1. ACT Reading Test The ACT Reading test is 40 questions long. There are four passages of ten questions. 52 seconds a question 8 minutes a passage 35 minutes for the entire test You best use of time management is to focus on the eight minute time limit per passage. Use your entire time. If you finish early check over your answers. You only get three time cues: Begin, five minutes remaining, stop. To achieve the average national composite score of 20 on the ACT, you need to answer at least 2/3 of the questions correctly (That is 7/10 per passage or 30/40 for the Reading test).

2. ACT Reading Test  Passages cover 4 different types of reading: social science, humanities, natural science and prose fiction  There is one prose passage (literature)  There are three non-fiction passages:  Social Sciences  Natural Sciences  Humanities

3. What skills does the exam test? Ability to identify main ideas Locating and interpreting significant details Understanding the sequence of events Making comparisons Drawing generalizations Using context clues to define vocabulary Analyzing the narrative style of the writer

4. How to Approach the Reading Test On your first read through, it is key to read very quickly but actively, getting a sense of the “main idea” of the passage. You should constantly try to think ahead. Look for the general outline of the passage—how its structured. Don’t worry about details because you will come back for those later.

5. Know where you are going on your first read through Look for key words that tell you what the author is doing so you save time. Pay careful attention to “structural cues” and underline them as you come across them in the passage. But, nevertheless, and moreover help you get a sense of where a piece of writing is going. Clearly, as a result, or no one can deny helps determine the logic of the passage. For example lets you know an example follows a general point.

6. Kaplan’s Three-Step Method for ACT Reading Step 1: Preread the Passage Quickly – Underline, jot down notes, circle clues; don’t get bogged down by details – Read to understand the gist of the passage (the main idea) Step 2: Consider the Question Stem – Don’t let answer choice direct your thinking – Test makers intentionally design the answers to confuse you if they can. Step 3: Refer to the Passage – Always refer back to the passages before choosing an answer – Your answer should match the passage– not in exact vocabulary, perhaps, but in meaning

7. Strategies for the Prose Fiction Passage This passage will not break down into an orderly outline, so do not try to organize the passage by the function of each paragraph; instead focus on the story itself and its characters Most of the fiction passages focus on one person or are written from the point of view of one of the characters. – Figure out who the main character is, and pay special attention to what he or she is like. – Read between the lines to determine unspoken emotions or attitudes.

8. Strategies for the Prose Fiction Passage Fiction Passage Strategy: – Who are these people? What are they like? How are they related to each other? – What is their state of mind? Are they angry, sad, reflective, excited? – What’s really going on? What’s happening on the surface? What’s happening beneath the surface?

9. Types of Reading Questions There are three main types of Reading questions on the ACT: 1.Specific Detail questions:  Look for the answer in the passage: ALWAYS refer to the passage before answering the question  When given a specific line reference, always read a few sentences before and after the cited lines to understand the context.

10. Types of Reading Questions 2. Inference Questions:  Combine ideas logically to make an inference.  Keep inferences as close to the passage as possible.  To succeed on these, you have to “read between the lines.” Common sense is your best tool here.  You use various bits of information in the passage as evidence for your own logical conclusion.  Be a detective: make inferences that requires that you combine bits of information from different parts of the passage.  No Flights of Fancy: don’t make inferences too extreme.

11. Types of Reading Questions 3. Big Picture questions:  Test your understanding of the theme, purpose, and organization of the passage.  Focus on the main point of purpose of the passage, author’s attitude or tone, logic underlying the author’s argument, how ideas in different parts of the passage relate to each other, and the difference between fact and opinion.  It’s a good idea to do the Detail and Inference questions first, which will then help you complete the Big Picture questions.  One way to see the Big Picture is to read actively. As you read, ask yourself, “What’s the point of this? Why is the author saying this?

12. Proven Reading Strategies  Your task is to “find and paraphrase,” not “comprehend and remember.”  Skipping Questions: Answer the easy questions for each passage first. Skip the hard ones and come back to them later.  When you come back to difficult questions use the process of elimination: Mark out answers that you know are incorrect.  Eliminating three choices is slower than finding the one right choice, so don’t make this your main strategy.