrialized democracies such as United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, West Germany, Japan and France. In 1975 Canada joined G6 and it became G7. Russia joined G7 in 1997 to make it G8. Since, its formation G8 contributed heavily to global economy. Fratianni, et al (2005) pointed out that â€Å"The world without G8 would be more brutish and riskier than it is now† (p.4). The recent financial crisis has unveiled many of the loopholes in G8 functioning whereas G20 stood well to the challenges raised by the recession. It should be noted that G8 consists of mainly European and American countries whereas G20 consists of countries from Asia also. It is often said that global wealth is currently shifting from America a nd Europe to Asia at present. This is evident from the fact that most of the prominent Asian countries escaped from recession problems whereas American and European countries are still struggling for survival. In other words, G8 failed miserably in tackling recession problems whereas G20 managed these problems well, mainly because of the contributions of Asian countries. This paper analyses the loopholes in G8 in tackling recession problems and the ability of G20 in filling that loopholes. What holes has the financial crisis revealed in the G8? Even though G8 countries are believed to be the wealthiest countries in the world, recent financial crisis has unveiled the loopholes in the governance of these countries. According to Fratianni et al. (2007), â€Å"Today, the G8 leaders are dealing directly with central question of how to build better global governance in both public and private sphere† (p.23). As a result of globalization, privatization is taking place at rapid pace in most of the countries. Moreover, governments in G8 countries are privatizing many of the publicly owned companies to stay away from the responsibilities of servicing the people. It is a fact that private capital is essential for the economic growth of a country. However, uncontrolled private capital in critical sectors may bring more harm than good. India like emerging economies is allowing private participation cautiously even though they are following mixed economic policies. On the other hand, China does not allow private capital in critical sectors even though they are doing everything possible to encourage private capital on all other sectors. G8 countries on the other hand allowing private companies to invest at will in all major industrial

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Difference in Hercules and Spiderman Essay Example for Free

Difference in Hercules and Spiderman Essay In many Greek hero myths and stories, protagonists are presented with a series of hardships or task they must past. In the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton Hercules tries to achieve atonement. He brainlessly accepts all the challenges that Eurystheus gave him, while Spiderman thinks thoroughly before he performs his actions. The tradition of achieving atonement has deteriorated away from modern culture myths. In the book Spiderman the hero of Stan Lee’s novels, Spiderman tries to achieve security and stability for his community. Hercules is driven to serve the society because of his guilt while Spiderman serves the society willingly, which shows the difference between the Greek and modern idea about serving the society. The guilt that drives Hercules and the effort to make the society a better place drives Spiderman, shows that the idea of atonement has faded away in modern myths. Greek heroes such as Hercules show heroism that is not displayed in modern day myths. Heroes such as Hercules do many things without thinking such as, encountering many creatures and performing tasks they would have never thought possible. For example, as Hercules tries to achieve atonement for the horrible acts that he has committed against his family and he must complete twelve tasks, one of which involves going down into the underworld: â€Å"His task was to bring Cerberus, the three-headed dog, up from Hades† (Hamilton 174). This task requires a lot of strength and courage as mentioned by Hamilton, â€Å"He lifted him and carried him all the way up to earth and on to Mycenae† (Hamilton 174). Without Hercules this task could not be accomplished by anyone. All twelve of the tasks that Hercules was to perform didn’t not require much intelligence or cleverness, just strength. In many Greek myths there are no brains involved in the deed or action executed, just senseless killing and other tests of strength. On the other hand Spiderman performs his heroic acts with not only with his strength but also with intelligence. By using intelligence Spiderman has a much better chance of accomplishing his duty. For example, while the Green Goblin tied up Spiderman he was, â€Å"†¦to quickly think how to escape† (Lee 87). Greek myths have evolved form heroes performing actions brainlessly to heroes performing action with intellectual aid. Many Greek heroes perform lawful acts for their community that modern day heroes do not perform. Many Greek heroes serve their community because they want to achieve atonement for the acts that they have performed. In the case of Hercules, â€Å"†¦a wrong who has sent the madness upon him† (Hamilton 169). Hercules had gone mad after his wife, Megara has borne him three sons, â€Å"He killed his children and Megara, too, as she tried to protect the youngest (Hamilton 169). As the story continues to go on Hercules lives the rest of his life wanting to avenge his own life for the awful act that he has committed. As Hercules rushes out to kill himself his friend Theseus stood before him telling him why he shouldn’t kill himself: â€Å"Even so, suffer and be strong,† (Hamilton 170). Theseus is implying that that Hercules should be strong and wait for death because, â€Å"†¦ he rejected the idea that a man could be guilty of a murder when he had not known what he was doing† (Hamilton 170). And so Hercules went on to his cousin Eurystheus and there his cousin gave him twelve tasks that he must perform in order to achieve death. As Hercules performs this action, he almost accomplishes them with ease and after finishing all of the tasks no death had been brought upon him so he brought death upon himself, and therefore avenged his actions against his family. In the case of Spiderman, he serves his community in order to have a safe and secure community for himself and for the city. Spiderman willingly risks his life to keep the community in which he lives a safe place. Clearly myths and stories have evolved from serving the community in order to achieve eternal piece to thinking about others and performing deeds for others. In conclusion, Hercules and Spiderman have many differences but their biggest difference is that Hercules performs his duties and heroic acts brainlessly, while Spiderman performs his heroic duties with intelligence and strategy. Our modern day myths no longer have the idea of atonement instead, the heroes serve their community willingly. This is what makes a hero a true hero.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Phase Transformations Microstructural Control

