Upward Bound ACT Prep ACT Reading Test

Copyright 2000 mjt

Reading Statistics What type? Prose/Fiction What is it? Novel, short story Number of questions Percentage of test 10 25% Humanities Art, music, dance, architecture, theatre, philosophy 10 25% Social Science Natural Science Sociology, psychology, economics, political science, anthropology Biology, chemistry, physics, earth science, space science 10 10 25% 25% Each passage contains about 750 words...

Of the 40 questions, 14 are

referring

and 26 are

reasoning questions.

The Key to ACT Reading

Read quickly, but actively...

Think ahead...

Look for a general outline...

Don’t worry about details...

Look for key words...

Know Where You Are Going...

For example: 1.

I can’t believe my good luck! The one time I buy a lottery ticket, I _______________.

2.

As their habitat is destroyed, wild animals _____________.

Look for structural clues: • Indicating a contrast:

but, however, on the other hand, neverthless.

• Indicating a contribution with a similar or complementary thought:

moreover, furthermore, ; (semicolon).

• Indicating a conclusion:

therefore, thus.

• Indicating

reasons

for a conclusion:

since, because of, due to.

• Indicating an example of illustration:

for instance, for example.

Three Step Reading Approach

1. Preread the passage

: • Quickly work through the passage.

• Anticipate how the parts of the passage will fit together.

• Understand the main idea.

• Underline key points, jot down note, or label each paragraph.

• DON’T READ SLOWLY.

• DON’T GET BOGGED DOWN WITH DETAILS .

2. Consider the question stem.

♦ Don’t let the answer choices direct your thinking.

♦Think about the question stem without looking at the choices.

3. Refer to the passage.

♦ Don’t trust your memory ♦ Don’t confine yourself to the EXACT words used in the passage.

♦ Your answer should match the passage - not exact vocabulary.

Types of ACT Passages 1. Prose Fiction: ♦ Not a well-structured essay.

♦ Won’t break down into an orderly outline.

♦ Pay attention to the story and characters.

♦ Answer these questions: ♦ Who are these people? (What are they like?) ♦ What is their state of mind?

♦ What is going on?

2. Nonfiction: Social Science - Natural Science - Humanities ♦ Illustrations, graphs, tables may be included.

♦ Read to understand the ideas rather than analyzing experiments and data.

♦ Don’t panic with unfamiliar vocabulary.

♦ Don’t get lost in complex details - read for the main idea.

Types of Questions

1. Specific detail questions.

♦ When given a specific line, ALWAYS read the few lines before and after it.

2 . Inference Questions.

♦ Something that’s not stated explicitly in the passage, but is definitely said implicitly.

♦ Key words:

suggest, infer, inference, imply.

♦ “Read between the lines”.

3. Big Picture Questions:

♦ Main points ♦ Author’s attitude or tone ♦ Logic underlying the author’s argument ♦ How ideas in different parts of the passage relate to each other ♦ Difference between fact and opinion.

Running Out of Time?

♦ Don’t spend time re-reading the passage… ♦ Scan the questions without reading the passage and look first for the ones that mention line numbers or specific paragraphs. Do these first, then the others.