ABC accounting versus Traditional Accounting Research Paper

ABC accounting versus Traditional Accounting - Research Paper Example Usually, an organization will fund a particular activity, which helps in monitoring the use of other resources, and assess the outcome. Companies that adopt this technique are able to estimate a particular cost-element of the whole batch of products, services and activities. This way, the company finds it easier to make a decision on the identifying products or services, which are less important. Additionally, any service that tends to overpriced is normally reduced to the right pricing. Further, a company can do away with any processing of goods if the process used proves to be unprofitable. In short, the ABC method helps a company in the assigning cost of resources in the activities to help in delivery of products to its clients (Brown & Tower, 2010). As a result, companies are able to decide on the pricing of goods, their identification, outsourcing as well improve non-effective processes. History Whereas George Staubus is the man that ABC is based on, this concept was first initiated in the US in the 70s. In the late 80s, Robert Kaplan and robin Cooper popularized the term when they both compared the traditional method of accounting with the ABC. In their conclusion, they felt that ABC was more effective than the traditional one. Moreover, it was established that ABC is able to locate the exact cost that a company will spend and not just the main expense.

Bel Canto Historical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Bel Canto Historical Analysis Essay Bel Canto, the setting is reflected off of the Lima Crisis, otherwise known as the Japanese embassy hostage crisis, which began on December 17, 1996. Bel Canto is a story on the events that happen in the house of a South American country’s vice president. It portrays the relationships of the characters and their feelings toward one another as well as explains the hostage situation. In the Japanese embassy hostage crisis, similar events took place, such as the actual overtake of a mansion which contained high-ranking military officials and others of a high social standing. Both settings deal with the releasing of hostages in exchange for demands that were never met, which led to the resolution of both the Lima crisis and Patchett’s Bel Canto. Bel Canto reflects the historical Japanese embassy hostage crisis, although Bel Canto has a third person omniscient point of view of the occurrences on the inside of the mansion. Bel Canto imitates the incidences of the Japanese embassy hostage crisis. The Japanese embassy hostage crisis was a 126 day hostage crisis where members of a revolutionary movement known as the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement had taken over 600 hostages, a decent amount of which were high ranked military officials and other well-known ambassadors. The MRTA, led by Nestor Cerpa, took over the highly fortified residence of the Japanese ambassador. Cerpa proclaimed that he would release any of his hostages who weren’t involved with the Peruvian government, and they did so. The MRTA eventually release all the captives except 72 men. The original plan of this takeover was to change the ways of the government. In Bel Canto, although the terrorists originally came to take the president, they were a rebellious group from the country and wanted changes in the government. The rebels demanded a few things in return for the safety of the hostages. They requested â€Å"The release of their members from prison; a revision of the government’s neoliberal free market reforms, and they protested against the cruel and inhumane conditions of Peru’s jails† (Japanese embassy hostage crisis). In Bel Canto, the rebels have demands as well: The terrorists having no chance to get what they came for, decided to take something else instead, something they never in their lives knew they wanted until they crouched in the low, dark shaft of the air-conditioning vents: opera. They decided to take that very thing for which Mr. Hosakawa lived. (71). Both terrorists wanted demands out of their seizures of the mansions. In both Bel Canto and in the Japanese crisis, a Red Cross official was the ‘negotiator. He attempted to setup a barter system to which the terrorists would get supplies so long as they give hostages back in return. In the Japanese crisis, Luis Cipriani had worked on getting a deal that would allow the terrorists to be let go into Cuba as exiles. This negotiation failed, as did some of the consultations from Bel Canto. Messner, the negotiator, attempts to make several negotiations with the terrorists, throughout the novel. Although both mediators do try to work th e situations out with the rebels, they are not able to meet the standards of the negotiations. In the end of both Bel Canto and the Japanese embassy hostage crisis, the terrorists were killed. They were not done in the same fashion, although the hostages were saved. In Bel Canto, the terrorists allow the hostages to be outside, and one day while they are together, a group of government troops come and shoot all the insurgents, as well as Hosokawa. In the Japanese crisis, a military assault overwhelmed the rebels and forced them to either surrender or be shot and killed. Bel Canto is very much reflected upon the happenings of the Japanese embassy hostage crisis. The similarities of the negotiations between the outside world and the mansions, the motives for invasion, and the format of how the situations end are all closely related. The book may not have total accuracy of the Lima crisis, although the internal view of the occurrences in the mansion provide a different side of the hostage situation. Works Cited Japanese embassy hostage crisis. Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Web. 23 Jan. 2013. . Patchett, Ann. Bel Canto. 2005 ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.

