Time management is one of the most important skills for standardized tests. These tests are a time crunch, even for very strong students. To do well, you need to know how to get the most value from your time - and when it makes sense to take a shortcut.
To get the most from this section, be honest with yourself about which categories apply to you. These tips are all worth practicing, but not every tip will fit every student. Think of this as a set of tools you can use to build your own time-management plan.
To solve a problem quickly and effectively, follow a consistent set of steps. Start by looking for quick wins, then dig into the details only if you need to. The goal is to find the answer as soon as possible, but some questions will naturally take more work than others.
Use this sequence as you work. If you can’t answer after one step, move to the next.
Keep these steps in mind as you solve each problem to avoid small mistakes:
It’s important to recognize when you don’t understand a question. At the same time, you don’t want to give up too early and leave points on the table. If you’ve gone through the process and still can’t find the answer, make a guess and move on, knowing you’ve made a solid effort.
Word problems make up a large portion of the ACT math test. Learning to annotate and translate word problems quickly can save you a lot of time overall. This topic is important enough that we’ve dedicated a whole section to it: Understanding word problems. We’ll get to this in a moment.
Work quickly through the easier portions of the test (questions 1-40) so you have more time for the difficult questions (questions 41-60).
You’ll still see some harder questions early on, and it’s fine to spend extra time on a few of them. The key is not to spend all the time you saved on earlier questions. You’ll need that time for the final 20 questions. If you feel yourself getting stuck, make your best guess, flag the question, and come back at the end if you have time.
You get 60 minutes to answer 60 questions, so you should aim to…
Thirty seconds goes by quickly. If you get stuck, it’s easy to spend two or three minutes on an “easy” question. That time has to come from somewhere - often from two “hard” questions you won’t have time to reach.
So stick to the process. Work steadily, and keep each question “sandboxed”: give it a focused attempt, then move on when your time is up.
Spend more time on the earlier portions of the test (questions 1-40) to maximize the number of questions you can answer correctly. Make it your top priority to solve questions 1-40 as well as you can. It’s completely okay if you don’t reach questions 41 and onward.
After you’ve confidently answered the first 40 questions, treat any remaining time as a bonus. Skim the final 20 questions to find ones that look more approachable, and you may pick up another point or two.
And make sure to guess on every question. There’s no penalty for incorrect answers. Even with completely random guesses on the last 20 questions, you’re likely to get about four correct just by chance.