Lesson 3 · pacing · about 8 minutes · fixes the collapse at the end of Reading and Science on the 9/13 PreACT
A blank is always wrong, and a guess sometimes isn't. Your student's score is a count of right answers, so every question is worth the same. The hard ones aren't worth more of his time than the easy ones at the end.
ACT says it plainly in Preparing for the ACT Test: “Answer every question. Your scores in the sections will be based only on the number of questions that you answer correctly; there is no penalty for guessing.”
What happened on 9/13
The report says “Used all time allotted” in all four sections, and the last few questions show it. In Reading he missed all of Q29–33, on 13 to 56 seconds each. In Science he missed 3 of the last 5, two of them in under 20 seconds. He left Math Q9 blank after 8 seconds. Meanwhile, Reading Q16 got 2:40 and Q28 got 2:56. Those two questions alone used 5½ minutes, about what the last five needed. He didn't run out of ability. He ran out of time, because it went to a couple of questions early on.
The method
Know the budget before he starts. Minutes ÷ questions = average time per question (the table below). ACT recommends exactly this: “divide the total number of remaining minutes allowed by the number of questions” (Preparing for PreACT 9 Secure).
Easy first. If a question looks long or strange, he skips it and comes back. In ACT's words: “answer the easy questions and skip the ones you find difficult.”
The 2× cap: guess, flag, move on. Once he has spent about twice the average on one question, or if he has no idea how to start, he crosses out what he can, picks one, flags it, and goes on. Again from ACT: “it is a better strategy to guess, flag the question, and then move on to other questions that you know how to do.”
Check the clock at halfway. At half the time he should be around the middle question. If he's behind, he speeds up now, not in the last two minutes.
Never leave a blank. With a minute left, he answers everything that's still empty first, and only then goes back to a flagged one.
The budget, worked
PreACT 9 Secure · section timings from act.org
Section
Questions
Minutes
Average
2× cap
Halfway check
English
44
35
~48 s
~1:35
min 17½ → Q22
Math
34
45
~1:20
~2:40
min 22½ → Q17
Reading
33
40
~1:15
~2:30
min 20 → Q17
Science
32
35
~1:05
~2:10
min 17½ → Q16
Reading, for example: \(40 \times 60 = 2400\) seconds, and \(2400 \div 33 \approx 73\) seconds per question, including the time to read the passages. The cap is twice that, about \(2{:}30\). Reading Q16 (2:40) and Q28 (2:56) both went past it. The 2:24 on a Math ratio question was just under the Math cap, which is fine, as long as it doesn't happen twice. Those were the moments to guess and flag.
These are averages, not rules for every question. Some take 20 seconds, which buys time for the ones that take two minutes. The cap is there to stop a single question from eating the time the last few need.
What to watch for with your student. Guessing will feel like giving up to him, especially on a question he's “almost got”. Tell him a flag isn't a surrender, it's a bookmark: he picks his best answer now and comes back if there's time. On practice sections, sit with a timer and call out the halfway check. Afterwards, ask him two questions: “Which question did you spend the longest on?” and “Did you leave anything blank?”. The answer to the second one should always be no.
Your turn
Each one is a moment in a section. Use the table above.