act english test€¦ · between algebra & basic geometry/ trigonometry. difficulty is measured...
TRANSCRIPT
© Inspirica 2019
1
ACT ENGLISH TEST
SECTION OVERVIEW
75 questions, 5 passages, 45 minutes
Passages are in either 1st or 3rd person,
never switch perspectives, and are
always poorly written.
Questions are split evenly between
basic grammar errors, which typically
have no question text (answer
questions), and writing strategy/style
issues, which typically do (question
questions).
PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Time your work on a passage-by-
passage basis. If your timing is over 10
minutes per passage, note by how much
and aim to complete the next section 30
seconds per passage faster. If you’re
under 8 minutes per passage, focus on
slowing yourself down in order to
minimize small mistakes. Practice,
practice, practice.
Once your timing is within the 8-9
minutes per passage range, switch your
focus to accuracy as you continue your
timed drills. Your accuracy should
continue to improve slowly but steadily
so long as you continue to practice and
go over your mistakes.
Always review your missed questions
carefully to understand both why your
answer is wrong and why the correct
answer is right.
KEY STRATEGIES
Read and compare the answer choices: When
a problem has no question text, read the answer
choices carefully to determine what’s changing
from choice to choice. That will tell you which
grammar concept(s) the question is testing and
therefore how you should approach it.
Remember: Only one answer will be grammatically
correct, so process of elimination (POE) is always
the best approach.
Read the questions: If a problem does have
question text, it’s there for a reason; read it! The
test is telling you exactly what it’s looking for in the
correct answer. Once you’ve determined what the
question wants you to do, use that as your filter to
analyze the choices.
Remember: The ACT is a very bad writer. You’re
not looking for a good answer, and you’re not
looking for an answer that would impress your
teachers; you’re only looking for the correct
answer to the question the test is asking.
Read the passages: Do NOT skip from underline
to underline. There will be questions that ask
about the content of the passages: transition
sentence questions, writer’s “purpose” or
“intent” questions, and others. The only way that
you’ll be able to answer those effectively and
efficiently is if you understand the main idea of
each paragraph and of the passage.
Remember: If you need a quick summary of the
passage, look to the title for help. It always
correctly conveys the author’s intent.
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KEY ACT ENGLISH CONCEPTS AND CONTENT
1. Commas:
a. If you would NOT pause while reading aloud, the comma is wrong.
b. If you can replace the comma with a period, the comma is wrong.
c. If the comma is in front of a prepositional phrase, the comma is wrong.
2. Double Dashes: Identical to parentheses or double commas; used to denote an
interruption that is grammatically disconnected from the rest of the sentence.
3. Semicolons: If you cannot replace the semicolon with a period, then it is wrong.
4. Colons: What comes before must be a complete sentence; what comes after must be
a list of one or more items/examples or a new thought that explains / elaborates on
what comes before.
5. Apostrophes: These indicate possession or ownership of the thing immediately
following.
a. dog’s toy = one dog owns one toy
b. dogs’ toy = many dogs share one toy
c. dogs’ toys = many dogs share many toys.
d. dogs’s toys = not a real grammatical construction
e. It’s versus its: Possessive pronouns never get apostrophes. If a pronoun has
an apostrophe, read its apostrophe as if it’s a contraction (see what I did
there?).
6. Redundancy: Eliminate answers that repeat themselves or restate information already
provided in other parts of the passage. Simpler is always better.
7. Concision: Shorter answers are better, but not automatically best!
8. Word Choice: The right answer works in context; the wrong answers do not.
9. “Question questions”
a. Yes/No Questions: Use the title of the passage to remind you of the author’s
intent when answering these questions.
b. NOT/EXCEPT/LEAST Questions: Slow down; the correct choice will be the
one that would usually be wrong.
c. Moving Sentences/Paragraphs Questions: Look within the text being moved for
the clue that indicates the correct position. Pay attention to transitions.
© Inspirica 2019
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ACT MATH TEST
SECTION OVERVIEW
60 questions, 60 minutes; questions get
progressively more difficult as you work
Questions are divided roughly evenly
between algebra & basic geometry/
trigonometry.