Phase Transformations Microstructural Control Phase transformations microstructural control 2xxx-series Aluminum Alloys Introduction: 2000 Series Aluminum Alloys: Principal alloying element is copper with minor additions of manganese and magnesium. This series of aluminum is the original heat treatable alloy group developed in the 1920s. The best known, most widely used heat treatable alloy for aircraft and aerospace is 2024. Can be spot and friction welded but not fusion welded (a few exceptions being tank structures in the Titan Missile). Has good formability in the annealed temper condition and some formability in the solution treated and aged condition, but needs intelligent application in complex designs. Has excellent fatigue properties when compared to other aluminum alloys, excellent strength to weight ratio. Good machinability. Poor resistance to corrosion without alclad layer or secondary chem film, anodize and/or prime and paint. Can be chem film and anodized readily. Other 2000 series alloys include 2017 seen widely in aluminum rivets, fasteners and screw machine parts and 2014 which is used heavily in forgings. These three alloys, 2024, 2014, and 2017 can be considered the foundations of aluminum aircraft, missiles and space vehicles during these past 75 years. Heat Treating Aluminum Alloys: (1) Example 2024: Aluminum alloys are not allotropic they do not undergo a phase or structure change like steels when heating. But if the right alloying additions are present they can be heat treated by solution heat treating and precipitation hardening. In the early days (1930s) solution heat treatment was referred to as ST, and many times precipitation hardening was referred to as aging. Solution heat treatment involves temperatures very close to the melting point of the aluminum alloy, usually 200 300 deg. below the melting point. The purpose is to provide enough thermal energy to dissolve, in a solid solution, the alloy elements present. In the case of 2024, the major alloy element is copper, and by taking the part to 920 deg. F, the copper present within the 2024 will dissolve or disperse uniformly throughout the solid aluminum part. This can be difficult to comprehend how can something dissolve and still be solid? As Einstein once said, everything is relative Without getting into the solid state physics of the metallurgical reactions, dissolution does occur but only at this high temperature. However, if you slowly cool down the part, the copper wants to come back out of solution. Here is where the important step of quenching takes place. Quenching is a very rapid cool down, using water, on the order of 500 600 deg. per second. Quenching locks in place all alloy elements that have been dissolved at the high solution heat treat temperature. Before the alloy additions can think about changing places and moving back out of solution wham! they are locked in place by the rapid quench cool down. The result is called a super saturated solid solution an unstable condition. Quenching is critical to proper solution heat treatment. Aging Precipitation Hardening can now happen under the right conditions. In the case of natural aging of 2024, or aging at room temperature, the dissolved copper slowly comes back out of solution over an extended time (96 hours minimum), forming CuAl precipitants. Precipitants or precipitated particles can be thought of as army commandos, coming from nowhere out of the sky to stand guard, strengthening the territory. Indeed the word precipitant comes from the weather term precipitation meaning to separate and fall from solution (clouds). Precipitated particles in heat treatable aluminum alloys strengthen the alloy by pinning or locking up numerous microstructural features in the aluminum. Other heat treatable alloys like 6061 and 7075 undergo very similar precipitation reactions, with the actual precipitated particles differing depending on whether zinc, magnesium, manganese, silicon or copper additions are present. The way that metallurgists control the formation of these precipitants will determine the mechanical and corrosion properties later. In the case of artificial aging or precipitation hardening, the previously solution heat treated and quenched parts are subjected to elevated temperatures (instead of room temperature) in the range of 225-375 deg. F over extended periods of time (4-24 hours). The precipitants formed and grown here are more controlled and substantial in nature, resulting in higher mechanical properties as compared to naturally aged conditions. Abstract: Recently, Aluminum and Aluminum alloys are broadly used in several fields of industries due to their properties such as, light weight (low density), good formability, good malleability, high electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity and high corrosion resistance. In general, pure aluminum and its alloys still have many problems during using in the engineering applications; for example: unstable mechanical properties and relatively low strength . Therefore; adding alloying elements, and heat treatment are done to modify the microstructure and improve the mechanical properties of aluminum. The alloying elements could be classified as major and minor elements, microstructure modifiers or impurities, where the minor elements in some alloys may be major elements in other alloys. This report investigates the influences of copper as alloying element on aluminum alloys and then the microstructures mechanical properties relations in this regards. Introduction: Aluminum copper alloys are gaining huge industrial usage because of their outstanding combination of mechanical, physical properties. These properties involve high specific strength specially high temperature strength, high hardness. These properties obtained through addition of copper and other alloy elements and heat treatment ability of this series. Alloying elements are chosen according to their effects and suitability (1) Aluminium-Copper Alloys: Due to the wrought aluminum alloys designation system, aluminium copper alloys are designated 2xxx series. the major alloying element in this series is copper (Cu). 2xxx series could include manganese (Mn), magnesium (Mg), Silicon (Si), titanium (Ti), and nickel (Ni) as minor alloying elements. Table (1) shows the chemical compositions of some wrought aluminum-copper alloys (2xxx) (2): Table (1): chemical compositions of Al-Cu alloys Alloy Si% Cu% Mn% Mg% Ni% Ti% Other elements% 2011 0.4 max 5.0 6.0 Pb=0.4 Bi=0.4 2014 0.5 1.2 3.9 5.0 0.4 1.2 0.2-0.8 0.15 max 2017 0.2 0.8 3.5 4.5 0.4 1.0 0.4 0.8 0.15 max 2018 0.9 max 3.5-4.5 0.4-0.9 1.7-2.3 2024 0. 5 max 3.8 4.9 0.3 0.9 1.2 1.8 0.15 max 2025 0.5-1.2 3.9-5.0 0.4-1.2 0.15 max 2124 0. 2 max 3.8 4.9 0.3 0.9 1.2 1.8 0.15 max 2219 0. 2 max 5.6 6.8 0.2 0.4 0.02 0.1 V=0.1 Zr=0.18 2319 0. 