GETTING TO KNOW THE ACT
3/16/15
COLLEGE 101
GOALS FOR THIS EVENING
• BRIEF HISTORY & OVERVIEW OF COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS
• EXAM SECTION LAYOUT AND TIMING
• ACT EXAM
• SECTION INFORMATION
• SECTION STRATEGIES
• SECTION EXAMPLE
• ACT ACCOMMODATIONS
ACT AND THE SAT (OLD VS. NEW)
SAT (PREVIOUS)
SAT (CURRENT) & ACT
• APTITUDE TEST
• ACHIEVEMENT TEST
• PREDICT FUTURE BEHAVIOR
SUCH AS POTENTIAL COLLEGE
FRESHMAN ACADEMIC SUCCESS
• ASSESS PRESENT ACADEMIC SKILL
LEVELS
SAT VS. ACT
SAT VS. ACT
180,000
160,000
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
1975
1980
1985
1993
1995
SAT
ACT
2000
2005
2010
2015
ACT VS. SAT
TESTING DETAILS
Reading
Writing & Language
65
SAT
35
Math
Essay
80
50
230 minutes
(180 minutes)
English
Math
English
45
ACT
0
Reading
Math
60
50
Reading
35
100
Science
Science
35
150
Writing
205 minutes
Writing
30
(175 minutes)
200
250
ACT ENGLISH INFORMATION
• ACT ENGLISH
• 75 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
• 45 MINUTES (36 SECONDS PER QUESTION)
• QUESTIONS GIVEN IN CONJUNCTION WITH A PASSAGE
• SENTENCE STRUCTURE
• GRAMMAR AND USAGE
• PUNCTUATION
• RHETORICAL SKILLS
ACT ENGLISH STRATEGIES
• ACT ENGLISH
• THE ENGLISH SECTION TESTS NOT ONLY OBSCURE GRAMMAR RULES
BUT ALSO PUNCTUATION ERRORS AS WELL
• IN A SERIES OF 3 OR MORE ITEMS, PUT A COMMA BEFORE THE “AND”
• SHORTER SENTENCES ARE PREFERRED TO LONGER SENTENCES
ENGLISH PROBLEM
EXAMPLE
1. Choose the best answer
A. NO CHANGE
B. waiting, by the back door,
C. waiting by the back door,
D. waiting by the back door
2. Choose the best answer
E. NO CHANGE
F. would sit
G. sitting
H. sat
ACT MATH INFORMATION
• ACT MATH
• 60 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
• 60 MINUTES (1 MINUTE PER QUESTION)
• ARITHMETIC, ALGEBRA 1, GEOMETRY, ALGEBRA II AND TRIGONOMETRY
• 7TH TO 11TH GRADE MATH QUESTIONS
• ONLY FOUR TRIG PROBLEMS
• (BUT TWO CAN BE DONE WITHOUT HAVING LEARNED TRIG)
• IT’S THE WORDING IN THE QUESTION THAT MAKES THIS SECTION DIFFICULT
ACT MATH STRATEGIES
• ACT MATH
• KNOW HOW TO ESTIMATE
• THIS WILL IMPROVE YOUR EFFICIENCY AND SCORE!
• LEARN HOW TO USE A CALCULATOR
• GRAPHING FUNCTIONS AND MATRIX PROBLEMS
• ELIMINATE WRONG ANSWERS
• READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY
• ACT PREDICTS WHERE STUDENTS WILL MISREAD QUESTIONS – YOU CAN COUNT ON
THAT ANSWER BEING ONE OF YOUR CHOICES
ACT MATH TALK
PLAIN ENGLISH
MATH EQUIVALENT
• MORE THAN, INCREASED BY, ADDED TO COMBINED WITH,
TOTAL OF, SUM OF
• ADD (+)
• DECREASED BY, DIMINISHED BY, REDUCED BY, DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN, TAKEN AWAY FROM, LESS THAN, FEWER THAN
• SUBTRACT (-)
• OF, TIMES, PRODUCT OF
• MULTIPLY
• RATIO OF, PER, OUT OF, QUOTIENT
• DIVIDE
• IS, ARE, WAS, WERE, BECOMES, RESULTS IN
• EQUALS (=)
• HOW MUCH, HOW MANY, WHAT, WHAT NUMBER
• THE UNKNOWN, USUALLY
A VARIABLE (X,Y)
MATH PROBLEM EXAMPLE
A typical high school student consumes 67.5 pounds of sugar per year. As part of a new
nutrition plan, each member of a track team plans to lower the sugar he or she
consumes by at least 20% for the coming year. Assuming each track member had
consumed sugar at the level of a typical high school student and will adhere to this plan
for the coming year, what is the maximum number of pounds of sugar to be consumed
by each track team member in the coming year?
