ACT - The Official ACT Mathematics Guide

ACT

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Published simultaneously in Canada.

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So you want to do well on the ACT mathematics test. That's a good goal to have! Whether you've already taken the test once or are planning to do so in the near or even distant future, this book will help you achieve your goal. There are three major factors that will determine how well you do on the ACT math test:

• Focus
• Effort
• Guidance

You need to be focused and diligent in your studies and preparation for the ACT mathematics test. There is no getting around that. You need to put the time and effort into fully practicing the skills the test will be looking for. If you are reading this book, it can be assumed that you are focused on achieving your goal of success and that you are willing to put the necessary time and effort into making it happen.

The third factor, guidance, is where this book comes into play. Guidance is difficult to supply to yourself. This book covers just about every math topic that you're likely to see on the ACT mathemtics test, so by going through this book, you'll know what to expect on test day.

The ACT math test can be daunting because of the sheer number of math topics. Fortunately, the test is based on topics covered in high school, so nothing here is new. Even in high school math, the ACT mathematics test only asks questions about certain topics, and only these topics are in this book. There are topics that you may see on the test, such as exponents, and topics that you won't see, such as Venn diagrams. If you see an unfamiliar topic in this book, you'll probably see that topic again, in class, before the year is over.

The plan is simple. Start with for a detailed and thorough breakdown of the solution to each question.

If you struggle with certain math topics, you're not alone, but now you have an edge: you know the scope of the ACT math test and which topics you need to review. Most students who score well on the ACT had to practice first, and this is something that you can do. Almost no one gets a perfect score, but with the guidance in this book, you can score well enough to be a competitive applicant to a good university.

You definitely want to pick up the other ACT subject guides, and you'll eventually want to take at least one full-length practice exam from The Official ACT Prep Guide, but this is a good start for the math. You can and will succeed with your goal of doing well on the ACT math test. You provide the focus and the effort, and this book will provide the guidance. So read on, and let's get started.

The ACT mathematics test is a 60-question, 60-minute test designed to assess the mathematical reasoning skills that you've acquired in courses taken up to the beginning of grade 12. Most questions are self-contained, but some may belong to a set of several questions (e.g., about the same graph or chart).

The questions cover a wide variety of concepts, techniques, and procedures that emphasize the major content areas requisite to successful performance in entry-level courses in college mathematics. Some questions require computation, but the questions are designed to emphasize your ability to reason mathematically, not your ability to compute numbers or recall complex formulas.

You may use a calculator. See www.act.org/calculator-policy.html for details about models and features that are permitted or prohibited.

Nine scores are reported for the mathematics test: a total test score based on all 60 questions and eight reporting category scores based on specific mathematical knowledge and skills. The approximate number of questions and percentage of the test devoted to each reporting category is shown in .

Number of Questions per Reporting Category