Upward Bound
ACT Prep
ACT Reading Test
Copyright 2000 mjt
Reading Statistics
Number of Percentage
questions
of test
What type?
What is it?
Prose/Fiction
Novel, short story
10
25%
Humanities
Art, music, dance, architecture,
theatre, philosophy
10
25%
Social
Science
Sociology, psychology, economics,
political science, anthropology
10
25%
Natural
Science
Biology, chemistry, physics, earth
science, space science
10
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.