Wishmaster
Well-known member
Anybody ever get it before?
I for one had it for the very first time in my life last Saturday.. (Was taking the ACT for the first time). I'm not even the kind of person that gets nervous about school-related tests and assignments. Well, apart from presentations, but even that depends on factors like the teacher, class environment, etc., but I'm going off topic.
I guess it is because it's such an important test for colleges, scholarships, etc. I only just finished sophomore year though, so it doesn't really matter much what I make the first time anyways. I still have several helpful classes that I've yet to take. This was more of a test run so I could get a good feel for it. Everybody gets a freebie at my school as a junior. That alone is why I can't really understand why I felt so much pressure and anxiety...
But anyways... The night before I could hardly sleep. Then I begun to panic because I couldn't sleep and was worried I would fall asleep during the test or something lol. I think I woke up twice in the night.
The ACT has four parts with an optional writing section at the end. I'm going to do some rambling, but I hope this helps out someone who hasn't taken the ACT yet lol.
English: I felt the best about that section. Very little stress but I still had the dreaded essay section lingering in the back of my mind lol. I think most everybody does well in this section.
Math: Started to get a little nervous. I forgot how to do the trigonometry problems, and that made me very angry because it was something I was introduced to towards the end of my Geometry class lol. Had to fill in a few random guesses towards the end because I ran out of time. I think I 100% knew about 4/5 of the answers.
Reading: This one was a nightmare. Sounds easy, but you are only given 35 minutes to do it. It is four passages with forty questions analyzing the reading. In the back of my mind I heard this voice telling me, "You are panicking and cant focus on the reading ahhh!" Lol. I think I did decent.. I don't remember what I even read about though other than Thomas Edison and ground hogs lol. It was very difficult for me to finish within the time limit.
Science: It would be surprising to anybody who hasn't taken the ACT how easy this section is. All you have to do is interpret the charts/graphs and the paragraphs pretty much. Kind of dumb but yea. I did this section with minimal stress.
And finally... The writing part. You are basically just given a topic that's easy to talk about like if students with bad grades should be aloud to drive. I got tunnel vision during this part lol. The voice in my head returned and I became very stressed. I just kept thinking distracting thoughts like, "What if you just blank out right now and can't write anything?" or, "You aren't' going to be able to think of any supporting details etc." It is a good thing that they don't grade your handwriting because half the time I had to make a special effort to control my hand's trembling lol. I felt pretty good about the end result though.. I think
. Lol.
So, has anybody else had a similar experience? I was very moody before and after the test on Saturday towards my family. I suppose I was so stressed over the ACT because I always have felt like I have to be smart and gave myself unrealistic goals considering I took it as a sophomore. Looking back, I see myself being much less stressed and anxious taking it a second time. Especially since I have a better feel for the test and I'll have my wrong answers on this one mailed back to me so I can study what I didn't understand. Very anxious to get my scores back.. Hoping for a decent overall score like 26-30 (out of 36) that I can have as a safety net.
EDIT: Holy crap I wrote a lot lol. Sorry >.<
I for one had it for the very first time in my life last Saturday.. (Was taking the ACT for the first time). I'm not even the kind of person that gets nervous about school-related tests and assignments. Well, apart from presentations, but even that depends on factors like the teacher, class environment, etc., but I'm going off topic.
I guess it is because it's such an important test for colleges, scholarships, etc. I only just finished sophomore year though, so it doesn't really matter much what I make the first time anyways. I still have several helpful classes that I've yet to take. This was more of a test run so I could get a good feel for it. Everybody gets a freebie at my school as a junior. That alone is why I can't really understand why I felt so much pressure and anxiety...
But anyways... The night before I could hardly sleep. Then I begun to panic because I couldn't sleep and was worried I would fall asleep during the test or something lol. I think I woke up twice in the night.
The ACT has four parts with an optional writing section at the end. I'm going to do some rambling, but I hope this helps out someone who hasn't taken the ACT yet lol.
English: I felt the best about that section. Very little stress but I still had the dreaded essay section lingering in the back of my mind lol. I think most everybody does well in this section.
Math: Started to get a little nervous. I forgot how to do the trigonometry problems, and that made me very angry because it was something I was introduced to towards the end of my Geometry class lol. Had to fill in a few random guesses towards the end because I ran out of time. I think I 100% knew about 4/5 of the answers.
Reading: This one was a nightmare. Sounds easy, but you are only given 35 minutes to do it. It is four passages with forty questions analyzing the reading. In the back of my mind I heard this voice telling me, "You are panicking and cant focus on the reading ahhh!" Lol. I think I did decent.. I don't remember what I even read about though other than Thomas Edison and ground hogs lol. It was very difficult for me to finish within the time limit.
Science: It would be surprising to anybody who hasn't taken the ACT how easy this section is. All you have to do is interpret the charts/graphs and the paragraphs pretty much. Kind of dumb but yea. I did this section with minimal stress.
And finally... The writing part. You are basically just given a topic that's easy to talk about like if students with bad grades should be aloud to drive. I got tunnel vision during this part lol. The voice in my head returned and I became very stressed. I just kept thinking distracting thoughts like, "What if you just blank out right now and can't write anything?" or, "You aren't' going to be able to think of any supporting details etc." It is a good thing that they don't grade your handwriting because half the time I had to make a special effort to control my hand's trembling lol. I felt pretty good about the end result though.. I think
. Lol.So, has anybody else had a similar experience? I was very moody before and after the test on Saturday towards my family. I suppose I was so stressed over the ACT because I always have felt like I have to be smart and gave myself unrealistic goals considering I took it as a sophomore. Looking back, I see myself being much less stressed and anxious taking it a second time. Especially since I have a better feel for the test and I'll have my wrong answers on this one mailed back to me so I can study what I didn't understand. Very anxious to get my scores back.. Hoping for a decent overall score like 26-30 (out of 36) that I can have as a safety net.
EDIT: Holy crap I wrote a lot lol. Sorry >.<