2 max 5.6-6.8 0.2-0.4 0.1-0.2 V=0.1, Zr=0.18 Microstructure-Property Relationships: Copper which is the primary alloying element in the 2xxx series alloys increases the tensile strength, fatigue strength and hardness of aluminum alloys because of the effect of solid solution hardening. It also improve the machinability of alloys by increasing matrix hardness. However, copper reduces the corrosion resistance and the ductility. The following diagram illustrates the maximum solubility of copper in aluminum (up to 6.5%) (2). Fig (4): Partial phase diagram for the aluminum-copper system showing the maximum solubility of copper in aluminum Good solubility of copper in aluminum up to 5.65% at T=548oC (eutectic temperature). Eutectic phase consists of ÃŽÂ ± phase (Al 5.65%Cu) which is ductile and ÃŽÂ ¸ phase (CuAl2;52.75%Cu) which is brittle. 5 > 5% Cu ÃŽÂ ± phase in some cases surrounded by ÃŽÂ ¸ phase. 33% Cu so brittle according to high amount of brittle ÃŽÂ ¸ phase. Aluminum-copper alloys are the group of aluminum alloys which are heat-treatable. Where by increasing temperature copper demonstrates increasing solid solubility in aluminum. As sequence significant additional strengthening could be produced and stabilizing of the structure could be achieved (7). References: 1. Rana R S, Purohit R, Das S. Reviews on the Influences of Alloying Elements on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Aluminium Alloys and Aluminium Alloys composites. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 2, Issue 6, 2012; ISSN 2250-3153. 2. Substances Technologies. Wrought aluminum-copper alloys (2xxx). Weblog. Available from: http://www.substech.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=wrought_aluminum-copper_alloys_2xxx 3. Yong Lee C, Hyun Choi D, Bae Lee W, Park SK, Yeon YM, Jung SB. Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Double-Friction Stir Welded 2219 Al Alloy. Materials Transactions , Vol. 49, No. 4 (2008) pp. 885 to 888. 4. Robinson J. S,. Cudd R. L,. Evans J. T. Creep resistant aluminium alloys and their applications. Materials perspective 2003. 5. The Aluminum Association, Inc. Aluminum Alloy Selection and Applications. 1998; (202) 862-5100. 6. ASM Vol 06 Welding, Brazing, and Soldering. 7. AlcoTec. The Differences Between Heat-Treatable and Non-Heat-Treatable Aluminum Alloys. Weblog. Available from: http://www.alcotec.com/us/en/education/knowledge/qa/The-Differences-Between-Heat-Treatable-and-Non-Heat-Treatable-Aluminum-Alloys.cfm 8. Yong Lee1C, Choi1DH, Lee WB, Park SK, Yeon YM, Jung SB. Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Double-Friction Stir Welded 2219 Al Alloy. 2008;Materials Transactions, Vol. 49, No. 4 (2008) pp. 885 to 888.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Ethical Assessment of Implantable Brain Chips :: Science Neurology Technology Ethics Papers

Ethical Assessment of Implantable Brain Chips My purpose is to initiate a discussion of the ethics of implanting computer chips in the brain and to raise some initial ethical and social questions. Computer scientists predict that within the next twenty years neural interfaces will be designed that will not only increase the dynamic range of senses, but will also enhance memory and enable "cyberthink" — invisible communication with others. This technology will facilitate consistent and constant access to information when and where it is needed. The ethical evaluation in this paper focuses on issues of safely and informed consent, issues of manufacturing and scientific responsibility, anxieties about the psychological impacts of enhancing human nature, worries about possible usage in children, and most troubling, issues of privacy and autonomy. Inasmuch as this technology is fraught with perilous implications for radically changing human nature, for invasions of privacy and for governmental control of individuals, public di scussion of its benefits and burdens should be initiated, and policy decisions should be made as to whether its development should be proscribed or regulated, rather than left to happenstance, experts and the vagaries of the commercial market. The future may well involve the reality of science fiction's cyborg, persons who have developed some intimate and occasionally necessary relationship with a machine. It is likely that implantable computer chips acting as sensors, or actuators, may soon assist not only failing memory, but even bestow fluency in a new language, or enable "recognition" of previously unmet individuals. The progress already made in therapeutic devices, in prosthetics and in computer science indicate that it may well be feasible to develop direct interfaces between the brain and computers. Worldwide there are at least three million people living with artificial implants. In particular, research on the cochlear implant and retinal vision have furthered the development of interfaces between neural tissues and silicon substrate micro probes. The cochlear implant, which directly stimulates the auditory nerve, enables over 10,000 totally deaf people to hear sound; the retinal implantable chip for prosthetic vision may restore vision to the blind. Research on prosthetic vision has proceeded along two paths: 1) retinal implants, which avoid brain surgery and link a camera in eyeglass frames via laser diodes to a healthy optic nerve and nerves to the retina, and 2) cortical implants, which require brain surgery and the pneumatic insertion of electrodesinto the brain to penetrate the visual cortex and produce highly localized stimulation.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Patriot Movie Review

The Patriot In theaters on June 30, 2000. Directed by: Roland Emmerich Written by: Robert Rodat Main Characters in the movie: Mel Gibson as Benjamin Martin, Heath Ledgar as Gabriel Martin, Tom Wilkinson as Lord General Cornwallis, & Jason Issac as Colonel William Tavington The film is rated R for strong war violence. Summary: It is 1776 when the Revolutionary War began between the American Colonists and the British soldiers. The main character, Benjamin Martin, is a veteran of the French and Indian war who wants independence from Britain, but is not willing to risk the safety of his already motherless children by going to war.It was the British who had killed his wife and he did not want to put his family in danger as he did so once before. However though he forms a militia and goes around looking for people in the colonies who are willing to fight against the â€Å"red coats† which are the British because he knew it had to be done. He did not approve of his oldest son Gabriel joining the Continental Army but Gabriel wanted to so bad that he went behind his fathers back to sign up anyway. This caused problems for him because they found him and threatened him on his own land.Benjamin Martin helped wounded soldiers both from the American side & British side and because of that he was viewed as a traitor to many people. The killing of his son when the British came to his home caused him to react and want to go to war with them. The Americans and British went to war and there was a lot of loss of American soldiers and the French came to help them because they disliked the British as well and tried to stop the British from trying to take over