The Foundation — Why Improving Your ACT English Score Matters

Your ACT English score can significantly influence your college application outcome. Many students aiming for competitive colleges get stuck in the 14-24 score range, not realizing that a modest bump to even a 26 can shift their application from the bottom half to a more competitive position. A 26 ACT English score places you around the 83rd percentile nationwide, suggesting you’re stronger in English than the majority of test-takers.

Admissions officers at universities, especially those with humanities or liberal arts programs, often scrutinize the English section. A low score might raise concerns about your ability to handle college-level reading, analysis, and writing. On the flip side, even if your math scores aren’t stellar, a higher English score can balance things out—especially if you’re applying to programs that value communication and critical thinking.

ACT English vs. School English

You might have studied grammar in school, written essays, and even passed AP English classes, but the ACT is a different beast. Unlike school assignments, where you have time, revision opportunities, and feedback from teachers, the ACT gives you one shot per question—and it does so using language that often seems familiar but is designed to trip you up.

The ACT English section isn’t about showcasing creativity or crafting compelling essays. It’s about identifying precise grammatical errors, improving sentence clarity, and ensuring logical flow between ideas. The test is standardized, which means it follows specific patterns. If you understand those patterns, you can train to recognize them—even if your natural grammar instinct isn’t perfect.

You CAN Improve Your Score

The most important belief to hold onto is that improvement is possible. Your ACT English score is not fixed. It’s not an IQ test. It’s not a verdict on your intelligence or creativity. It’s simply a test of how well you understand and apply a small, predictable set of grammar and rhetoric rules under time pressure.

Many students tell themselves defeating stories: “I’m just bad at grammar,” or “I’m not smart enough to get a good score.” These beliefs create unnecessary emotional weight and prevent progress. In reality, consistent effort using the right strategies is what moves the score needle. Students across the country are increasing their scores every year—not because they’re geniuses, but because they’re practicing strategically.

What It Takes to Hit a 26

Let’s break down the target. The English section of the ACT has 75 questions. A scaled score of 26 generally requires around 60 correct answers. That’s roughly 80% accuracy.

Here’s the encouraging part: You don’t have to answer every question perfectly. If you can confidently solve 55 questions, and guess on the remaining 20 (statistically getting about 5 correct), you’re already in range. This opens up room for smart guessing and efficient time management.

Key takeaway: Don’t obsess about perfection. You can leave room for errors and still hit your target. You just need to improve your understanding of the most frequently tested grammar and rhetorical concepts.

What Makes the ACT English Section Tricky?

It’s the design. The test relies on your instinct to “go with what sounds right.” That’s a trap. In everyday speech, we break grammar rules constantly. We say things like:

• “Me and my friend went to the store.”
  
• “There’s a bunch of reasons why that’s wrong.”
  

These feel normal because we’ve heard them thousands of times. But on the ACT, they’re grammatically incorrect. The test preys on these common mistakes, offering incorrect choices that “sound right” and penalizing those who don’t know the rule behind the error.

Instead of relying on your ear, you need to think analytically. Every answer choice should be considered based on a rule, not a gut feeling. This mindset shift is a game-changer for students stuck in the 14-24 range.

A Quick Look at the ACT English Structure

The section includes five passages, each followed by 15 questions. These questions test two major skill groups:

1. Grammar and Usage (roughly 50%):
   
   • Subject-verb agreement
     
   • Verb tense consistency
     
   • Pronoun usage
     
   • Modifiers
     
   • Comma usage
     
   • Sentence structure (run-ons, fragments)
     
2. Rhetorical Skills (roughly 50%):
   
   • Sentence clarity and conciseness
     
   • Logical flow of ideas
     
   • Word choice and tone
     
   • Transitions
     
   • Placement and deletion of sentences
     

Each question is tied to a sentence or paragraph, and you’re often asked what revision, if any, best improves the passage.

The ACT English Mindset Shift

Let’s reinforce the most important mental shifts:

• You’re not trying to become a grammar expert. You’re learning to beat a predictable, rule-based game.
  
• You don’t need perfection. An 80% success rate can get you to your goal.
  
• Practice and pattern recognition trump natural ability. If you review your mistakes and learn from them, you will improve.
  

A Real ACT English Example

Let’s dissect a sample question to see how the test works:

The senator, along with his campaign team, are planning a rally.