A
B
C
D
E
14
44
48
54
66
10 MINUTE BREAK
AFTER COMPLETING ENGLISH & MATH (105 MINUTES)
70 MINUTES REMAINING (100 MINUTES WITH WRITING OPTION)
ACT READING INFORMATION
• ACT READING
• 40 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
• 35 MINUTES (ABOUT 8 - 10 MINUTES PER PASSAGE)
• THERE ARE 4 TYPES OF PASSAGES ON THE ACT
1. PROSE FICTION: MOST INTERESTING TO READ, OFTEN HARDEST QUESTIONS
(MOST TIME-CONSUMING!)
2. SOCIAL SCIENCES: POLITICS, HISTORY
3. HUMANITIES: ARTS CULTURE
4. NATURAL SCIENCE: TYPICALLY THE EASIEST!!
ACT READING STRATEGIES
• ACT READING
• DON’T TAKE THE TEST IN THE ORDER PRESENTED – DO THE EASIEST SECTION
FOR YOU FIRST, BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU’LL GET THOSE RIGHT. SAVE HARDEST FOR LAST
• TIMING IS EVERYTHING – PACE YOURSELF
• SKIM – DON’T READ
• PAY ATTENTION TO DISTRACTORS - DISTRACTORS ARE DESIGNED TO BREAK
YOUR CONCENTRATION, THROW YOU OFF TRACK & DISTRACT YOUR WAY OF THINKING
• TRANSLATE THE QUESTION – WHAT ARE THEY REALLY ASKING
The Men of Brewster Place
Clifford Jackson, or Abshu, as he preferred to be
known in the streets, had committed himself several
years ago to use his talents as a playwright to broaden
the horizons for the young, gifted, and black—which
5 was how he saw every child milling around that dark
street. As head of the community center he went after
every existing grant on the city and state level to bring
them puppet shows with the message to avoid drugs
and stay in school; and plays in the park such as actors
10 rapping their way through Shakespeare's A Midsummer
Night's Dream. Abshu believed there was something in
Shakespeare for everyone, even the young of Brewster
Place, and if he broadened their horizons just a little
bit, there might be enough room for some of them to
15 slip through and see what the world had waiting. No, it
would not be a perfect world, but definitely one with
more room than they had now.
The kids who hung around the community center
liked Abshu, because he never preached and it was
20 clear that when they spoke he listened; so he could zero
in on the kid who had a real problem. It might be an
READING PROBLEM
EXAMPLE
1. The point of view from which the passage is told can
be best described as that of:
A. a man looking back on the best years of his life
as director of a community center in a striferidden neighborhood
B. a narrator describing his experiences as they
happen, starting with childhood and continuing
through his adult years as an advocate for
troubled children
C. an unidentified narrator describing a man who
devoted his life to neighborhood children years
after his own difficult childhood.
D. An admiring relative of a man whose
generosity with children was widely respected
in the neighborhood where he turned around a
declining community center
ACT SCIENCE INFORMATION
• ACT SCIENCE
• 40 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
• 35 MINUTES (ABOUT 1 MINUTE PER QUESTION)
• INSTEAD OF CALLING IT SCIENCE REASONING, THINK OF IT AS
TECHNICAL READING
ACT SCIENCE STRATEGIES
• ACT SCIENCE
• BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD WILL HELP YOU
• NOT MUCH SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE IS NEEDED
• READ AND UNDERSTAND CHARTS AND GRAPHS
• OPPOSITES – WHEN 2 ANSWER CHOICES ARE DIRECT OPPOSITES,
ONE WILL ALMOST ALWAYS BE THE CORRECT ANSWER.
Passage I
SCIENCE PROBLEM
EXAMPLE
Unmanned spacecraft taking images of Jupiter's moon Europa have found its surface to be
very smooth with few meteorite craters. Europa's surface ice shows evidence of being
continually resmoothed and reshaped. Cracks, dark bands, and pressure ridges (created
when water or slush is squeezed up between 2 slabs of ice) are commonly seen in images of
the surface. Two scientists express their views as to whether the presence of a deep ocean
beneath the surface is responsible for Europa's surface features.
Scientist 1
1. Which of the following best describes
A deep ocean of liquid water exists on Europa. Jupiter's gravitational field produces tides
how the 2 scientists explain how craters
within Europa that can cause heating of the subsurface to a point where liquid water can
are removed from Europa’s surface:
exist. The numerous cracks and dark bands in the surface ice closely resemble the
A. Scientist 1: Sublimation
appearance of thawing ice covering the polar oceans on Earth. Only a substantial amount of
Scientist 2: Filled in by water
circulating liquid water can crack and rotate such large slabs of ice. The few meteorite
B. Scientist 1: Filled in by water
craters that exist are shallow and have been smoothed by liquid water that oozed up into
Scientist 2: Sublimation
the crater from the subsurface and then quickly froze.
Jupiter's magnetic field, sweeping past Europa, would interact with the salty, deep ocean
C. Scientist 1: Worn smooth by wind
and produce a second magnetic field around Europa. The spacecraft has found evidence of
Scientist 2: Sublimation
this second magnetic field.
D. Scientist 1: Worn smooth by wind
Scientist 2
Scientist 2: Filled in by water
No deep, liquid water ocean exists on Europa. The heat generated by gravitational tides
is quickly lost to space because of Europa's small size, as shown by its very low surface
temperature (–160°C). Many of the features on Europa's surface resemble features created
by flowing glaciers on Earth. Large amounts of liquid water are not required for the creation
of these features. If a thin layer of ice below the surface is much warmer than the surface ice,
it may be able to flow and cause cracking and movement of the surface ice. Few meteorite
craters are observed because of Europa's very thin atmosphere; surface ice continually
sublimes (changes from solid to gas) into this atmosphere, quickly eroding and removing any
BREAK / DISMISSAL
30 MINUTES REMAINING WITH WRITING OPTION
ACT WRITING INFORMATION
• ACT WRITING
• 30 MINUTES TO RESPOND TO A WRITING PROMPT
• EVALUATE AND ANALYZE THE PERSPECTIVES
• STATE AND DEVELOP YOUR OWN PERSPECTIVE
• EXPLAIN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOUR
PERSPECTIVE AND THOSE GIVEN
WRITING PROMPT EXAMPLE
Intelligent Machines
Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated
machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where
once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with
people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the
help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when
we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent
machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.
Perspective One
Perspective Two
Perspective Three
What we lose with the replacement
of people by machines is some
part of our own humanity. Even
our mundane daily encounters no
longer require us basic courtesy,
respect, and tolerance for other
people.
Machines are good at low-skill,
repetitive jobs, and at high-speed,
extremely precise jobs. In both
cases they work better than
humans. This efficiency leads to a
more prosperous and progressive
world for everyone.
Intelligent machines challenge
our long-standing ideas about
what humans are or can be.
This is good because it pushes
both humans and machines
toward new, unimagined
possibilities.
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
• PREPARE A POSITIVE MIND & BODY FOR TEST DAY
• STICK TO YOUR NORMAL ROUTINE
• GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP ON AT LEAST 2 DAYS PRIOR TO THE TEST
• EAT A BALANCE OF PROTEIN & CARBOHYDRATES THAT WILL MAINTAIN YOUR ENERGY
• NO PENALTY FOR WRONG ANSWERS
• AN EDUCATED GUESS IS ALWAYS BEST
• IF YOU HAVE NO IDEA – PICK A SPECIFIC LETTER AND USE THAT LETTER EVERY TIME
STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
• PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
• INCREASE CONFIDENCE & DECREASE TEST ANXIETY BY BECOMING FAMILIAR W/ THE TEST
• INCREASE OVERALL SPEED AND ACCURACY
• WWW.ACTSTUDENT.ORG
• REGISTER FOR THE TEST
• TEST PREP
• PLANNING
• COLLEGE PLANNING
• FINANCIAL AID
• COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS
ACT ACCOMMODATIONS
• REGISTER 1ST, REQUEST ACCOMMODATIONS 2ND
• TWO TYPES
• EXTENDED TIME – NATIONAL TESTING
• UP TO 5 OR 6 HOURS TO WORK AT OWN PACE
• SPECIAL TESTING AT SCHOOL
• DESIGNED FOR EXAMINEES WHOSE DISABILITIES REQUIRE ACCOMMODATIONS THAT CANNOT BE
PROVIDED AT A TEST CENTER
• BRAILLE, TESTING OVER MULTIPLE DAYS, SCRIBE OR COMPUTER FOR WRITING TEST, MORE THAN 50% EXTENDED
ACT TESTING DATES
Test Date
Registration Deadline
(Late Fee Required)
* September 12, 2015
Aug 7, 2015
8/8 – 8/21
October 24, 2015
Sept 18, 2015
9/19 – 10/2
December 12, 2015
Nov 6, 2015
11/7 – 11/20
February 6, 2016
Jan 8, 2016
1/9 – 1/15
March 4, 2016
3/5 – 3/18
May 6, 2016
5/7 – 5/20
* April 9, 2016
June 11, 2016
QUESTIONS