other places. After years in the war the Americans finally won and were able to pass the Declaration of Independence.Benjamin Martin had finally gotten even and killed Tavington because he killed both of his sons. Even though a lot of people died they were free at last from British control and that’s when good thi ngs started to happen for the Americans. Benjamin Martin ends up falling in love with his dead wifes sister & protects his family. He is truly considered a hero because if it weren’t for him then the Americans would have never taken it upon themselves to fight against the British. The colonies became united and it was just the beginning of a good period of time.The Patriot is a wonderful movie that not only has action and romance, but it has an important meaning. It gives us an outlook on the events that took place long ago that eventually led to our independence and the states uniting. Without it we probably wouldn’t have been the United States like we are now and it might have been longer before we would have been free from the British. I would definitely recommend everyone to watch this movie because you will definitely enjoy it regardless of your age or interests. Historical Accuracy: In the movie, the Continental Congress extends an order to slaves stating that if they serve 12 months in the Colonial Army, they would be granted their freedom and be paid 5 schillings per month served. The Congress never extended such an order in real life. – Benjamin Martin sends his children and his family friend to a slave colony after their plantation is burned down. Martin's family is welcomed into the colony and there is much celebration at their coming. Although a few slave colonies existed, they were very secluded and most likely would not have taken kindly to a group of white plantation owners looking for shelter.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

How to Get 36 on ACT English 10 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 36 on ACT English 10 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 26–34 range on ACT English? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible- to a perfect 36? Getting to a 36 ACT English score isn't easy. It'll require near perfection and mastery of both grammar rules and rhetorical skills. But with hard work and my ACT English strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on English on my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score- or get very close. Brief note: This article is suited for students already scoring a 26 on ACT English or above. If you're below this range, my "How to Improve your ACT English Score to a 26" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the advice in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 26. Overview Most guides on the internet on how to get a 36 on ACT English are of pretty bad quality. They're often written by people who never scored a 36 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and not very pragmatic. In contrast, I've written what I believe to be the best guide on getting a 36 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work because I used them myself to score a perfect ACT English score consistently. They've also worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring a 36 is a good idea and what it takes to score a 36. Then I'll go into the 10 critical ACT English strategies you need to get a perfect ACT English score. Stick with me- as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why a 36 English score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. In this guide, I'm going to talk about doing well on ACT English, rather than about raising your combined English/Language Arts score. The reason is that schools typically care much more about your ACT composite score rather than your subscores and ELA score. However, I'll still touch upon how to raise your essay score at the end. Final note: In this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 36. But if your goal is a 34, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why a 36 ACT English? Let's make something clear: for all intents and purposes, a 34 on an ACT is equivalent to a perfect 36. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 36 than a 34. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 34, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 36. You're already set for the top colleges, and it's time to work on the rest of your application. But if you're scoring a 33 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 34 or above. There's a big difference between a 32 and a 34, largely because it's easy to get a 32 (and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 34. A 33 places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get a 36 on ACT English? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your ACT composite score more than your individual section scores. If you can get a 36 in ACT English, that gives you more flexibility in your Math, Reading, and Science scores. It can compensate for a 32 in one other section, for example, and bring your average back up to 34. Princeton's 75th percentile score for ACT English is likely 36. Even though schools don't typically release their ACT scores by section, they do release SAT section scores. As a stand-in for ACT English, we can take a look at SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores at top schools. (I know ACT English and SAT EBRW don't totally overlap, but you do need to be good at reading and writing to score highly on ACT English.) Here are a few examples. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Dartmouth, the 75th percentile SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score is an 800 or 790. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have a 790 in SAT EBRW, or a 36 on ACT English. But if you can work your way to a 36, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a milk carton. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a 36 on ACT English. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in AP English, you're capable of this. Because I know that more than anything else, your ACT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. ACT English Is Designed to Trick You - You Need to Learn How Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? You've learned grammar before in school. You know some basic grammar rules. But the ACT questions just seem so much weirder. It's purposely designed this way. The ACT can't test difficult concepts, because this would be unfair for students who never took AP English. It can't ask you to decompose Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. The ACT is a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. So it has to test concepts that all high school students will cover, like subject-verb agreement, run-on sentences, pronoun choice, etc. You've learned all of this throughout school. But the ACT still has to make the test difficult, so it needs to test these concepts in strange ways. This trips up students who don't prepare, but it rewards