1. Welcome to ACT Reading
Mrs. Tomhave

2. Today’s Agenda 9:00 -9:10 = Introductions & Goals
9:05 – 9:50 = Baseline Score & Scale Scoring
9-50 – 9:55 = What did you notice? Strengths? Weaknesses?
9:55 – 10:10 = Questions types and examples
10:10 – 12:10 = Passage deconstructions & Strategies
12:10 -12:40 = Lunch
12:40 – 12:45: Scale Scores
12:45 – 1:15 = Question Match
1:15 – 1:45 = Full Practice Reading Test
1:45 – 1:55 = Scoring & Strength finding
1:55 -2:00 = Survey & Debrief

3. On-Line Test Practice Sign-in to www.mel.org , enter password
Click on Reading test
Begin when prompted; you will have 40 minutes
When finished, record score on your hand-out
If you need to use the restroom, please feel free to do so at any time…

4. ACT Reading: #4 Prose Fiction A G B F C J D H Social Science B F A C G
Humanities B F C H D G
Natural Science B F D G H

5. How to determine your scaled score:
Scale Scoring
Add up your correct answers (raw score)for each of the 4 sections of passage #1
2) Add up your correct answers (raw score) for each of the 4 sections of passage #2
How to determine your scaled score:
_________ x 36= _______ /40 = ____________
Raw Scaled Score
Score

6. ACT: Reading General Information:
35 minutes to read 4 passages & answer 40 questions
Always in the same order:
Prose fiction, Social Science, Humanities, Natural Science
Question Types:
Main Idea: of a paragraph or passage (theme)
Inference: what is suggested, implied, inferred
Detail: facts, people, theories, relationships, etc.
Vocabulary: in context w/line reference
National Average: 21

7. Quick Tips for a better score
ACT: Reading
Quick Tips for a better score
Average about 8 ½ minutes per section
Manage your time
Could throw you off…all of the answers are in the text
Only use the info presented in the passages; NOT background knowledge
Start with your strongest passage first; save hardest for last
Be sure to bubble in correctly if using this method…know your strengths!

8. ACT Reading: Strategies that work:
ACT Decoding Key
Circle
Important names, dates, events…
Underline
Key points & arguments
Star
Important ideas, unique things that stand out
Remember:
You CAN write on the test!!!

9. Strategies that work: Read the question stem first
Start with your strongest passage, end with your weakest
Speed/Skim read…if you’re comfortable
Mark up the text
Use the process of elimination
Manage your time
Never leave an answer blank!

10. Question Types Main Idea Inference Detail Vocabulary
Passage as a whole or individual paragraphs; “theme”
What is “suggests”; author’s intentions; your “guess”
Facts, dates, names, etc.; line references
Words w/context clues & line references

21. Question Analysis Look at the set of questions you were handed
With a partner, match up the questions to the “answer set” they belong with
Read through the answer sets you matched to the question and determine/guess the correct answer. Record your guess.
Read through the passage that the questions go with, annotating as you read.
Answer the questions.
Log your thoughts for discussion

22. ACT: Reading Sample Questions
Questions regarding:
Relationship between characters
Inference
Mood & tone
PROSE FICTION: This passage is adapted from the novel The Men of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor (©1998 by Gloria Naylor).

23. ACT Reading: Prose Fiction

24. Prose Fiction Read passage #1 (9 minutes)
Answer the reading questions & Score
Discuss: What do you notice?
Read passage #2 (9 minutes)
Answer Reading questions & Score

25. What you noticed… Topic/theme: Question Types: Tone: Characters:
Difficulty:
Organization:

26. What you noticed… Topic/theme: Question Types: Tone: Characters:
Difficulty:
Organization:

27. ACT: Reading Sample Questions
Questions regarding:
Cause-effect relationships
Comparisons
Sequence of events
Lots of DETAIL questions
SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the chapter “Personality Disorders” in Introduction to Psychology, edited by Rita L. Atkinson and Richard C. Atkinson (©1981 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.).

28. Social Science Read passage #1 (9 minutes)
Answer the reading questions & Score
Discuss: What do you notice?
Read passage #2 (9 minutes)
Answer Reading questions & Score

29. What you noticed… Question Types: Topic: Organization: Difficulty:
Key elements:

30. ACT: Reading Sample Questions
HUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from “A Poem of One’s Own,“ an essay by Mary Jo Salter The essay was taken from Audiences and Intentions: A Book of Arguments (©1994 by Macmillan College Publishing Company, Inc.).
Questions regarding:
Non-fiction
Point of View
Infer relationships between ideas, events, trends, etc.

31. Humanities Read passage #1 (9 minutes)
Answer the reading questions & Score
Discuss: What do you notice?
Read passage #2 (9 minutes)
Answer Reading questions & Score

32. What you noticed… Topic range: Specifics: Question types:
Difficulty level & WHY:
Paragraph breaks:

33. ACT: Reading Sample Questions
Questions regarding:
Significance of topic
Specialized/technical language
Cause-effect, comparisons, sequences…
NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the article “How to Build a Baby’s Brain” by Sharon Begley (©1997 by Newsweek, Inc.).

34. Natural Science Read passage #1 (9 minutes)
Answer the reading questions & Score
Discuss: What do you notice?
Read passage #2 (9 minutes)
Answer Reading questions & Score

35. What you noticed… Question Types: Tone: Difficulty Level:
Organization:

36. How to determine your scaled score:
Scale Scoring
Add up your correct answers (raw score)for each of the 4 sections of passage #1
2) Add up your correct answers (raw score) for each of the 4 sections of passage #2
How to determine your scaled score:
_________ x 36= _______ /40 = ____________
Raw Scaled Score
Score

37. Strategies that work: Read the question stem first
Start with your strongest passage, end with your weakest
Speed/Skim read…if you’re comfortable
Mark up the text
Use the process of elimination
Manage your time
Never leave an answer blank!

38. On-Line Test Practice Sign-in to www.mel.org , enter password
Click on Reading test
Begin when prompted; you will have 40 minutes
When finished, record score on your hand-out
If you need to use the restroom, please feel free to do so at any time…

39. Survey Link
Thank you!