What’s the subject? It’s not “team.” It’s “senator,” which is singular. “Are” is plural, so the correct verb is “is.”

Correct version: The senator, along with his campaign team, is planning a rally.

The ACT uses interruptions like “along with” or “in addition to” to confuse you. It’s up to you to ignore the distractions and connect the true subject to its verb.

By practicing these patterns, you’ll start to recognize them instinctively. That’s the magic of targeted training.

Small Wins Add Up

Here’s something many students don’t realize: You don’t need to learn everything at once. Focus on one or two skills per week. Nail subject-verb agreement this week. Work on transitions next week. Add comma rules after that.

Build your skills the way you’d build muscle at the gym. Isolated practice leads to mastery. Once you’ve seen enough of the same types of errors, your brain starts to spot them on autopilot. And that’s when your score starts to rise—not because you’re working harder, but because you’re training smarter.

Stay disciplined. Stay curious. Stay reflective.

Mastering the Grammar Rules That Matter Most — Your Fast Track to a 26 on ACT English

When you open an ACT English section, you’re not facing a random assortment of grammar and writing questions. You’re facing a predictable test. Each ACT English section is built from a fixed set of concepts that appear again and again.Understanding these priorities is essential. Not all grammar rules are created equal. Some are tested nine or more times per test. Others might appear once. Knowing where to invest your time and energy gives you the biggest possible score increase for every hour you study.

This is the key to breaking out of the 14-24 score range and pushing into the mid-20s or higher.

Let’s start by reshaping how you think about grammar study for ACT English.

Not All Grammar Rules Are Equally Important

If you try to study for the ACT by reading an entire grammar textbook, you’ll burn out quickly. The problem with most grammar books or generic test guides is that they treat every rule as equally important. You might spend 30 minutes studying parallel structure or idioms, which appear only once or twice per test, and ignore transition logic, which shows up almost ten times.

That’s wasted energy.

Instead, what matters is frequency and impact. You want to target the most commonly tested grammar concepts first—the ones that appear the most and affect your score the most.

Let’s take a look at how the questions are distributed on a typical ACT English test. The section contains 75 questions in total. Around 38 of those test grammar and mechanics. The remaining 37 are focused on rhetorical skills such as clarity, transitions, and flow of ideas.

Out of the grammar questions, some topics dominate the test. These include punctuation, subject-verb agreement, run-on sentences, and pronoun clarity.

For rhetorical questions, transitions and relevance are by far the most frequent.

This means the smart way to study isn’t to go alphabetically through grammar rules—it’s to go strategically, based on frequency and value.

The Top Grammar Rules You Must Know

Here’s a breakdown of the most important grammar rules to learn, ranked by how often they appear on a typical ACT English section.

1. Transitional logic
   
2. Relevance and redundancy
   
3. Wordiness and conciseness
   
4. Comma usage
   
5. Sentence boundaries: run-ons and fragments
   
6. Verb tense and subject-verb agreement
   
7. Idioms and word choice
   
8. Modifier placement
   
9. Pronouns and clarity
   
10. Tone and formality
    

Now let’s walk through each of these in detail, with examples and insights to help you understand how they work on the ACT.

Transitional Logic

This is one of the most frequently tested rhetorical skills. Transitional logic questions ask you to choose the correct word or phrase to connect two ideas. It might be at the start of a sentence, between two clauses, or between paragraphs.

Here’s a sample:

The team was behind by ten points. Nevertheless, they were losing hope.

Something feels off. The word nevertheless usually signals a contrast. But both sentences are expressing similar ideas. The correct transition should reinforce the idea, not contrast it.

Corrected: The team was behind by ten points. As a result, they were losing hope.

To master this skill, learn the most common categories of transitions: cause and effect, contrast, addition, and example. Then practice identifying the relationship between two ideas before picking a transition.

Relevance and Redundancy

ACT English loves to test whether sentences or phrases are necessary. Many students fall for the trap of thinking that more detail is always better. But often, a sentence or clause repeats information that was already stated or doesn’t contribute to the passage.

Here’s a common example:

The athlete, who plays basketball and is a basketball player, scored 30 points.

The phrase and is a basketball player is redundant. It says the same thing as plays basketball. The ACT rewards concise, clear writing.

