Strategies to help YOU put the pieces together

Always the first test taken Time: 45 minutes Questions: 75 – Equates to about 30 seconds/question What you DON’T need to know – Spelling – Vocabulary (that’s the SAT test!) – Grammatical names Nouns, verbs, participles, etc.

10 punctuation questions 12 grammar and usage questions 18 sentence structure questions 12 strategy questions 11 organization questions 12 style questions

You will be given something to read Portions of the text will be underlined Questions are based on the underlined portions Each question has FOUR options: A.No change B.Option one C.Option two D.Option three

... Pike’s Peak in Southwest Colorado is named before 37 Zebulon Pike, an early explorer. He traveled through the area, exploring A. NO CHANGE B.before Zebulon Pike became an explorer, and he C.after Zebulon Pike, when he D. after Zebulon Pike. He

One-third: Conciseness in Writing One-third: Logic and Sense One-third: Rules of Grammar

Sometimes one of the options will be to omit (leave out) the underlined portion. It’s usually the last of the choices

Later, Pike fell while valiantly defending America in the War of It goes without saying that this took place after he discovered Pike’s Peak. He actually died near York (now called Toronto)... F.NO CHANGE G.Clearly, this must have occurred subsequent to his discovering Pike’s Peak. H.This was after he found Pike’s Peak. I.OMIT the underlined portion

The directions on the English test are long and complicated. If you already know what they say, you can save time by skipping them and just getting to the answering part.

In the five passages that follow, certain words and phrases are underlined and numbered. In the right- hand column, you will find alternatives for the underlined parts. In most cases, you are to choose the one that best expresses the idea, makes the statement appropriate for standard written English, or is worded most consistently with the style and tone of the passage as a whole. If you think the original version is best, choose NO CHANGE. In some cases, you will find in the right-hand column a question about the underlined part. You are to choose the best answer to the question.

You will also find questions about a section of the passage or about the passage as a whole. These questions do not refer to an underlined portion of the passage, but rather are identified by a number or numbers in a box. For each question, choose the alternative you consider best and fill in the corresponding oval on your answer document. Read each passage through once before you begin to answer the questions that accompany it. For many of the questions, you must read several sentences beyond the question to determine the answer. Be sure that you have read enough ahead each time you answer a question.

Read the passage as far as you find necessary to answer each question, and then answer before moving on. Be sure you answer in context! – Read sentence(s) before and after the underlined portion

Some ACT English questions—about 20 per test—don’t follow the more typical format of presenting you with an underlined portion and three possible revision. – What is the LEAST acceptable alternative? – Which answer best accomplishes a specific goal? – Choose the reason why a line should be added or deleted. READ QUESTIONS CAREFULLY!

Later, Pike fell while valiantly defending America in the War of He actually died near York (now called Toronto) Supposed the author considered adding the following sentence at this point: “It goes without saying that this occurred after he discovered Pike’s Peak.” Given the overall purpose of the passage, would this sentence be appropriate? F.No, because the sentence adds nothing to the meaning of the passage. G.No, because the passage is not concerned with Pike’s achievements. H.Yes, because otherwise the sequence of events would be unclear. I.Yes. Though the sentence is not needed, the author recognizes this fact by using the phrase it goes without saying.

Occur more frequently at the end of a passage. Asks about – Meaning – Purpose – Tone They also – Evaluate the passage – Determine the proper order of Words Sentences Paragraphs

ACT questions are not arranged in order of ascending difficulty. Skip past the tough questions and spend your first minutes on the test piling up some easy points.

Keep track of the time – Don’t count on your proctors – English test: about 30 seconds/question Answer every question on the test When 5 to 10 minutes are left, go through and randomly guess – Lucky guess can raise your score – No penalty for a wrong answer—getting it wrong counts exactly the same as NOT answering.

1.Many questions test redundancy, verbosity, and irrelevance. Start with the shortest answer. 2.As yourself, a.“Do these words belong here?” b.“Do these words make sense?” c.“Is there an error in grammar?” a.How does this idea (or these words) sound in context?” 3.Read the passage as far as you find necessary to answer each question, and then answer before moving on.

Redundancy: repeating the same thing in a different way Verbosity: using more words than needed to convey meaning Relevance: including information that doesn’t relate to the main idea (of the paragraph or the text)

On recent ACTs, the shortest answer has been correct, and absolutely right, for about half of all English questions. Because this is true, a student who knows no English at all could earn—and justly so—an English subject score of about 15. Such a student would compare the choices carefully, and choose the single shortest one every time. On recent published ACTs, guessing in this way would have yielded between 35 and 38 correct answers out of 75 questions. Of course, you’re going to be doing much better than that. You actually are capable of speaking the English language. You may not know every little rule of English usage, but you certainly know something. Obviously, getting the question right because you know the right answer is better than getting it right because you guessed well.

1.Consider the meaning of a sentence. If it doesn’t make sense, there’s probably a grammatical mistake. The correct answer will make sense! 2.Nonstandard-Format Questions ask you to judge the passage and consider it as a whole. You may be asked about paragraph structure and function.

Abraham Lincoln’s father was a model of hardworking self-sufficiency. He was born in a log cabin he built with his own hands.

Make sure that what is written is the same as what the author meant. Sense Questions may seem harder than the Economy Questions—the shortest answers aren’t necessarily right.

Students tend to reject informal writing as incorrect. ACT passages are written at various levels of formality. Stay with the author’s tone—when formal or informal. Don’t pick an answer just because it sounds fancy.

1.You can recognize some grammar mistakes because they sound strange. 2.Other grammar mistakes break rules in context. Read sentences carefully to determine the correct punctuation, word, phrase, or clause. 3.Learn the grammar rules that are frequently tested.

1.Number Agreement 2.Pronoun usage 3.Sentence Fragments and run-ons 4.Punctuation 5.Adverbs & Adjectives 6.Commonly confused words 7.Correct verbs 8.Comparatives and Superlatives