Difficulty is measured based on the
percentage of students expected to miss
a question; it is possible that a “hard”
question will feel easy to you or that an
“easy” question will feel hard.
PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Practice each of the three sub-sections
separately, working to improve accuracy
and develop a reliable internal clock. Be
sure that you practice using the watch
and calculator that you’ll use on test day.
If your pacing is too slow, note by how
much and aim to complete that
subsection 1 minute faster in your next
practice session. Repeat as necessary.
If increasing your speed significantly
decreases your accuracy, return to your
previous speed and focus your timing
efforts on other subsections.
Always review your missed questions
carefully to understand both why your
answer is wrong and why the correct
answer is right.
KEY STRATEGIES
Prioritize your time: This section is organized by
degree of difficulty. That doesn’t necessarily mean that
#44 is always harder than #43, but it does mean that
#60 is much more difficult than #1. Use the Rule of
Thirds (below) to manage your time. Every student has
an ideal balance of speed and accuracy, and a
significant part of mastering this section is finding
yours.
Remember: The structure of the test is part of the
challenge of the test.
Draw diagrams: If you look at a problem and don’t
know how to begin, draw a diagram. Most geometry
and many algebra questions describe situations that
can be drawn. If a geometry question doesn’t come
with a picture, draw one; if the question provides a
diagram, read the text carefully to determine what was
deliberately left off. Annotate the diagram with every
detail from the question, then look for any additional
lines that can be drawn or labels that can be added
based on the information provided.
Remember: Basic geometry formulas aren’t provided,
so you will need to memorize them ahead of time.
Optimize calculator usage: Look for opportunities
to use your calculator intelligently, such as graphing
equations to find the point of intersection or to visually
solve for maxima/minima. Be aware, however, that it is
possible to use your calculator too much. You can’t
easily check work done only on a calculator, so keep a
record of your work in your test book; there are also
some basic operations that are faster to do by hand or
harder to do on a calculator. Finding that balance is a
key part of success in this section.
Remember: Do your calculations in your calculator but
do your work on your page.
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KEY TECHNIQUE
THE RULE OF THIRDS
Think of the test as if it were organized into
three sub-sections:
Questions 1-20 (Easy) – 15 minutes
Work quickly but carefully, answering every
question in order and guarding against
careless errors by checking your work and
rereading the questions.
Danger: Careless errors
Questions 21-40 (Medium) – 20 minutes
Work a bit more slowly, guessing on any
questions that you do not understand or
cannot solve.
Danger: Working too slowly
Questions 41-60 (Hard) – 25 minutes
Make two passes. During the first pass,
answer any questions that you can complete
quickly; if extensive reading is required for a
question, skip it. During the second pass,
go back to #41 and answer as many
remaining questions as possible in the time
left. Use the last minute to guess on any that
you didn’t get to or couldn’t do.
Danger: Running out of time before
guessing
Note: The approach outlined above is best
for testers aiming to move from the mid-20s
to the low-30s. If you are starting lower,
devote more time to the first subsection and
expect to guess on some problems in the
second subsection. If you are starting
higher, you must be nearly perfect through
the first two subsections while completing
every question.
KEY ALGEBRA TECHNIQUES
Variable Plug-ins: When the same variables appear
in the question and the answers, it is usually easiest to
make up your own numbers and plug them in.
• Write down all of the variables that appear in the
answers.
• Choose a different number to plug in for each
variable, being careful to comply with any
constraints given in the problem (e.g. “x is a
positive integer”). Write the corresponding
number next to each variable in your list. Avoid 0,
1, and any numbers that appear in the question.
• Plug your numbers into the question and solve.
Circle your answer; this is your target.
• Plug your numbers into all five answer choices. If
only one choice matches your target, you’re
finished; if your work produces more than one
match, repeat with new numbers, testing only
answers that survived the first test. Remember:
change your numbers substantively. Going from 2
to 4 likely won’t make a difference; going from 2 to
-5 or 0, however, is much more likely to eliminate
any remaining incorrect answer choices.
• Be smart: use 100 in percentage problems and
small primes in non-percentage problems.