To get good at this skill, always ask yourself: Does this information add anything new or meaningful? If not, cut it.

Wordiness and Conciseness

Closely related to redundancy is the skill of eliminating unnecessary words. The ACT prefers writing that is direct and efficient. Wordiness questions might offer four versions of a sentence, and the shortest grammatically correct version is often the best.

Consider this sentence:

Due to the fact that the game was canceled, we did not play.

Due to the fact that is a bloated phrase. It can be replaced with because.

Better version: Because the game was canceled, we did not play.

To master this skill, train yourself to spot phrases that can be reduced. Read with an eye for precision. If a shorter version keeps the meaning and is grammatically correct, it’s probably right.

Comma Usage

Commas are everywhere on the ACT, and most students are uncertain about when to use them. That’s why comma usage is one of the most common sources of mistakes.

Here are the four most important comma rules to know:

1. Use a comma before a conjunction (and, but, so) to join two independent clauses.
   
2. Use commas to set off non-essential information in the middle of a sentence.
   
3. Don’t use commas between a subject and its verb.
   
4. Don’t use commas to join two independent clauses without a conjunction. That’s a comma splice.
   

Example of error: I went to the store, I bought apples.

Corrected: I went to the store, and I bought apples.
Or: I went to the store; I bought apples.

To master this, practice identifying complete sentences (independent clauses) and how commas interact with them. Punctuation rules are all about sentence structure. Once you can identify what type of sentence you’re dealing with, you’ll know what the comma rules are.

Run-Ons and Fragments

Run-on sentences and fragments are major grammar traps on the ACT. A run-on sentence occurs when two independent clauses are joined without the right punctuation. A sentence fragment is a group of words that looks like a sentence but lacks a complete thought.

Run-on example: She loves dancing she practices every day.

Fixed: She loves dancing, and she practices every day.
Or: She loves dancing. She practices every day.

Fragment example: Because he enjoys music.

This is incomplete. It needs a main clause.

Fixed: Because he enjoys music, he plays guitar daily.

To avoid run-ons and fragments, always check whether each part of the sentence could stand alone. A complete sentence needs both a subject and a verb and must express a full thought.

Verb Tense and Subject-Verb Agreement

The ACT loves to test consistency in verb tense and matching singular or plural subjects with correct verbs.

For example:

Incorrect: The teacher, along with her students, write the lesson on the board.

Even though students is plural, the subject is teacher. So the verb must be writes.

Correct: The teacher, along with her students, writes the lesson on the board.

Verb tense questions require you to pay attention to time shifts. If a passage is written in past tense, don’t suddenly switch to present without reason.

To improve here, review the basic verb forms: past, present, future, and their progressive and perfect tenses. Then practice identifying the subject and matching it to the correct verb form.

Idioms and Word Choice

Idiomatic expression questions test whether a certain preposition or phrase sounds natural and grammatically correct. These are difficult because there’s no logic rule—you just have to know what sounds right to educated readers.

Example:

Incorrect: She is responsible of organizing the event.
Correct: She is responsible for organizing the event.

Other examples include prepositions like on, to, with, of, about, etc.

To get better at this, read a lot of high-quality writing. Absorb the patterns of correct usage, and practice spotting odd-sounding phrases. Over time, your ear will sharpen.

Modifier Placement

Modifiers must be placed close to the word they modify. When they’re not, they create confusion or unintended meanings.

Example:

Incorrect: Running through the field, the fence blocked our view.

This suggests that the fence is running, which makes no sense.

Corrected: Running through the field, we were blocked by the fence.

Always look for descriptive phrases at the beginning or end of sentences and check what they’re modifying. If the target noun isn’t clear or nearby, it’s likely wrong.

Pronouns and Clarity

Pronoun errors usually fall into two categories: ambiguous reference and agreement.

Ambiguous reference: They said it would rain. Who is they?

Agreement error: Each of the students must bring their pencil.

Each is singular, but their is plural. It should be his or her.

Correct: Each of the students must bring his or her pencil.

When dealing with pronouns, always identify what noun the pronoun replaces. Make sure the replacement is clear and matches in number and gender.

Tone and Formality

Some ACT questions test whether a word fits the tone of the passage. You might see a sentence with a slangy or overly casual word in an otherwise formal essay.

Example:

The scientist figured out the solution.

Figured out is informal. A better choice is determined or discovered.

