Three Ways ACT Test Makers Try to Trick You

Reference & EducationEducation

  • Author Scott Carey
  • Published January 28, 2008
  • Word count 563

The people that make the ACT test use many ways to try and trick you. If you know what these tricks are it will help you watch for them and not make the mistake of following for them. This will help you get more correct answers and a much higher test score.

One of the ways they try and trick you on the math portion of the test is to include in the list of possible answers a partial answer. A partial answer is an answer that you might have at one of the steps of the problem, but it won't be the right answer if you were to complete the problem. The temptation is to stop doing the problem early because you notice that you have an answer that is in the answer list and pick that answer. This is just what the ACT test makers are trying to see if you'll do. If you choose that answer, you'll get that question wrong. This is very easy to do when you feel like you are running out of time and are rushing to answer the problems as fast as you possibly can. Make sure that you aren't in so much hurry that you stop solving a math problem early. Be sure that you do each problem until the very end.

Another common trick that is used on the math test is to give the correct numeric answer among the answers to a math problem, but use the units that are not correct. For example, the question may ask for the answer to be given in inches, but all the numbers that they give you to use in solving the problem are in feet. If you used feet in solving the problem and forgot to convert the feet to inches before selecting an answer, you would get the problem incorrect. For example, the problem might ask that you give the perimeter of a square that was 5 feet on each side and ask that you give the answer in inches. One of the answers in the possible answers would be 20 inches. The number is right, but the units are wrong. If you weren't careful, you might not see that there was that there was also an answer of 20 feet, which would be the right answer.

There are tricks that are used on the English part of the ACT test. Almost always, you can assume that less is better on the ACT English test. If you have a choice between what seems like two correct answers and one of them is more longer than the other, but says the same thing, you will almost always want to select the answer that is shorter and more compact. For example, the right answer is rarely an answer such as "He was famed, renowned, and notable." The phrases 'Famed', 'renowned', and 'notable' all have essentially the same meaning. If there is an answer that has the same meaning in fewer words, that is usually the answer you want to pick.

These are just some of the tricks that you need to be aware of. If you know these, you can use this knowledge to help you do better on the ACT. There are many more that you can learn and and use when you take the ACT. These should help you significantly improve you score on the ACT.

Scott writes about how to use ACT practice tests to improve your ACT test scores. See [http://actpracticetests.blogspot.com](http://actpracticetests.blogspot.com) for ACT test tips.

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