Mr. Arsenie, March 12 and 19, 2011 ACT Prep- Science

After eating a donut, on the blank sheet of paper I gave you, answer the following : 1. What do you hope to accomplish these two Saturdays by being here? 2. What does the ACT Science section test you on? 3. What is your favorite breakfast food? 4. What is the most disgusting food served at Schurz?

Why are we here? Important to know what your being assessed on!!! High stakes test for yourself and the school. Having an army of methods for attacking each question will raise your grade! You obviously care about your test and what it will do for you!

Objectives: by the time we finish ACT prep… You should know… – How the science test is broken down – The 3 types of questions – Several science test strategies

Agenda – March 12, 2011 Intro to ACT Science TEST Vocabulary strategies Review Strategies for taking test Practice with partner feedback/review and looking at areas of improvement More Practice Practice Practice (timed)- 2 tests Next week: Online/Paper Timed Tests!!!

Notes: Setup Cornell Format Title: “ACT Prep Day 1” If its yellow right it to the left Red, write it on the right Any other color, don’t write it

How much time? 35 minutes 40 questions w/ 7 passages 35 mins/40 questions = 52.5 sec per question

The Science Test is a test of your science reasoning skills. All of the information you need to answer the questions correctly is provided in the passages No specific content! What is the TEST?

What is on it? – The questions cover: Biology Earth & Space sciences Chemistry Physics All four areas of science are represented At least one passage and no more than two passage represent each content area

ONLY 3 types of questions 15 questions - data representation 18 questions – research summaries 7 questions – conflicting viewpoints

Only 3 general skills 20 questions - analysis 13 questions – generalization 7 questions – understanding THE QUESTIONS DO NOT GET HARDER AS YOU PROGRESS THROUGH THE TEST

AGAIN… The ACT Science test emphasizes scientific reasoning skills rather than recall of scientific content, mathematical skill, or reading ability

To be clear… Unlike the Math Test you will not be required to remember formulas definitions etc. You are tested on your ability to examine information using text, chart, graphs and tables.

Simple strategies… Things to do:  Read carefully, context clues are awesome!  Underline words, identify vocabulary  Make notes in your booklet  Draw conclusions as you are reading- think!  Make sure you understand the question  Connect with the test

VOCABULARY PRACTICE  Do you know what prenatal means?  What is I said… A pregnant woman, must take prenatal vitamins starting with the second trimester of pregnancy all the way up to birth!  Now, do you know what prenatal means?  What does pre- mean?  READ CONTEXT CLUES and break down words to what you know!

DO…  Draw lines or in some way indicate which charts/graphs/experiments go together  Refer, go back – don’t try to remember  Look for patterns and trends in data  Look for words that are italicized, bold, underlined or capitalized – they will ask a question relating to this word

Main thing…  Look at the answer choices before answering questions  Unlike Math or English where you should try to determine the answer before looking at the answer choices  For Science, where you will be analyzing information displayed in charts and graphs it is beneficial to narrow down the amount of information you need to study by looking at the answer choices

DO NOT  Get bogged down in details  Worry about understanding everything  Confuse charts and graphs  If it says, “see figure 12” make sure you are looking at the chart that is labeled “figure 12”  Try to remember every detail

Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 33 Research Summary Passages:  Remember how experiments work  Usually there is a control group plus experimental group or groups  In well designed experiments, the only difference between groups will be a variation of the factors being tested  Look for differences - variations  What do the results show?

Data Representation Passages  Determine what is being represented  What do the columns and rows represent  Note units of measurement  Look for trends in the data Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 36

Conflicting Viewpoints  One passage will be conflicting viewpoints  A lot of reading – usually takes a little longer  Try to determine each scientists point of view  What to they agree on? Disagree?  Underline  You will not have to determine if a viewpoint is correct instead you will be asked to identify similarities and differences among viewpoints Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 42

TIMING  Again – passages are not arranged in order of difficulty  The most difficult passage for you may be the easiest for someone else  Try to spend 5 minutes on each passage  About 30 seconds per question

Don’t let any questions unanswered No penalty for wrong answers – only credit for correct answers GUESS if you don’t know the right answers – 25% chance of getting the right answer

Last advice… Don’t spend time agonizing over a questions Avoid thinking long and hard about answer choices If you are stuck – make your best guess and move on Don’t panic if you can’t finish all passages Try to do well on at least 5 passages

Running out of time… If you have less than 3 minutes remaining for an entire passage 1. skip the pre-reading 2. look for questions that refer to a specific experiment/graph etc 3. Refer to the cited location directly MAKE SURE YOU TRY TO ANSWER EVERY QUESTION

Practice makes perfect…