To improve, build your vocabulary and practice identifying the tone of a passage. Ask yourself if the word feels too casual or too stuffy. Always aim to match the register of the writing.

Study Smarter, Not Harder

Now that you know which grammar rules appear most often, you can begin building your study plan around them. Focus on mastering the top five or six concepts first. These will cover over 50 percent of your test.

The best way to practice is through active review:

1. Learn one rule at a time with examples.
   
2. Drill practice questions that test that rule.
   
3. Keep a mistake log to track patterns and fix weaknesses.
   

Avoid passive studying like reading tips without application. Real improvement comes from practice, feedback, and reflection.

Studying the Essentials Isn’t Laziness—it’s Strategy

Students sometimes feel guilty skipping the “small” grammar rules. They think studying everything means they’re working harder or doing it “right.” But that’s not how successful test prep works.

Scoring well on the ACT isn’t about studying everything. It’s about studying smart. If you learn the ten most common grammar and rhetoric skills deeply, you’ll improve dramatically. The questions that appear only once or twice? Save them for the end—or ignore them entirely if you’re short on time.

There’s no prize for being the most well-rounded grammar student. There is a prize for getting into your top college. And the path to that starts with targeting the rules that matter most.

 Fixing the Leaks — How to Diagnose and Drill Your ACT English Weaknesses

Improving your ACT English score is not just about learning grammar rules. It’s about fixing what’s broken. To raise your score from the teens or low twenties to a 26 or higher, you need a strategy that is personal, intentional, and diagnostic. Think of your ACT performance like a leaky boat. Some students take on water from every direction—run-on sentences, comma errors, rhetorical traps—while others may only struggle in a few areas. The smart way to improve is not by patching the whole boat with equal attention, but by identifying the biggest holes and fixing them first.

Why Most Students Don’t Improve

Before diving into strategies, let’s be honest about what’s holding many students back. It’s not laziness. It’s not low intelligence. Most students who stay stuck in the same score range are simply studying the wrong way.

They read tips and tricks without practicing. They do full-length tests without analyzing their mistakes. They move on from every wrong answer without understanding why it happened.

Here’s the harsh truth: If you don’t know why you got a question wrong, you will make that mistake again. And if you make the same mistakes over and over, your score will not move, no matter how many hours you spend.

So the question becomes: how do you learn from your mistakes? The answer lies in the power of diagnosis and deliberate practice.

Step 1: Review Every Practice Set and Test Thoroughly

Every time you complete a set of ACT English questions—whether from a full-length test or a short passage—you must review each question carefully. This means more than just checking the answer key. For each question, ask yourself:

• Did I get it right?
  
• If not, what type of mistake did I make?
  
• If yes, was I confident or did I guess?
  

Start tracking these questions in a simple notebook or spreadsheet. This process creates a database of your personal weaknesses. You will begin to see patterns. Maybe you’re strong in punctuation but weak in transitions. Or perhaps you often fall for redundancy traps. Whatever the trend is, it’s unique to you.

To maximize this step, review both correct and incorrect answers. If you got a question right by luck or by guessing, it’s still a vulnerability. Understanding why an answer is right is just as important as understanding why an answer is wrong.

Step 2: Categorize Your Mistakes by Grammar Rule or Concept

The next step is to classify every error. This helps you move from vague feelings of confusion to specific knowledge gaps you can target.

Here are some common categories you can use:

• Subject-verb agreement
  
• Verb tense consistency
  
• Pronoun clarity
  
• Comma usage
  
• Sentence fragments
  
• Run-on sentences
  
• Modifier placement
  
• Idiomatic expression
  
• Wordiness
  
• Transition logic
  
• Sentence placement
  
• Relevance and redundancy
  

Once you identify the category for each error, log it. For example, if you missed a question about where to place a sentence in a paragraph, file that under “rhetorical logic” or “sentence placement.” After ten or twenty questions, you’ll see clear trends emerge. These patterns are your roadmap.

Step 3: Drill Your Weakest Areas

Now that you’ve identified your biggest weaknesses, it’s time to drill them with purpose. Targeted practice means focusing on one or two skills at a time and doing as many related questions as possible until you’re confident.