students who understand the test well. Tricky ACT English Example Question Here's an example: find the grammar error in this sentence: The commissioner, along with his 20 staff members, run a tight campaign against the incumbent. This is a classic ACT English problem. The error is in subject/verb agreement. The subject of the sentence is commissioner, which is singular. The verb is "run," but because the subject is singular, it should really be "runs." At your level, you probably saw the error. But if you didn't, you fell for a classic ACT English trap. It purposely confused you with the interrupting phrase, "along with his 20 staff members." You're now picturing 20 people in a campaign- which suggests a plural verb! The ACT English section is full of examples like this, and they get trickier. Nearly every grammar rule is tested in specific ways, and if you don't prepare for these, you're going to do a lot worse than you should. Here's the good news: this might have been confusing the first time, but the next time you see a question like this, you'll know exactly what to do: find the subject and the verb, and get rid of the interrupting phrase. So to improve your ACT English score, you just need to: Learn the grammar rules that the ACT tests. Study how the ACT tests these grammar rules and learn how to detect which grammar rule you need in a question. Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes. I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, let's see how many questions you need to get right to get a perfect score. What It Takes to Get a 36 in English If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. As you probably know, writing combines your raw score on the multiple choice section with your essay score to give your final English score out of 36. Here's a sample raw score to ACT English Score conversion table. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Scaled Score English Raw Score 36 75 35 72–74 34 71 33 70 32 68–69 31 67 30 66 29 65 28 63–64 27 62 Source: ACT In this grading scale, you can earn a 36 only if you get a perfect raw score of 75. In fact, I've never seen a grading scale where you can earn a 36 after missing one question. The curve is also typically quite unforgiving. If you miss one question, you drop down to a 35. Miss two, and sometimes you drop down to a 34. Thus, perfection is really important for ACT English. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for a 36. It's pretty clear then that you need to try to answer every question. You can't guess on too many questions and get a 36, which means you need to get to a level of mastery where you're confident answering each question. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 36. For example, if you're scoring a 30 now, you need to answer nine more questions right to get to a 36. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my ACT test, showing that I scored a perfect raw score and a 36 on ACT English. OK- so we've covered why scoring a higher English score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll get into the meat of the article: actionable strategies that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get a 36 on ACT English What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness - Content or Time Management? Every student has different flaws in ACT English. Some people aren't comfortable with the underlying grammarmaterial. Others know the grammar ruleswell, but can't solve questions quickly enough in the harsh time limit. (As we'll discuss, the ACT English section applies VERY heavy time pressure. So you likely do suffer from some time pressure- we're trying to figure out how much) Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Take only the Englishsection of a practice test. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For that section, use a timer for 45 minutes. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out and you're not done yet, keep working for as long as you need. But starting now, for every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." Grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you got if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32), then you have remaining content weaknesses. You might have weaknesses across a range of subjects, or a deep weakness in only a few subjects. (We'll cover this later). Your first plan of attack should be to develop more comfort with all ACT English subjects. If YES (Extra Time score 32), then: Was your Realistic score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32, Realistic 32), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than two points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you generally slow at Englishacross most questions? Or did particular passages or types of questionsslow you down? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient solutions will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 32), then you have a really good shot at getting a 36. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score- if they differed by more than one point, then you would benefit from learning how to answer questionsmore quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a 36 with extra time, but score a 32 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 36. Strategy 2: Comprehensively Learn the Grammar Rules There's just no way around it. You need to know all the grammar rules tested on the test and how they work. In addition, you'll also need to know rhetorical skills that test you in your writing logic. You'll be asked to decide how to organize sentences and paragraphs together. Certain grammar rules, like punctuation, appear far more often than other rules. But because we're going for perfection, you'll need to know even the less common rules. In our PrepScholar program, we've identified the following as the grammar and rhetorical skills you need to know: Grammar Rules Punctuation: Commas, Apostrophes, Semicolons, Dashes Number Agreement: Subject/Verb Agreement, Pronoun Number Agreement Idioms and Wrong Word (Examples: affect/effect, neither...nor, there/their/they're) Parallel Construction Verb Forms: Tense, Conjugation Conciseness: Eliminating waste from sentence phrasings Sentence Fragments, Run-on Sentences Pronouns: Pronoun Choice, Pronoun Case Faulty Modifier Comparison/Description Rhetorical Skills Macro Logic: How sentences and paragraphs fit together Transitional Logic: How to connect different thoughts together Relevance: Determine whether a sentence is extraneous or fits in Author Intent: Understand the point of the author and writing techniques Formality and Tone There are a lot of rules, but they differ from each other in how commonly they appear on the test, and how hard they are to study. For example, Punctuation is the most common grammar rule on ACT English, but it only uses a few separate concepts. The Idioms skill is also very common, but it uses a wide range of idioms, such that each unique idiom appears no more than once on each test. It's therefore important for you to focus your time on studying the highest impact grammar rules. Our PrepScholar program, for example, quizzes you in relation to how common each grammar rule is, so that you focus your efforts on the rules that make the biggest difference to your score. Strategy 3: Do a Ton of Practice and Understand Every Single Mistake On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even one mistake on all of ACT English will knock you down from a 36. