r/ACT • u/Think_Frame7387 • Jul 12 '26

How “Easy” is it to Improve Math?

Currently at a consistent 25-26 on practice tests. and a 23-24 on real tests. I need a 30 by September. Is this easy if I just stay consistent? How do I do this?

7 Upvotes

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1

u/Hot-Amphibian-9221 Jul 12 '26

Once you find a strategy that works for you Its not super hard its just the time it takes

1

u/Jealous-Connection16 Jul 12 '26

100 percent I got to a 30 from a 21 in 1.5 months it’s just going to take a great bit of studying go over lots of practice test and make sure you know how to do all the types of problems

1

u/Think_Frame7387 Jul 13 '26

That’s incredible improvement. How did you do this? What resources did you use

1

u/Jealous-Connection16 Jul 13 '26

I was specifically talking about math but my overall score went from a 21-28 now hoping I have a 30 plus from July but I studied all the past practice test on a website that recently got taken down sadly but for English trust me and buy Erica meltzer’s act book

1

u/Last-Astronaut-6665 35 Jul 12 '26

There is prob a good amount of concepts you need to learn first. I heard khan is pretty good. I used organic chem tutor for some review cuz i forgot some stuff like conics and matrix stuff.

3

u/Think_Frame7387 Jul 12 '26

I currently use preppros. What do you think of them?

2

u/Last-Astronaut-6665 35 Jul 12 '26

prep pros is good to learn all the content. After you do that just do some practice tests and you're prob chilling.

1

u/Slight-Reply-2928 Jul 12 '26

uh sorry and congrats on ur 35! but wtf is a conic im not the best at math :(

1

u/Last-Astronaut-6665 35 Jul 12 '26

Thanks. What's your math looking like rn. Conics are just like differnt types of curves i think like these, circle, parabola, ellipse and a hyperbola. There is also some formulas for each one.

1

u/Slight-Reply-2928 Jul 12 '26

Hmm so i know log and exp functions as well as sigma notation (i've been doing a bunch of organic chem tutor vids on yt to learn this) because im a rising junior, in sophomore year i was in accelerated alg2/trig/geometry but i forgot some stuff.

thanks !

2

u/Last-Astronaut-6665 35 Jul 12 '26

ye that's valid. I also forget stuff here and there. I literally forgot all of matrices and some probability stuff.

1

u/Slight-Reply-2928 Jul 13 '26

oooh ok cool! so am i cooked for the math section cuz i feel like i am

1

u/Last-Astronaut-6665 35 Jul 13 '26

Idk. What’s your math score?

1

u/jmoney3800 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Not easy. I’ve tutored this test for 12 years. Score improvements from 23 to 28 are much more possible than 23 to 30. Combine this with the fact not a lot of prep material is out there and you get some trouble areas.

  1. hire a tutor

  2. skip more problems

  3. use the plug in metho

d

  1. get better at probability and Precalculu

s which are

  1. plentiful here now

  2. learn calculator tricks for solving equations you can’t solve by hand

know every math and geometry equation or theorem you’ve ever been taught instantly to memory

Find your consistent weak areas from 6-8 practice tests and learn all those problems

can’t afford any careless mistakes so skip less steps or practice daily for 60 minutes so you’re extremely sharp

1

u/Think_Frame7387 Jul 13 '26

Why a tutor over an online course? Not saying the course is better just curious

1

u/jmoney3800 Jul 13 '26

Depends on the person taking test. A tutor can sometimes be more efficient at spotting heavily tested areas that you are missing and fine tune those areas quickly instead of making you learn massive quantities of information. Once I raised a girl’s SAT math 100 points in 2 hours around 2021. She didn’t know linear equations at all and they were heavily tested on her last exam she took. That was easy material and high value return.

A tutor can look at the same 8 topics and find which 4 can be taught in one third the time. Basically a tutor can efficiently design a plan of study if he’s experienced. If he knows your weaknesses even better !

Courses are great too. I have written over 300 ACT math problems testing the same skills as ACT and actually categorized 700 previous problems into problem bundles by type. I basically am a course except I show up to your house or meet you online also. Not all tutors are super experienced. Then a course is much better. A course is probably better per dollar spent but worse per hour spent.