BHS ACT Reading test tips
- 1. The ACT Reading Exam Tips & Strategies
- 3. The Structure • Prose – Events that show characters’ beliefs & motivations – Asks for setting, plot, theme, tone, feelings • Social sciences – Anthropology, archaeology, business, economics, education, geography, history, political science, psychology, sociology – Often presents opposing viewpoints • Humanities – Architecture, art, culture, dance, film, literature, music, philosophy, radio, television, theater – Details, vocab, inferences, author’s POV, important contributions of the subject • Natural sciences – Anatomy, astronomy, biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, medicine, meteorology, microbiology, natural history, physics, technology – Most specific of questions
- 4. The Nitty Gritty • 8 ½ minutes per section • All questions worth the same # of points • No wrong points for guessing • A score of 20 = must answer 20/40 correctly (2 sections!) • A score of 25 = must answer 28/40 correctly (3 sections!) • A score of 30 = answer 34/40 correctly (3 ½ sections!) • Concentrate on the passages where you’re strong • Take your time on the questions you’re most likely to get right • Right answer isn’t always the “perfect” answer
- 7. Your #1 best tool… Annotations • Write 1-word summaries in margins of most important ideas – Look for the TOPIC sentence (it’s not necessarily the first sentence!) • Underline things that seem important – Put “eg” or “ex” next to examples – Circle shifters (although, despite, even though, nonetheless…) • Mark “+” or “-” to indicate tone • Number parts of an argument
- 8. Process of Elimination (POE) • Avoid absolutes (“always” or “never”) • Avoid extremes (“hateful” or “ecstatic”) • The “bait and switch” answers – they use the exact wording of the passages, but have one small change that makes it wrong – Right answers will be a paraphrase, NOT a quotation • Be careful of “NOT” or “EXCEPT” questions!
- 9. Know your question types Detail questions Inferences Point of view Cause & effect Main ideas Vocabulary
- 10. Main idea questions • Main idea of entire piece, or JUST a certain section • Should be able to answer without going back to the passage • If in doubt, go back and look at your annotations! • Types of questions include: • “The main idea is…” • “One of the main ideas is…”
- 11. Detail questions • Read around in the excerpt for context – Very common to have one potential answer that looks true in the section, but is later revealed to be incorrect • Tend to be straightforward answers • Types of questions include: • “According to the passage…” • “The passage indicates…”
- 12. Inference questions • Ask for implied information; often difficult! • Reread lines before & after for context • Look for shifter words (although, nevertheless, however, but…) to break down the argument • Types of questions include anything that uses the words: • “Suggest,” “infer,” “imply,” “indicate”…
- 13. Point of view questions • What does the WRITER think of the subject? – Look at your “+” & “-” annotations – What is their tone? Negative? Sympathetic? • The correct answer probably isn’t the perfect answer • Types of questions include: • “With which of the following statements would the author most likely agree? ”
- 14. Cause & effect questions • FACT-BASED questions! Do not involve inferences • Are you looking for the CAUSE, or the EFFECT? • Types of questions include: • “…because…” • “Resulted in,” “led to,” “caused by…”
- 15. Vocab questions • Find definition of word based on context • Go back and reread the sentence – can you substitute a similar word? – A word that looks like a “+” in the sentence will also have a “+”-sounding word as the answer • Types of questions include: • “As it is used in line ___, the word _________ most nearly means…”
- 16. Your overall strategy • Go to the passages where you are strongest first – don’t be afraid to skip around – Do one WHOLE passage at a time • 3 minutes to read • ANNOTATE!! • Know your question types – are you looking for facts (in the text), or inferences (your best guess?) • If no time left over, fill in every bubble! • With time left over, you MUST go back to a passage you mostly guessed on
Editor's Notes
- #3: “Reading on the ACT is like taking a tour of a room—you have to know the layout of the room, but you don’t have to know the location of every knicknack.” The trick is NOT to memorize every detail in this room. The trick is to identify strategies to help you go back to find the details you need quickly and efficiently.
- #4: In general, things go from the “most squishy” to the “least squishy” Prose Narrates events that show characters’ beliefs and motivation s Questions on basic story elements: setting, plot, theme, mode, & tone Often asks for inferences Often asks you to focus on the feelings of characters Social sciences Anthropology, archaeology, business, economics, education, geography, history, political science, psychology, sociology Names, dates, concepts Often presents opposing viewpoints – be careful to ID which one the author supports! Cause-effect relationships, vocab, comparisons, and sequence of events Factual questions about what the author says Inferences on what the author means PAY ATTN TO names, dates, relationships Humanities Architecture, art, culture, dance, film, literature, music, philosophy, radio, television, theater Nonfiction about real people (Though often seems like fiction!) Analyze an artist or works of art – generally supportive bias, but not always Pay attention to details, vocab, inferences, author’s POV, important contributions of the subject THIS ONE wants you to look for POV & tone more than anything else! Natural sciences Anatomy, astronomy, biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, medicine, meteorology, microbiology, natural history, physics, technology Explains the importance of a scientific topic or natural phenomena Pay attention to laws, rules, theories of nature This section asks the most specific of questions LOOK FOR cause/effect In general, on our first practice test we did the best at prose (on average, we got about 68% of questions right!) and social sciences (61%!). We did not great at natural sciences (58%) and humanities (57%).
- #5: BRING A WATCH!!! You want to spend no more than THREE minutes reading and annotating. Start with the easiest passage first – if you know that you rock the social science passage, DO THAT ONE FIRST. If you know that you are always going to stuck with the prose, then save it to the end But this, of course, means that you have to be CAREFUL about answering your questions. Don’t make the mistake of mis-bubbling!
- #6: So… how do you tackle a problem like this?
- #7: …You need to twist the readings to your needs. (See through the Matrix!)
- #11: Usually, humanities passages are often sympathetic toward their subject! Match the tone of the answer to the tone of the overall piece – you can classify answers into “+,” “-”, or “mixed”
- #14: Usually, humanities passages are often sympathetic toward their subject! Match the tone of the answer to the tone of the overall piece – you can classify answers into “+,” “-”, or “mixed”
- #15: Cause/effect questions have the right answer in the passage!