Let’s say your biggest weakness is comma usage. Instead of doing another full test, find 20 to 30 questions that only test comma rules. For each question, analyze the sentence structure. Ask yourself why the comma is there—or not there. Learn to recognize when a comma is needed before a conjunction, when it’s misused to create a comma splice, or when it breaks the sentence unnecessarily.

Do not rush this process. Slowing down during drills trains your brain to recognize patterns and understand rules more deeply. Over time, your pace will naturally increase—but never sacrifice accuracy for speed during targeted drills.

Repeat this process with each weak area. If you can patch three or four big leaks in your boat, your score can easily jump by four to six points.

Step 4: Create an Error Journal

An error journal is your secret weapon. It turns mistakes into lessons and prevents you from repeating them. Here’s how to keep one:

For every missed question, write down:

• The question number and the topic it tested
  
• A short explanation of the correct rule or logic
  
• A sentence explaining why you got it wrong
  
• A strategy for avoiding the mistake next time
  

This journal becomes your personalized ACT English guidebook. Over time, you’ll notice fewer entries because you’re making fewer mistakes. But keep writing. Even small errors deserve reflection.

This habit also builds test-day awareness. When you see a similar question, your brain will recall your past mistake and apply the correction automatically. That is how deep learning happens—not through memorization, but through self-reflection and correction.

Step 5: Avoid Passive Review

Some students think they are studying by reading explanations or watching videos, but they never apply what they’ve learned. This is passive review, and it’s a trap. You may feel productive, but without practice, nothing sticks.

Active review looks like this:

• Doing questions on your weak areas
  
• Writing down explanations in your own words
  
• Teaching the rule to someone else
  
• Practicing under timed conditions
  
• Rewriting incorrect answers with explanations
  

The brain learns best when it works hard. Reading is easy. Thinking, analyzing, and applying are hard—but they create lasting knowledge. Make your study sessions active, and your results will reflect the effort.

Step 6: Build a Weekly Study Plan Based on Your Weaknesses

Now that you understand your weak spots and how to fix them, it’s time to create a focused study plan. Here’s a sample weekly structure for a student targeting a 26:

Monday: Review error journal and focus on comma usage. Do 20 comma-related questions.
Tuesday: Study transition logic. Read strategy notes. Do 15 practice questions.
Wednesday: Review sentence fragments and run-ons. Practice with detailed explanations.
Thursday: Take a timed passage (15 questions). Analyze mistakes thoroughly.
Friday: Drill your two weakest areas from the week.
Saturday: Take a full ACT English section. Review and log every mistake.
Sunday: Rest or lightly review flashcards, grammar rules, or previous entries in your error journal.

Customize this to fit your needs, but keep the principles:

• Rotate topics
  
• Focus on weaknesses
  
• Mix timed practice with targeted drills
  
• Reflect on mistakes
  

If you follow this plan for four to six weeks, you will see growth—not just in your score, but in your confidence.

Step 7: Track Your Score Progress Over Time

Every two weeks, take a full ACT English section under timed conditions. Use a real ACT test, if possible. After each one, chart your raw score (out of 75) and your scaled score (out of 36). Review the data:

• Are your weak areas shrinking?
  
• Are your careless mistakes decreasing?
  
• Are you making progress in your previously hardest categories?
  

Score tracking provides motivation and insight. If your scores are stuck, revisit your journal. Maybe a skill you thought you had mastered still needs work. Maybe you’re rushing through questions and making silly mistakes. Use this feedback to adjust your study plan.

Deep Thought: Improvement Is Not Linear—But It Is Real

There will be weeks where your score doesn’t rise. You might even drop a point after studying harder than ever. This is normal. Progress is rarely a straight line. Think of it like climbing a mountain. Sometimes you hit a plateau before you rise again. Sometimes you lose footing before finding a stronger grip.

What matters is persistence and awareness. If you keep reviewing your mistakes, drilling your weak areas, and adjusting your plan based on results, you will improve.

The ACT is a skill-based test. Like learning a musical instrument or mastering a sport, the better you understand the fundamentals and practice them, the more confident and accurate you become. You are building a skill set that improves over time—not just for the test, but for life.

Step 8: Don’t Ignore the Easy Questions

One last warning. Some students focus so much on hard concepts that they begin missing the easy ones. Don’t fall into this trap. Make sure you consistently get the basic questions right—those testing subject-verb agreement, simple punctuation, and verb tense. These are free points if you don’t rush or get overconfident.

Accuracy is everything. Even one or two careless errors can lower your score more than you expect. Double-check subjects and verbs. Read each sentence fully. Eliminate answer choices carefully. You don’t need perfection—but you do need consistency.

Step 9: Build Mental Stamina and Focus

The ACT English section is long and mentally demanding. You need to stay sharp through 75 questions, often with subtle differences between answer choices. Building mental stamina is just as important as mastering content.

Practice sitting for full sections. Time yourself strictly. Train your brain to focus through distractions. On test day, your mind will be more alert and less likely to wander or panic.

Mental strength can be trained just like grammar skills. The more often you practice full sections, the more confident you’ll become. And confidence leads to better performance.

Passage Strategy and Timing — Mastering the ACT English Section from Start to Finish

By now, you understand the grammar rules that show up most often on the ACT English section. You’ve built a targeted strategy to identify your personal weaknesses, and you’ve practiced drilling the most impactful topics. But all of that work must come together on test day. That’s where strategy, time management, and mindset take center stage. Even if you know the rules, even if you’ve improved during practice, none of it matters if you can’t apply those skills under pressure during the actual exam.

The ACT English Passage Format

Each ACT English section contains five passages. Every passage has 15 questions, leading to a total of 75 questions in 45 minutes. This gives you 9 minutes per passage. It also means you have about 36 seconds per question—not much time to think deeply or re-read the entire passage.

Unlike the Reading section, where questions are asked after reading the passage, the English section presents questions embedded directly into the text. You’ll see underlined portions within the paragraphs, each linked to a question and a set of four answer choices.

These questions test grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and rhetorical style. Often, they require you to understand the context surrounding a sentence—not just the underlined portion itself.

So how do you tackle this?

The Paragraph-by-Paragraph Approach

One of the most effective ways to approach an ACT English passage is to read it paragraph by paragraph. Instead of reading the entire passage at once or treating each underlined section like a standalone item, you focus on each paragraph as a complete unit. Here’s how it works:

1. Read the entire paragraph before answering any questions within it.
   
2. Once you’ve read it, go back and answer the questions linked to that paragraph.
   
3. Move on to the next paragraph and repeat the process.
   

This approach helps you understand the context. Many ACT questions require a grasp of what the sentence is trying to say or how it connects to the paragraph’s main idea. Without reading the full paragraph, it’s easy to miss the tone, the logic, or the structure.

It also allows you to see whether a sentence is necessary, redundant, or out of place. These are common question types in ACT English that are nearly impossible to get right without reading around the sentence.

By using this method, you maintain focus and ensure that you’re not answering questions in isolation.

Avoid the Sentence-Only Trap

One major mistake students make is treating each question as a grammar puzzle detached from its surroundings. They look only at the underlined part, ignoring what comes before or after. This might work for punctuation or subject-verb agreement, but it will fail you on rhetorical questions.

For example, if a question asks whether a sentence should be added, revised, or deleted, the answer depends on the surrounding sentences. If you haven’t read them, you’re guessing.

Remember, the ACT English section is about clear and effective writing. That means you need to understand how each sentence contributes to the entire paragraph and how each paragraph contributes to the overall passage.

Time Management: Know Your Pacing

Let’s look at how to break down the 45 minutes you’re given.

There are 75 questions, so that’s 36 seconds per question. With five passages, you have 9 minutes per passage.

Your timing must be disciplined, or you’ll run out of time in the final passages. Here is a strategy to help:

• Set a timer and spend no more than 9 minutes per passage.
  
• Break this into smaller goals:
  
  • 1 minute to read the paragraph
    
  • 6 to 7 minutes to answer all questions in that passage
    
  • 1 to 2 minutes buffer in case you need to review a tough spot
    

Some students find success with a modified version—spending 8 minutes on the first four passages and saving 13 minutes for the final passage, which often requires more focus. Do what works best during practice tests, but always keep your eye on the clock.

A digital or analog watch can help you manage your time. Mark your passage cut-off times on your scratch paper. For example:

• Passage 1: 0–9 minutes
  
• Passage 2: 9–18 minutes
  
• Passage 3: 18–27 minutes
  
• Passage 4: 27–36 minutes
  
• Passage 5: 36–45 minutes
  

If you go over your time limit on a passage, move on and return if time allows.

Skipping Strategically

It’s important to understand that you don’t need to answer every question correctly to get a great score. For a 26, you only need to get about 80 percent of questions correct. That’s 60 out of 75. This gives you flexibility. You can skip or guess on tough questions without ruining your chances of hitting your goal.

When you see a question that is taking too long or seems overly complicated, skip it. Mark it and come back if you have time. Guess if needed. Do not let one tricky question take two or three minutes of your time. That time is better spent on the easier questions you can get right.

Use the process of elimination when guessing. Even removing one or two wrong choices increases your chances.

Eliminate Answer Choices Effectively

ACT English questions often have one correct answer and three traps. These traps usually fall into one of the following categories:

• Grammatically incorrect
  
• Wordy or redundant
  
• Logically inconsistent
  
• Too casual or too formal for the passage tone
  

When evaluating answer choices, try this:

1. Read the sentence with each choice and ask: Does this follow a rule I know?
   
2. Can I explain why this is wrong, or am I just guessing?
   
3. Which option is the clearest, most concise, and most correct?
   

If a choice sounds awkward, dig into why. Often, there’s a hidden rule you can apply, like faulty modifier placement or a punctuation error. Avoid choosing an answer just because it “sounds right” unless you can explain why it’s grammatically correct.

Stay Calm and Focused During the Test

Many students know the material but lose focus during the real test. This is often caused by anxiety, fatigue, or poor time management.

Here are strategies to stay calm and clear-headed:

• Breathe between passages. A deep breath helps reset your mind.
  
• Sit with good posture to keep energy flowing.
  
• Trust your preparation. If you’ve practiced properly, you’re ready.
  
• If your brain gets stuck, take five seconds to refocus. Look away briefly, then return.
  

Mental clarity is as important as content mastery. Keep your mind steady, and your accuracy will improve.

Test-Day Strategy Checklist

Before test day, review this checklist:

• Memorize key grammar rules, especially the high-frequency ones.
  
• Review your error journal to reinforce your past lessons.
  
• Take two or three timed English sections in the final week.
  
• Pack a watch, pencils, snacks, and your admission ticket.
  
• Sleep well the night before and eat a solid breakfast.
  
• Start your test day calm, confident, and focused.
  

During the test:

• Use the paragraph-by-paragraph strategy
  
• Stick to your time limits per passage
  
• Skip or guess strategically
  
• Eliminate answer choices methodically
  
• Double-check your pacing at the halfway mark
  
• Use your leftover time to review only marked questions
  

If you follow this plan, you will make the most of every minute.

 The Final Test Is Between You and Yourself

The ACT English section is not a test of how well you compare to others. It’s a test of how well you can execute under pressure. And execution comes down to preparation and mindset. All the practice you’ve done, all the errors you’ve reviewed, all the rules you’ve learned—none of it goes to waste.

What separates students who improve from those who stay stuck is not raw ability. It’s awareness, effort, and resilience.

Students who improve understand this truth: every question is a puzzle, every mistake is a message, and every passage is a chance to show what you’ve built.

You are not walking into the test center hoping to be lucky. You are walking in with strategies, skills, and structure.

No matter what score you are starting from, you are capable of raising it. If you apply the full system—targeted rule study, mistake analysis, focused drilling, and effective test strategy—you will improve.

No single question defines you. No past mistake limits your future. With the right mindset, every test is a chance to get better.

Final Words

To bring everything together from this four-part series:

• Start by understanding why the ACT English section matters for college admissions
  
• Learn which grammar and rhetoric rules show up most often and focus your study there
  
• Identify your personal weaknesses through analysis and intentional practice
  
• Use structured passage strategies, pacing, and calm execution to finish strong on test day
  

Improving your ACT English score is not a mystery. It’s a process. It’s a path that many students have walked before you. The difference is that now you have the tools to walk it with intention.

Your goal of hitting a 26 or higher is within reach. Every mistake you fix, every rule you master, every smart decision you make on test day moves you closer.

You are building not just a score—but a sense of discipline, self-awareness, and confidence that will serve you far beyond the ACT.

When you sit down to take the test, know this: you’ve done the work. Trust yourself. Apply your system. And let your score reflect what you’ve earned.

If you’d like a bonus wrap-up summary or a one-page printable study plan, let me know and I’d be happy to create it for you.