ACT and SAT Math Geometry Strategy

Geometry questions on the ACT and SAT tests can be tricky, but if you are able to visualize, the questions will be much easier.

Draw the Shapes

Unless you're absolutely positive that you can visualize all the shapes and the information presented to in your head, draw out the shapes. Drawing out the shapes, angles, etc. will help you see what's going on in the ACT/SAT question and avoid a lot of unwanted confusion. If you don't draw anything or nothing has already been drawn for you, how else are you going to be able to see that angle A and angle B are vertical angles??

Figures Not Drawn to Scale

Remember that figures aren't drawn to scale unless stated otherwise. This means for most ACT/SAT geometry math questions you can't just eyeball the shapes and expect to answer correctly every time. You can, however, use the figures to draw on and add information to so that you don't have to draw the entire figure over again.

Practice is REQUIRED

If you take a bunch of ACT/SAT practice tests without drawing out the geometry, don't expect that it'll be so easy for you on test day. As with nearly everything in life, you have to practice to get better. Practice until it drawing comes natural to you. When you see a geometry question, you should instantly think, "Oh, it's time to draw."

Use All Facts Given to You

This really goes for all ACT/SAT math questions, but it's definitely worth mentioning. If a question tells you that the radius of circle A is 4, then you can be sure that you'll need to know that the radius of circle A is 4. The ACT/SAT won't try to trick you giving you useless information. As for tricking you with the answer choices, that's a different story. We'll talk about that next time.