History and Structure of Venice Essay -- Italy Europe Papers

History and Structure of Venice Problems with format ?Venice is one of the most fascinating places to travel in Europe.? Its intrigue lies in its unique beginnings, its dominant past, and its remarkable people and their buildings.? Its foundation is unique because of the need for protection that drove the early Venetians to their new home and the location of this new dwelling-place:? ?Rarely in human history has a vigorous and progressive civilization arisen in a less likely place than the mud flats of the Venetian lagoon.?1? Venice rose to power by its domination of the sea and reached its climax during the years of the Renaissance.? It is during this time period that it truly became ?the bride of the Adriatic and the unchallenged mistress of the Mediterranean.?2? This collection of small islands connected by canals and small strips of land became the home of an independent people and its architecture makes Venice ?a symbol of beauty.?3 ? Geography and Foundation The city of Venice is located at the far north of the Adriatic Sea, in what Dr. Timothy Fehler of Furman University calls ?the armpit of Italy.?4? Venice is situated on a chain of marshy islands protected from the Adriatic Sea by the Lidi, the sandbar-like islands further out in the water.? In describing the body of water Venice is located in, Horatio Brown states, ?Perhaps no piece of water in the world is more remarkable than this hundred and eighty-four square miles of Venetian lagoon.?5 because ?the lagoon is not a lake, still less is it a swamp, nor is it like the open sea.?6? At low tide the marshy islands of the lagoon are exposed, and at high tide Venice appears to be alone on the sea.? Lane describes the lagoon as ?mostly open water with a cluster of sma... ... Davis, 68. 28. Davis, 89. 29. Davis, 96. 30. Howard, 178. 31. Davis, 100. 32. Davis, 99. 33. Davis, 117. 34. Davis, 123. 35. Davis, 127. 36. Howard, 15. Bibliography Brown, Horatio F.? In and Around Venice.? New York:? Charles Scribner?s Sons, 1905. Davis, John H.? Venice.? Edited by the Newsweek Book Division.? New York:? Newsweek, 1973. Fehler, Timothy.? Furman University, Greenville.? 20 March 2003. Howard, Deborah.? The Architectural History of Venice.? New York:? Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981. Lane, Frederic C.? Venice:? A Maritime Republic.? Baltimore:? The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. Wiel, Alethea.? Venice.? New York:? G.P. Putnam?s Sons, 1894. Yriarte, Charles.? Venice:? Its History, Art, Industries, and Modern Life.? Philadelphia:? Henry T. Coates & Co., 1986.

Inner Peace- religion Essay

Analyse how the individual is guided towards acheiving inner peace in TWO religious traditions. (18/20)Inner peace is defined as an internal quality of calmness and security which puts the mind at ease and fills the adherent with a sense of tranquility and assurance. For adherents to Christianity and Islam, inner peace is an inevitable and hugely rewarding consequence of genuine faith. It is developed rather than striven for, through a unique combination of personal, communal, scriptural and doctrinal means. Christians believe that inner peace is obtained by being in a close relationship with God. This involves accepting the gift of love from God and accepting that grace is given and not earned. Christianity teaches God lives in the hearts of His people, all are made in His image and likeness, therefore Peace lies within. The Bible states: â€Å"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God† (1 Peter 1:2). Christianity seeks to bring adherents to recognit ion; all who love God will gain peace, by living a life modeled after Jesus Christ. Essentially, faith in God instills within the adherent a sense of security and meaning conductive to the development of inner peace.The Christian tradition indicates the primary way of focusing inner peace and improving efforts at peacemaking is by returning to the Gospels and the sacred writings of Christianity. The reason for doing this is to renew the Christian’s knowledge and understanding of Jesus as the model peacemaker. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus’ teachings are echoed by recalling his words and actions: â€Å"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you† (John 14:27). The individual is guided toward inner peace through the Bible, which facilitates greater familiarity with the nature of God and acts as a source of practical, ethical and spiritual guidance. Christianity provides guidance for many forms of personal prayer using such means as scripture, writings from religious figures and various forms of meditation and contemplation. Centering prayer provides guidance for the Christian to go to their ‘inner’ place and there encounter God. This sustains the adherent in everyday life and contributes to a sense of peace and wellbeing. In being thankful and expressing gratitude to God, believers experience inner peace. The World Community for Christian Meditation proclaims: â€Å"Meditation and prayer is a practice that can bring peace, not only to individual meditators, but also to the whole world†.A significant means in which Christianity guides  adherents to find inner peace is through the concept of forgiveness. Jesus of Nazareth taught his disciples to pray:â€Å"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us† (Matthew 6:12). Through the death of Jesus, forgiveness is available to the repentant sinner, allowing them to have peace with God which is the very foundation of ‘inner peace’. Failure to forgive others leads to stored anger and resentment. The Protestant tradition places the emphasis on each person having the responsibility of speaking directly with God, who will grant absolution. It is the acceptance of the gift from God of forgiveness or wrongdoing which is the obtaining of inner peace for the Christian. Islam teaches that inner peace may only be found through complete submission to God’s will, which is primarily achieved by adherence to a prescribed set of guidelines for living. â€Å"In remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction† (Qur’an 13:28). Acceptance of the will of Allah not only removes the fear and anxiety about the future, but concentrating