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,200 ACT questions customized to each skill. The second step- and the more important part- is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who completed 15 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're still nowhere near a 36 on ACT English. Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one- and find the source of each one- or else the restaurant you work for will be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by grammar skill (eg Number Agreement, Idioms, Sentence Fragments) It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper- WHY Did You Miss an English Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further- what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Take the Subject/Verb Agreement example I gave above (with the Interrupting Phrase trick). You likely already know how Subject/Verb Agreement works. But if you missed that question, you'd need to think about why you missed it (because the interrupting phrase made you confuse the subject and verb). Then you need to write down a strategy for noticing this in the future. Here are some examples of common reasons you miss an English question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content:I didn't learn the grammar rule needed to answer this question. One step further:What specific rule do I need to learn, and what resources will I use to learn this grammar rule? Overlooked Rule:I knew the grammar rule, but the ACT question was written in a way that made me miss it. One step further:How do I solve the question now? Is there a strategy I can use to notice this grammar rule in the future? Careless Error:I knew the grammar rule and normally would get this right, but I slipped up for some reason. One step further:Why did I make this careless mistake? Was I rushing? Did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 4: Justify Every Answer and Point Out Specific Grammar Errors Many top students take a "soft approach" to ACT English. They learn the grammar rules when studying, but on the test they go "by ear": if a sentence sounds off, they'll assume it's wrong without thinking too hard about why. When you've mastered grammar rules, this can serve you well. For example, if I said, "The bee fly to the hive," you'd know this was wrong instantly- it just feels wrong. You know simple subject/verb agreement so well that you can tell something is wrong before you can articulate what exactly it is. However, most students never get to this level of familiarity with all ACT grammar rules. This makes trusting your ear unreliable for many rules. This is especially true for wrong word choice, like "Its a good day to be an American." Because "its" sounds the same as "it's," your ear is of no help here! What's the strategy to counter this? Point out the specific error, and justify it to yourself. Let's run through an example. This is a grammar question that needs only one line from the passage to answer: Here's what I'm thinking as I read the question (a stream of consciousness): " 'The Sun sets gradually the images of a winged horse'...this doesn't seem right. I know 'sets' can take an object, like 'Tom sets the bowl down slowly,' but the Sun can't set anything down, and especially not images of a winged horse. This has got to be a run-on sentence, but let me keep reading. 'the images of a winged horse, a drinking gourd, a heartbroken hero appear in lights overhead.' Yep- the second part of this sentence is an independent clause, and it's a run-on because it's improperly connected to the first clause, 'The Sun sets gradually.' So I need an answer choice that fixes this:" F: no change, which is wrong G: this has a comma splice error- you can't connect two independent clauses with just a comma. H: this looks good. It joins two independent clauses properly- with a comma and a conjunction ('and'). J: 'The Sun setting gradually' is now a dependent clause, but to join a dependent clause with an independent clause, you need a comma that's missing here. For example, 'The Sun setting gradually, we drove down the highway.' would be correct. Thus answer J is wrong. Now, I'm not literally thinking all these words in my head, but it matches my thinking process as I go through the question and evaluate each answer choice. You can see how I first identified the run-on sentence error in the original sentence. That made it very clear to me how I could find an answer choice that fixed this error. As you learn the different grammar skills and how they appear on the test, you'll start evaluating answer choices for common ways that the ACT tries to trick you. Is a verb underlined? I'm going to check the subject to see if it follows subject/verb agreement. Then I'll check the verb tense. Is a pronoun underlined? I'm going to check the antecedent to see if it matches. Does an underline come right after a comma? I'm going to check if there's a faulty modifier error. I can justify every one of my answers because I know the grammar rules. This makes my answering more robust, not just based on whether something 'feels' right or wrong. Note as well that in these questions, the ACT often fixes the original error in an answer choice- but then introduces another error. You need to make sure the answer you choose is 100% correct, in terms of both grammar and logic. Don't be intimidated if you can't do this right now. With practice and reflection, you will get to this point. Once again, it's like "the bee fly to the hive." You want to get to a point where all ACT grammar rules automatically sound as wrong as that sentence. Find patterns to your mistakes, and make sense of the chaos. Strategy 5: Find Patterns to Your Weaknesses and Drill Them Remember Strategy 3 above about keeping a list of every mistake? You need to take this even one step further. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in ACT English than others. You might know pronouns really well, but you'll be weak in sentence constructions and fragments. Or maybe you really like parallel construction, but have no idea what faulty modifiers are. This is especially true in grammar and ACT English, because some grammar mistakes likely sound obvious to you, but others are completely foreign. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. You have a lot of schoolwork, you might be an athlete or have intense extracurriculars, and you have friends to hang out with. This means for every hour you study for the ACT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the 'dumb' way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're shocked. I'm not. Studying effectively for the ACT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew well, and they didn't spend enough time improving their weak spots. Instead, studying effectively for the ACT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to ACT English? In this analogy, your knowledge of English grammar is the leaky boat, and the holes are the gaps in your knowledge. You need to find the grammar rules you're struggling with the most, then do enough practice questions until they're no longer a weakness. For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is and why you missed it. Once you discover patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this grammar rule. Let's say you analyze your past practice tests and questions and find that you're missing a lot of misplaced modifier questions. After you identify this pattern, the next step is to find good lesson material to teach yourself the main concepts behind what misplaced modifiers are and how to fix or avoid them. You'll also need to find more practice questions that test you on misplaced modifiers and drill until you're making few, if any, mistakes. This is the best way for you to improve your English score. Once again, this is exactly how I designed our PrepScholar online ACT prep program to work. It automatically figures out your greatest weaknesses so you don't have to. We use advanced statistics with data from our thousands of students. With PrepScholar, you don't need to worry about what to study- you just need to focus on learning. Because it's worked for thousands of students, I'm pretty sure it'll work for you too. Click here to learn more. Strategy 6: Be Careful With "No Change" Answers In ACT English, most questions have a NO CHANGE option. The ACT loves tricking students using these answer choices, because it knows that students who don't know grammar rules won't see anything wrong with the sentence. No Change is a really easy answer to choose. No changes are one of the most common careless mistakes- make sure you don't fall for them. Be very careful whenever you choose one of these No Change answer choices. Typically, these are correct answers around 25% of the time- not much more. (We actually went through and counted this in real tests). If you find that you're choosing No Change 40% of the time, you're definitely not detecting grammar errors well enough. Every time you choose No Change, try to double-check the other answer choices to make sure you're not missing a grammar error. Especially take note of grammar rules that you tend to ignore mistakenly. Like I mentioned in Strategy 2 above, if you write down your mistakes and study your weaknesses, you'll be able to know which grammar rules you're weak at, and pay special attention to. Personally, this was my most common careless mistake on ACT English. When I could see the error, I got the question correct nearly 100% of the time. The only times I missed questions were when I accidentally ignored an error. I solved this by double-checking each of the answer choices to make sure I wasn't leaving any stone unturned. Strategy 7: Think About Grammar in Everyday Life Among all subjects, English on the ACT is special because it appears in your everyday life. For school, you have to read a lot and you have to write a lot. Use these experiences as opportunities to notice grammar rules and sentence constructions. This is unique to ACT English. ACT Math is so bizarre compared to everyday life that you won't just naturally find ways to apply the Pythagorean theorem at breakfast. ACT Reading and Science similarly require very specific skills when reading a passage or chart. But you can practice your grammar skills throughout the day. Here are some ideas: Proofread your friends' essays. Challenge yourself to uncover every grammatical error. Read high quality, formal publications, like the New York Times or the Economist. These articles go through editors, so they rarely have grammar errors. You'll develop that ear for language I mentioned. Notice common errors around you. A lot of people comma splice, for example. Hold yourself to a higher standard in texting and messaging. (I know this isn't that cool- you don't have to capitalize every sentence and use periods, but at least use its/it's and their/there/they're correctly.) The more you think about grammar as a fundamental skill rather than something specialized for ACT, the more natural it will feel to you. Strategy 8: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at ACT English that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. In high school and even now, I can finish a 45 minute English section in 30 minutes or less. I then have 15 minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over. As I've explained above, the best way to get faster is to get so fluent with ACT grammar that you rapidly zero in on the grammar mistakes without having to think hard about it. Try to aim for a target of spending 40 seconds on average for each question. This gives you enough time to double-check comfortably. What's the best way to double-check your work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Double-check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate those answer choices. If it's a No Change question, double-check that you're not missing any grammar mistakes. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never look at it again. If I'm not sure, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least two minutes before time's up, I rapidly double-check that I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to do this all at once so as not to waste time looking back and forth between the test book and the answer sheet. Go five at a time ("A G C F B") for more speed. If you notice yourself spending more than 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you need a perfect raw score for a 36, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you two minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks- solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just four seconds per question, you get back 300 seconds on a section that has 75 questions. This is huge. Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Strategy 9: Read the Whole Sentence Most of the questions ACT English ask you the underlined part of a sentence should be changed. When you answer these questions, don't just read the underlined portion. To correctly answer the questions, you must read the whole sentence (or sentences, if the underlined section overlaps across two different sentences). Phrases not included in the underlined portion of the sentence often provide information that's essential for deciding whether or not the underlined portion should be changed. Let's go through another example from the ACT to see this strategy in action. If you only read the underlined word, you probably won't think there's anything wrong with it. "Consecutively" is an adverb modifying the verb "to speak"- nothing to change there. When you read the whole sentence, however, you're able to notice that because of the phrase "for twelve hours straight", "consecutively" is redundant. In the context of the full sentence, consecutively means "without stopping," and the phrase "for twelve hours straight" implies that she could speak that long without stopping. Therefore, the word "consecutively" is unnecessary and should be omitted. If you didn't read the whole sentence, you might not notice the redundancy error and would most likely select A. However, since the word "consecutively" is unnecessary, the correct answer is D. In addition, certain types of questions on the ACT require reading not just the sentence with the underlined section, but sentences before and after it as well. For example, you need the context provided by multiple sentences to answer some verb tense and paragraph order questions as well. Strategy 10: Experiment with Passage Strategies and Find the Best One for You The format of ACT English is unlike any high school English test most students have seen before. As a result, many students don't intuitively know which method of approaching the passages will be the most effective for them. Because you're already scoring at a high level, I can't say with 100% accuracy which approach will work best for you. You're aiming for a perfect English score, which means that if your strategy doesn't perfectly line up with your strengths and weaknesses, you'll make mistakes or run out of time. Rather than prescribing you one strategy that you must use for ACT English passages, then, I'll instead go through what ways of approaching the passage are the most effective. You can then try the different strategies out and see which one leads to the highest score for you. Passage Method 1: Graf-by-Graf Though every student is different, this is the one strategy that we recommend everyone at least tries. Here it is: Read through the passage one paragraph at a time. After each paragraph, answer the questions referring to that paragraph. Skip if you can't answer a question within 30 seconds. Repeat for each succeeding paragraph. The great part about this strategy is that it both gives you a clear sense of the passage and forces you to read through whole sentences before answering questions about them. The only drawback is that going graf-by-graf can be a little time-consuming, so if you struggle with running out of time on ACT English, you might want to consider one of the other passage methods. Definitely try going graf-by-graf first, though- you might be pleasantly surprised by how well it works for you! Passage Method 2: Answer as You Go Many students gravitate to this method by default because it's both straightforward and quick. We don't recommend it as our top method, however, because of its potential pitfalls. Here's the method: Start reading through the passage. When you come to an underlined word, phrase, or sentence, continue reading past it to the end of the sentence. Answer the question about the underlined word, phrase, or sentence, then move on. The answer-as-you-go method is great if you're using the graf-by-graf approach but keep running out of time with just a few questions left or if you find yourself distracted or overwhelmed by multiple hops back and forth between the same paragraph and different questions. Unfortunately, this method does have one major drawback: you won't get as thorough a perspective on a question's context, which makes answering questions about transitions or the paragraph as a whole more challenging. It can also fail completely if you don't always read to the end of the sentence (for the importance of this, see Strategy 9). Passage Method 3: Sentence-by-Sentence In this approach, you only read the sentences of the passage that include underlined words, phrases, or sentences. If you're running out of time with a lot of questions left over when you use the graf-by-graf method, this strategy might be a good option for you. The key to using this method is that you always have to read the entire sentence. Even if you do execute this method perfectly, however, it suffers from the same drawbacks as answering as you go: if you read through the passage a sentence at a time, you won't get as clear an understanding of the overall structure and context of the passage, which makes answering rhetorical skills questions more difficult. We don't recommend using this method if you're aiming for a score higher than a 25. Passage Method 4: Read the Passage First The final ACT English passage approach we recommend is skimming the entire passage first, then going back through sentence-by-sentence to answer the questions. Of all the approaches to the ACT English passage, this is the most thorough. If you find yourself missing most of the macro logic or big picture questions because you didn't really understand the passage as a whole, this strategy could be a good fit for you. For most students, however, this approach is more trouble (and time) than it's worth- the graf-by-graf method is usually sufficient for answering macro logic questions and is much more time effective. Choose Which Method Works Best for You While we do recommend the graf-by-graf method as a starting point for most students, we can't predict which method will be most effective for you. To figure this out for yourself, you need some cold, hard data about your ACT English performance. Try out each method on at least one (and preferably two) sample passages each, then compare your performance on each. If one method is a clear winner for you, go with it; if not, choose the method that's the most comfortable for you. Once you've tried out all the passage approach strategies and figured out which one works best for you, you must use it consistently with every ACT English practice passage and test. These strategies all depend on teaching you to approach passages methodically, which means that they will only be effective if you use them every single time. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT English score to a 36. If you're scoring above a 26 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect English score. Even though we covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. One last tip: try to keep a steady head while you're taking the test. It's really easy to start doubting yourself because you know you need a near-perfect raw score. Even if you're unsure about two questions in a row, try to treat every question as its own independent test. If you start doubting yourself, you'll perform worse, and the worse you perform, the more you doubt yourself. Avoid this negative spiral of doubt and concentrate on being confident. You'll have studied a lot, and you'll do great on this test. Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your ACT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your ACT score. Read our accompanying guides on how to get a 36 on ACT Math and how to get a 36 on ACT Reading. Better yet, read my high-level guide on how to score a perfect 36 on the entire test. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 ACT essay, step by step. We also have a rough index to all ACT Prep info here. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today: