1. ACT Reading Test Taking Strategies
Work Smarter, Not Harder

2. Fun Facts about the ACT Reading Test
4 passages (10 questions each) on a variety of different topics; Prose Fiction, Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science (always in that order)
40 questions; 35 minute time limit
Not in order of difficulty nor chronological
All passages roughly the same length

3. Know Your POOD—Personal Order of Difficulty
Now—Types of questions you know how to do, so do them NOW!
Later—Will this question take some time to work? Come back to it later
Never—Know thyself test-taker! Know the type of questions that are your worst enemy. Do not waste time on questions you should NEVER do. Instead… --Use the Letter of the Day (LOTD)…When you guess on Never questions, use your favorite two letter combo and stick with it. For example…always choose A/F or C/H.

4. The Passages
Do them in the order that makes sense to you! Example: if you love Natural Science stuff, do that passage first. If you have never read Prose Fiction, you may want to do that passage last.
Through our practice, you may want to keep track of what order you do your passages and pick the order that worked best for you!

5. Four Issues to consider when choosing passage order:
1. POOD -- read the blurbs before each passage; this could help you determine POOD
2. Paragraphs -- all the same length, but will be arranged differently (easier to find info in smaller paragraphs); look for passages with multiple, smaller paragraphs
3. Questions -- line references help! Passages with numbers are a great sign!!
4. Answers -- Difficult questions need longer answers; look for any questions with short answers

6. The Questions NOW questions are going to be easy or easy to find
LATER questions are difficult and take more time to find
ACT describes questions in the following two categories for the Reading Test…

7. 2 Types of ACT Reading Questions:
Reference Questions—easier questions, such as “what did the author say?”
2. Reasoning Questions—more difficult questions, such as “what the author mean?”

8. Pacing
35 minutes (4 passages and 40 questions) means you have less than 9 minutes every passage
Don’t treat pacing for each passage equally. Spend more time on your best passages and less time on your worst.
Example: 12 min, 10 min, 8 min, and 5 min for your last. This is just an example, but drill and practice will help you reach your target score.

9. Don’t Forget POE!!
Don’t waste time rereading and rereading a difficult question
The answer is right in front of you!
You should be able to at least eliminate one answer
This is crucial to the 4-step basic approach

10. 4-step Basic Approach Preview—has 2 parts Work the Passage
Work the Questions
Work the Answers

11. Step 1: Preview—involves two parts
Check the blurb; may have additional info other than title, author, copyright date
Map the questions—spend no more than 30 seconds doing this--star each line with a paragraph reference and underline lead words—words you’ll actually find in the passage. Not generic ones like “main idea” or “how the author would characterize”

12. Step 2: Work the Passage
Spend no more than 3 minutes looking for your starred/underlined and lead words
Struggling for time? Read the first sentence of each paragraph (maybe on the harder paragraph you choose to do last)
Between the stars and lead words you should have a lot of questions whose answers are easier to find

13. Step 3: Work the Questions
Do the NOW questions that are easy to answer and/or easy to find
Look at all your starred questions; those are the ones you should know where to find the answer
Read a window of 5-10 lines to find an answer. Example: If a question references line 36, you would read lines

14. Answer the question in your own words and look for a match
Step 4: Work the Answers
Answer the question in your own words and look for a match
If you can’t, eliminate the ones you’re confident are wrong; POE

15. Summary
Pick your order of passages
Use POOD to identify topics/genres you’ll
Pay attention to your track record on practice tests
Be prepared to confirm or change your order each time
Look for passages with many small paragraphs
Look for passages with line reference questions
Look for passages with many short answers
Use the 4-step Basic Approach—1. Preview 2. Work the Passage 3. Work the Questions 4. Work the Answers