on God can protect humanity from being overwhelmed by all aspects of life such as greed and fear which destroy inner peace. Jihad is central to this life of submission. Greater Jihad is the concept relating to the ongoing struggle to make oneself and one’s community ‘ perfectly’ Muslim. It embodies peace on a personal level, working through the individual and their role in the community.Inner peace is only possible when the Five Pillars are lived in faithful obedience to God’s will. Obligatory prayers, known as Salat, remind Muslims of Allah’s closeness to them. The Qur’an states: â€Å"Perform the prayer for my remembrance† (Qur’an 20:40). Attention is drawn repeatedly to Allah, marginalizing earthly distraction in order to devote more fully to the divine. Sawm or fasting, reminds participants of those who do not have enough to eat or difficulty living. In being reminded on these things, Muslims are reminded to place too much importance on material goods. They are reminded to place their trust in God for provision of food, which can help them to achieve inner peace. Hajj involves the spiritual, mental and physical journey from one’s normal place of living to Makkah. In the midst of a million pilgrims, the individual Muslim experiences the inner peace of the Ummah. Sufism is an Islamic theology that began to develop in the first century of Islam. Sufism stresses that the traveler on the spiritual path must first abandon himself or herself to the will of God and then only will God’s peace enter their heart. A frequent  Sufi proclamation is: â€Å"There will be no peace until there is inner peace†. The Australian Centre for Sufism and Irfanic Studies offers courses in spiritual development and Sufi psychology that aim to bring people closer to God and inner peace. One of the centre’s aims is to make people more aware that self-centeredness can be a barrier to spiritual enlightenment.Therefore, the religious traditions of Christianity and Islam present several means in guiding the individual to achieve inner peace. It is through the belief systems, actions and thoughts of these religious traditions, that those individual adherents can learn how to achieve inner peace and develop an understanding of peace so that it may be en acted.

Memorable Moment Essay

Intro: My experience entering University Kuala Lumpur when I arrived on campus Body: 1. Feeling of emotions 2. The place of building 3. Meet friends Conclusion: Hard moment to say goodbye to family One of the most memorable moments is the first time that I had through on January 09, 2013. It was the first day of my new life, the life that I was going to spend 3 years at University Kuala Lumpur Business School that formerly known as International School of Entrepreneurship (ISE). As people said, college life is a life of freedom but for me college is starting of a new life. For the first time, I felt so many emotions in my heart that makes my heart beat so fast. I was no longer being a girl but a woman who had to stay far away from home and family. I had begun to think myself to be a woman with lots of spirit to end of my study without any problem. When I entered my college for the first day, I looked around with a much more of various feeling. The stately building is what people always talked a campus in the middle of city. I entered the college with my best friend Nurulikma that I meet from old college when I take Diploma. Firstly I was going to Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (MIIT) University City Campus for registration. We need to fill up a few of letter form to get our dorm key. But finally after everything was taken care of we got to go to set up my belongings in my dorm. Never the less, when my family and I finally got up to the room and opened the door, I was very excited, I met my roommates, they are really friendly. We introduced ourselves. Unfortunately my roommates were from different states but for me it was okay even though we had some problem in communication. The room looks nice that I got to spend my first semester. I chose my bed near the plug as I need to use electricity sometimes. After I was settled in, my family and I had a nice lunch and wish them goodbye. That was the saddest moment because I need to live far from my family. (348 words) Read more: Proud Moments in Life

the illiad essays

the illiad essays Achilles is the greatest of all the Greek warriors and he knows it. His withdrawal from the fighting has an immense impact on the entire battlefield. Both sides of the war feel the effect of his actions. On Achilles side, the Greeks feel as if they are fighting a losing cause and without their fiercest man on the field, the situation worsens for them. The Trojans, however, see this as an opportunity to take advantage of a Greek weakness. Achilles actions are extremely negligent. He cares nothing for his fellow man. He feels he is above fighting with them just because Agamemnon has slighted him. Achilles does not have the killer instinct that one with his great ability should possess. He does not show any passion until his good friend Patroclus is killed by Hector. He lets a petty squabble with Agamemnon insult his pride and take him out of action for a good number of days. It seems like Achilles does not want to take part in the battles until the last minute so that it appears that h e has saved the day. All that he wants is to be known as the greatest hero who ever existed, but he does not realize that he must earn that title. If he had just continued fighting, instead of debating whether he should go back and live peacefully or being angry with Agamemnon, Achilles would have already attained the status he desires so greatly. His decision to take the drastic step of withdrawing from the fighting greatly postponed his achieving of his rank as the greatest hero of all time. Book 6 of the Iliad is an important chapter because it greatly explores the tremendous character, Hector. As the leader of the Trojan army, he feels that it is his job to protect his beloved city. He cares so much for the people of Troy that he goes to the women of the city to tell them to pray to the gods. He does this because he wants to ensure the safety of the women and children of Troy in case the city walls fall to the invadin ...

How to Improve Low ACT Math Scores 9 Tips From a Perfect Scorer

How to Improve Low ACT Math Scores 9 Tips From a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you struggling with ACT Mathscores between 14-24? You're not alone - hundreds of thousands of other students are scoring in this range. But many don't know the best ways to break out of this score range and get 26+on the ACT. Here we'll discuss how to improve ACT Mathscore effectively, and why it's so important to do so. Put these principles to work and I'm confident you'll be able to improve your score. Brief note: This article is tailored for lower-scoring students, currently scoring below a 26 on ACT Math. If you're already above this range, my perfect 36 ACT Mathscore articlewill be better for you as it contains advanced strategies. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring high is a good idea, what it takes to score a 26, and then go into ACT Math tips. Stick with me - this is like constructing a building. First you need to lay a good foundation before putting up the walls and windows. Similarly, we need to first understand why you're doing what you're doing, before diving into tips and strategies. In this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 26. But if your goal is to get to a 24 or lower, these tips still equally apply. Understand the Stakes At this ACT score range, improving your low ACT Mathscore to a 26 range will dramatically boost your chances of getting into better colleges. The reason? A 26 puts you well above the national average of all ACT test takers, at about 83%ile. This is roughly equivalent to a 1200 out of 1600 on the SAT. Let's take a popular school, Pennsylvania State University,as an example. Its average ACT score is a 27. Its 25th percentile score is a 24, and 75th percentile is a 29. Furthermore, its acceptance rate is 55%. In other words, a little more than half of all applicants are admitted. Good odds, but the lower your scores, the worse your chances. In our analysis, if you apply with an ACT score of 22, your chance of admission drops to 22.4%, or around a 1 in 4chance. But if you raise your score to a 26, your chance of admission goes up to 46.7% -double the chances of admission, for just 4 points of improvement. And because your ACT Math score factors into your ACT composite score, raising your Math score will really help raise the average of your total score. It's really worth your time to improve your ACT score. Hour for hour,it's the best thing you can do to raise your chance of getting into college. Curious what chances you have with a 26 ACT score? Check out ourexpert college admissions guide for a 26 ACT score. Know that You Can Do It This isn't just some lame inspirational message you see on the back of a milk carton. I mean, literally, you and every other student can do this. In my work with PrepScholar, I've worked with thousands of students scoring in the lower ranges of 15-21. Time after time, I see students who beat themselves up over their low score and think improving it is impossible. "I know I'm not smart." "I just don't get algebra and I can't see myself scoring high." "I don't know what to study to improve my score." It breaks my heart. Because I know that more than anything else, your ACT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. Not your IQ and not your school grades. Not how Ms. Huffington in 9th grade said you'd never get geometry. Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are often different from straightforward math questions you've seen in school? It's purposely designed this way. The ACT can't test difficult concepts, because this would be unfair for students who aren't yet at Calculus level. It can't ask you to analyze quantum physics. The ACT is a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. So it HAS to test concepts that all high school students will cover.Numbers (integers, fractions), algebra(solve for x), coordinategeometry(lines and slopes), plane geometry (triangles, circles, lines), and other topics like trigonometry. You've learned all of this before in high school. But the ACT still has to make the test difficult, so it needs to test these concepts in strange ways. This trips up students who don't prepare, but it rewards students who understand the test well. Here's an example: This is a classic ACT type question. It tests really simple concepts in a complicated way. The first time you see this, it might be confusing. How do I find the area of the entire area? How do I find the area of A? Why does this look like a brick wall? But you've learned all the concepts you need to solve this. This is a simple question about areas and fractions. As the first sentence tells us, there are three rows of equal area. Each of these rows are split up into two, three or four equal areas. Each region is labeled A, B or C. The question is asking us for the fraction of the square's area in the region labeled A. Notice that there are three regions labeled A -one in each row. Let's use a strategy to solve this - let's plug in a number. We'll use 12 for the area of a row. Because there are 3 rows, the total area is 36. In the first row, there are 2 equal regions - A and B. To divide 12 into 2 regions, each would have area 6. So A in the first row has 6 area. In the next row, there are 3 equal regions - A, B, and C. Once again, to divide 12 into 3 regions, each would have area 4. So A in the second row has 4 area. Finally, in the last row there are 4 equal regions - A, B, C, and D. To divide 12 into 4 regions, each would have area 3. So A in the third row has 3 area. So what's the total area covered by A? 6 + 4 + 3 = 13. What's the total area of the square? We said it above - 36. So the "fraction of the square's area..in a region labeled A" is 13/36. This might have been confusing the first time, but the next time you see a question like this, you'll know what to do. The ACT math section is full of examples like this. To improve your score, you just need to: Learn the types of questions that the ACT tests, like the one above Put together the concepts you already know to solve the questions Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, let's see how many questions you need to get right. What It Takes to Get a 26in ACT Math If we have a target ACT score in mind, it helps to understand how many questions you need to get right on the actual test. The ACT Math section has 60 questions on it. Depending on how many questions you get right, you'll get a Scaled score out of 36. Here's the raw score to ACT Math Score conversion table. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Scaled Raw Scaled Raw Scaled Raw Scaled Raw 36 60 27 43-44 18 24-26 9 - 35 58-59 26 40-42 17 21-23 8 3 34 57 25 38-39 16 17-20 7 - 33 55-56 24 36-37 15 13-16 6 2 32 54 23 34-35 14 -12 5 - 31 52-53 22 32-33 13 8-10 4 1 30 50-51 21 30-31 12 7 3 - 29 48-49 20 29 5-6 2 - 28 45-47 19 27-28 10 4 1 0 So if you're aiming for a 26, on this test you need to get just 40 questions correct. This is just a 66% on the test! Also, keep in mind that you'll be able to GUESS on a lot of questions. Because there are five answer choices, you get a lot of questions right with a 20% chance! So here's an example. Let's say you know how to solve just 35 questions for sure. You guess on the remaining 25 and get five of them right by chance. This gives you a raw score of 40, or a scaled score of 26! This has serious implications for your testing strategy. In essence, you only need to answer 2/3 of all questions right. We'll go into more detail below about what this means for your testing strategy below. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 26. For example, if you're scoring a 22, you need to answer 8-10 more questions right to get to a 26. Once again, if your goal is a score below 26, like a 24, the same analysis applies. Just look up what your Raw Score demands above. 9 Strategies to Improve Your Low ACT Math Score OK - so we've covered why scoring a higher ACT Mathscore is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll actually get into actionable ACT Math tipsthat you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategy 1: Skip the Most Difficult Math Questions Here's the strategy I'm starting with, because I believe it can earn you immediate points the very next time you take a practice test. It's also an easy strategy most students don't do enough. Remember what I said above about raw score? To score a 26, you only need a 40 out of 60 raw score. Put in another way - you can completely miss 20 questions (33% of the test) and still score a 26. Wow - you can completely skip the hardest 30% of all questions and still hit your goal. Skip questions carefree - like this woman. Why is this such a powerful strategy? It gives you WAYmore time on easy and medium difficulty questions - the questions you have a good chance of getting right. If you're usually pressed for time on ACT Math, this will be a huge help. And this is pretty much everyone - even I (a perfect ACT scorer) feel time pressure on this section. Here's an example. On ACT Math, you get 60 minutes to answer 60 math questions. This is usually pretty hard for most students to get through - it's just 60 seconds to answer each question, and some of these questions take a lot of time. The average student will try to push through ALLthe questions. "I've got to get through them all, since I've got a shot at getting each question right," they think. Along the way, they'll probably rush and make careless mistakes on easy questions they SHOULD have gotten right. And then they spend five minutes on the very last, hardest question, making no progress and wasting time. Wrong approach. Here's what I suggest instead.Completely skip the last 20% of questions in the math section. This is the last 12 questions.Don't even look at them, don't even read them. Instead, focus all your energy on getting the first 80% of questions correct. This works because, unlike Reading and Writing, Math questions are ordered by difficulty.The hardest questions are always the questions at the end of the subsection. Let's use an example from real practice tests. This is Question #60, the very last question of the section: Pretty tough, right? It'll take you quite some time just to even READ the question. But here's question 39, a question you should spend more time on: This is just finding the slope, given two points. A lot easier for you to get right. By skipping questions like this, you raise your time per question from 60 to 75 seconds per question. This is huge! It's a 25% boost to the time you get per question. This raises your chances of getting easy/medium questions right a lot. And the 12 questions you skipped? Like the example above, they're so hard you're honestly better off not even trying them. These questions are meant for 27-36 scorers who have mastered all the ACT math skills on the test. If you get to a 26, then you have the right to try these questions. Not before you to get to 26. Next strategy: find your weak links and fix them. Strategy 2: Find Your Math Weaknesses and Drill Them If you're like most students, you're better at some math subjects than others. You might have done better in algebra than geometry. Or maybe you really like trig,but hate probability. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. You have a lot of homework, you might be an athlete or have band practice, and you want to send Snaps toyour friends. This means for every hour you study for the ACT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the 'dumb' way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're shocked. I'm not. Studying effectively for the ACT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to paint thin layers across a huge span of material. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew, and they didn't spend enough time fixing their weaknesses. Instead, studying effectively for the ACT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to ACT math? You need to find the skills that you're weakest in, and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fixing up the biggest holes. If you had to study 10 hours for ACT Math, wouldn't you rather improve four points than one point? This is how you do it - focusing your attention on what will make the biggest difference for you. Here's our complete mapping of all 24 skills tested on ACT Math: Numbers Integers Rational numbers Statistics Probability Sequences Algebra Operations Single Variable Equations Functions Word Problems Inequalities Matrices Complex Numbers Systems of equations Coordinate Geometry Points Lines Polynomials Conic Sections Reflections Plane Geometry Lines and Slopes Triangles Polygons Circles Misc Topics Solid Geometry Trigonometry I know this is overwhelming. ACT Math covers most of basic high school math, which is a LOT of stuff. Looking at this list, do you know where your weaknesses are? Do you know what you need to train on to get the most out of your study time? If not, I'm not surprised. This is hard for even the best students to do. It takes a lot of test knowledge to be able to categorize questions, and it takes a lot of discipline to analyze your mistakes. For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is. When you notice patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this subskill. Say you miss a lot of coordinate geometry questions (the ones involving an x-y grid and lines). You need to find a way to get lesson material to teach yourself the main concepts that you're forgetting. Then you need to find more practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. Quick Plug: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 3: Focus On the Most Important Skills, and Ignore the Rest But wait, there's more. Remember the 24 skills listed above? Not all of them are made equal. Some are represented FAR more often than others. In fact, the most common skill (numbers-rational numbers) is 56TIMES more likely to appear than the least common skill (complex numbers). As you can see, it's not enough just to divide into rough subjects like algebra, geometry, and data analysis. Even within algebra, some concepts appear FAR more often than others. If you ignore this distinction, you'll waste a lot of time studying things you don't even have to know! So I'm about to make your day. I'm going to tell you the most important skills you HAVE to practice hard, and all the skills you DON'T need to study. If you've been nervous about how much ACT Math material you need to know, you'll feel a lot better soon. First, hereare the most common ACT Math skills. I'll explain the % of questions for that skill, and the # of questions you can expect to see: Skill Frequency # of Q's Numbers - Rational Numbers .97% 7 Algebra - Functions 8.76% 5 Algebra - Operations 8.55% 5 Numbers - Integers 7.26% 4 Algebra - Single Variable 6.84% 4 Plane Geometry - Triangles 6.41% 4 Plane Geometry - Polygons 6.41% 4 Coord. Geometry - Lines 5.56% 3 Plane Geometry - Circles 5.34% 3 Algebra - Word Problems 4.91% 3 Trigonometry 4.91% 3 This is great news - with just skills (46% of all 24 skills), you actually cover 77% of the test! This is huge! For example, if you mastered just these skills and got all 45 questions right, that would already bring you up to a 28. In reality, this is unrealistic because some of these 45 questions are going to be pretty tough, and questions I recommend you skip as mentioned in Strategy 1. But you can see how important the most important skills are to getting a great score. Focus on what really makes up most of the pie. Now, what skills do you NOT have to know? Here are the LEAST common skills on ACT Math: Skill Frequency # of Q's Coord. Geometry - Points 4.06% 2 Numbers - Statistics 3.85% 2 Numbers - Probability 3.21% 1 Algebra - Inequalities 2.35% 1 Plane Geometry - Lines and Angles 2.35% 1 Geometry - Solid Geometry 2.14% 1 Numbers - Sequences 1.92% 1 Algebra - Systems of Equations 0.85% 1 Coord. Geometry - Polynomials 0.85% 1 Coord. Geometry - Conic Sections 0.64% 1 Coord. Geometry - Reflections, Translations 0.43% 1 Algebra - Matrices 0.21% 1 Algebra - Complex Numbers 0.21% 1 Look at these 13skills. Altogether, they add up to a measly 23% of the entire test. Remember what % of the test you need to get right to get a 26? It's 66%. If you completely ignored these 13 skills, you'd still be able to get a maximum score of 28. So good news! You don't need to study complex numbers, matrices, conic sections,and other subjects above. Good riddance, because these are some of the more complicated subjects. When you study, make sure you focus your time on what's really impactful. Once again, I believe in this strategy so much that I designed our PrepScholar ACT program around this idea. Your PrepScholar programdoes all the hard work for you by automatically customizing your prep program to exactly what you need to do to improve your score most. You'll work on the most important skills first so that you get the most out of every hour you study. You just need to focus on learning and doing questions. Strategy 4: Practice UsingOnly Realistic, High Quality Sources After reading the three strategies above, you might be hyped up to go out and practice. The question is - what are you actually going to use to study? Books? A prep program? Be really careful about which sources you choose to use. Honestly, most of them are pretty bad. A lot of prep programs and books don't have very realistic ACT Math questions. They're either too hard, too easy, or structured incorrectly. The root of this problem is lack of true understanding of the ACT Math section. Without going through a full question by question analysis of the test, you really can't understand the test deeply. This means your materials will be terrible. OK - so what do you use? The very, very best source for ACT Math questions is the Official ACT Tests.This is why as part of PrepScholar, we include these official practice tests to gauge your progress and train you on the real thing. Unfortunately, you often need supplemental questions focused on your weaknesses above. For instance, if you're weak in rational numbers, you want to drill those questions over and over again to master your weaknesses. If you're interested in a prep program that can provide all the test content you need to excel, I'd suggest you consider PrepScholar. Obviously as creator of the program I can be biased, but I honestly believe we have the highest quality Math questions available anywhere. This is because of the level of scrutiny and understanding of the test that I think no other company has achieved: We've deconstructed every available official ACT Practice Test, question by question, answer choice by answer choice. We've statistically studied every question type on the test (like you saw above). We understand exactly how questions are phrased and how wrong answer choices are constructed. As head of product, I'm responsible for content quality. I hire only the most qualified content writers to craft our test content. This means people who have scored perfect scores on the ACT, have hundreds of hours of ACT teaching experience, and have graduated from Ivy League schools like Harvard. This results in the most realistic, highest quality ACT Math questions possible. Even if you don't use PrepScholar, you should be confident that whatever resource you DO use undergoes the same scrutiny as we do. If you're not sure, or you see reviews saying otherwise, then avoid it. Make sure you avoid duds. Strategy 5: Understand All Your ACT Math Mistakes Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. Too many students scoring at the 14-24level refuse to study their mistakes. It's harsh. I get it. It sucks to stare your mistakes in the face. It's draining to learn difficult concepts you don't already understand. So the average student will breeze past their mistakes and instead focus on areas they're already comfortable with. It's like a warm blanket. Their thinking goes like this: "So I'm good at geometry? I should do more geometry problems! They make me feel good about myself." The result? NO SCORE IMPROVEMENT. You don't want to be like these students. So here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by subject and sub-topic (number theory - fractions, algebra - solving equations, etc.). It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Go Deeper - WHY Did You Miss a Math Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't know this material." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further - what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss a question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content:I didn't learn the skill or knowledge needed to answer this question. One step further:What specific skill do I need to learn, and how will I learn this skill? Incorrect Approach:I knew the content, but I didn't know how to approach this question. One step further:How do I solve the question? How will I solve questions like this in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or solved for the wrong thing One step further:Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Strategy 6: Experiment With Different Strategies to Solve Math Problems Sometimes, you get really stuck on a question. You just have no idea how to solve it, and the first step doesn't seem obvious. When this happens, a really useful skill to learn is having a toolkit of alternative strategies to solve a question. Broadly speaking, there are two that will come up most often: Plugging in Numbers, and Plugging in Answers. Let's see an example in action: Let's you don't know exactly where to start and how to solve this the algebraic way. In this case, you can plug in sample numbers to see how the surface area changes. Plug in Numbers Let's do something simple: length, width, and height are all equal to 1. Thus, A = 2*1*1 + 2*1*1 + 2*1*1 = 6. Then, we double each of the dimensions, so length, width, and height are all equal to 2. Now, A = 2*2*2 + 2*2*2 + 2*2*2 = 24. 24 is 4 times greater than 6. So the surface area is multiplied by a factor of 4. That was pretty straightforward! Bonus: Algebraicway You can also solve this question by directly plugging in 2l, 2w, and 2h into the equation. The original area = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh The new area = 2*2l*2w + 2*2l*2h + 2*2w*2h You might see that you can factor out a 4 in front: = 4 (2lw + 2lh + 2wh) And thus the area increases by a factor of 4. In both your practice and your real test, try to get unstuck by approaching the question differently. Check out our strategy guides on Plugging in Answers and Plugging in Numbers to see more details on how these work. Strategy 7: Monitor Your Time During the ACT Math Section Once again, time pressure is a big problem for 14-24scorers. Because many questions are difficult, it's easy to get sucked into a hard problem and spend minutes trying to solve it. This takes away time from other questions that you can solve and get points for. There are two ways to ease time pressure for yourself. The first way is by getting better at the test.By doing more practice, you'll automatically get faster at solving each question. By learning patterns to what the ACT asks, more questions will just 'click' for you. The other way is to monitor the time you're spending on each question. What you want to avoid is spending too much time on a single question, since this gives you less time for other math problems. Remember: all points on the ACT are worth the same as each other. An easy question is worth one point, as is the most difficult question on the entire test. So here's what I recommend: if you spend 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you can get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. If you finish the section early, you'll have time to get back to the questions you skipped. You'll especially have extra time if you follow my first skipping strategy (skip the most difficult questions). Even if you don't have time to get back to the questions you skipped, you just bought yourself time to try a lot of other questions. Strategy 8: Bubble In Your Answers All at Once Here's a bubbling tip that will save you at least three minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I went back to the booklet and solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself doing two things at once - solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This is like rubbing your belly and patting your head. This costs you time in both mental distraction and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just three seconds per question, you get back 360seconds on a section that has 60 questions. This is huge! It's six extra minutes, which you can use to solve a lot more questions! Note: Be careful as you watch your time that you fill in all your current answers with at least five minutes remaining!Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Make sure you practice this on a full-length practice test so you're confident with it. Strategy 9: Guess on EveryQuestion You Don't Know You might already know this one, but if you don't, you're about to earn some serious points. The ACT has no guessing penalty for getting a wrong answer. That means there's no reason to leave any question blank. Now, before you finish the section,make sure every blank question has an answer filled in. You do not want to look at your answer sheet and see any blank questions. For every question you're unsure about, make sure you guess as best you can.If you can eliminate just one answer choice, that gives you a much better shot at getting it right. If you have no idea, just guess! You have a 20% chance of getting it right. Most people know this strategy already, so if you don't do this, you're at a SERIOUS disadvantage. This is really important when you use Strategy #1 of skipping questions - if you don't guess on the questions, you'll miss out on free points! In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT math score. If you're scoring an 18, you can improve it to a 23. If you're scoring a 22, you can boost it to a 26. I guarantee it, if you put in the right amount of work, and study like I'm suggesting above. Notice that I didn't actually teach you any math content. I didn't point to any formulas that you need to know, or specific math solutions that will instantly raise your score. That's because these one-size-fits-all, guaranteed strategies don't really exist. (And anyone who tells you this is deceiving you). Every student is different. Instead, you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You also need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. This is really important to your future. Make sure you give ACT prep the attention it deserves, before it's too late, and you get a rejection letter you didn't want. If you want to review any of the strategies, here's a list of all of them: Strategy 1: Skip the Most Difficult Math QuestionsStrategy 2: Find Your Math Weaknesses and Drill ThemStrategy 3: Focus On the Most Important Skills. Ignore the RestStrategy 4: Use Only Realistic, High Quality SourcesStrategy 5: Understand All Your Math MistakesStrategy 6: Experiment with Different Strategies to Solve Math ProblemsStrategy 7: Monitor Your Time During the Math SectionStrategy 8:Bubble In Your Answers All At OnceStrategy 9: Guess on EveryQuestion You Don't Know What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your ACT score. Read my corresponding guides for other ACT Math sections: Get a 26 in ACT English, ACT Reading, and ACT Science. What's a good ACT score for you? Read our detailed guide on figuring out your ACT target score. Want a bunch of free ACT practice tests to practice with? Here's our comprehensive list of every free ACT practice test. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today: Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Allen Cheng About the Author As co-founder and head of product design at PrepScholar, Allen has guided thousands of students to success in SAT/ACT prep and college admissions. He's committed to providing the highest quality resources to help you succeed. Allen graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned two perfect scores on the SAT (1600 in 2004, and 2400 in 2014) and a perfect score on the ACT. You can also find Allen on his personal website, Shortform, or the Shortform blog. 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