Answer Plug-ins: The test doesn't care how you
arrive at your answers, so working backwards is often
the best approach. If the answer choices are simply a
list of numbers, you’ll likely be able to plug those into
the question one by one to see which one works. This
isn’t math class, so it doesn’t matter what your math
teacher would say; the test awards points for correct
answers, not processes, so plug in to win!
Quadratic Equations: The test will rarely give you a
quadratic in the form that is most helpful to you. If it
presents the equation in factored form, expand it, and
vice versa.
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KEY MATH CONCEPTS AND CONTENT
1. Plane Geometry
a. Read the text and label the ENTIRE diagram before answering the question.
b. Use special right triangles or the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for missing
information on right triangles.
c. Circles: When you see a circle, write R-D-C-A and fill in the appropriate
information: radius, diameter, circumference, area. In most cases, this will be
enough to solve the problem.
d. Still stumped? Add a line of known length to create a triangle or an additional
radius. If all else fails, rotate the diagram.
2. Coordinate Geometry
a. Lines: Find the slope and/or label all points of intersection on the diagram.
b. Parabolas: Graph the equation on your calculator and use process-of-elimination
based on the result. This shortcut won’t work in math class, but it will work here!
3. Formulas
a. Triangles:
i. 180 degrees
ii. Area = ½bh
iii. Pythagorean Theorem: a2 + b2 = c2
b. Circles:
i. 360 degrees
ii. Circumference = 2πr = πd
iii. Area = πr2
iv. Equation in a coordinate plane: (x - h)2 + (y - k)2 = r2
4. Trigonometry
a. SOHCAHTOA:
i. sin θ = 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜⁄ = 1 cscθ⁄
ii. cos θ = 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜⁄ = 1 secθ⁄
iii. tan θ = 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜⁄ = 1 cotθ⁄ = sinθ cosθ⁄
b. Pythagorean Identity: sin2 θ + cos2 θ = 1
5. General Math
a. Ratios, Percentages, and Probabilities:
i. All ratios are either part-to-part or part-to-whole, and on this test the whole
is always the sum of the parts.
ii. Probabilities are just part-to-whole ratios: the part you want compared to
the sum of the parts.
b. Averages: Know mean, median, and mode; never average averages.
c. Roots: Before doing anything else, simplify.
d. Imaginary Numbers:
i. 𝑜𝑜1 = 𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜2 = -1; 𝑜𝑜3 = -𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜4 = 1; 𝑜𝑜5 = 𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜6 = -1; 𝑜𝑜7 = -𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜8 = 1…
ii. Never substitute √−1 in for 𝑜𝑜!
© Inspirica 2019
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ACT READING TEST
SECTION OVERVIEW
Time crunch: 4 passage sets with 10
questions each; 35 minutes. This
section will test your ability to work
quickly and calmly.
Four out-of-context excerpts taken from
previously published works:
Literary Narrative: Modern fiction with
questions focused on character
motivations and interactions
Social Sciences: A detail-heavy
excerpt from a passage on economics,
history, government, psychology, or
sociology
Humanities: An excerpt on art,
culture, ethics, or language; often a
writer writing about writing
Natural Science: An excerpt on
astronomy, ecology, medicine, natural
history, or physics
Two methods of organization:
Single passage: 700-800 words spread
across 90-100 lines of text
Paired passages: Two shorter
passages on a shared topic,
combining for 700+ words
KEY STRATEGIES
Be question-centric, not passage-centric: Unless
you are a very quick reader, you will not have time to
read the entire passage and answer the questions in
order; the section is explicitly designed to make that a
nearly impossible task. Instead, use the Two-Pass
Method (below) to sequence questions from
narrowest to broadest, then answer them in that order.
This will prevent you from doing unnecessary reading
and will allow you to build an understanding of the
passage by answering the narrower questions before
tackling those that require a more comprehensive
understanding of the material.
Remember: Always approach the test in the order that
makes the most sense for YOU.
Be literal and read for context: Because this section
moves so quickly, most of the questions are very
superficial. If you can point to support for an answer
choice in the text, then that’s the correct answer. Do be
conscious, however, of the fact that when a question
gives you line numbers, they alone are rarely enough
to find the answer. The best choice often relies on how
those lines fit into the surrounding paragraph, so be
sure to read for context.
Remember: Read like a robot. If an answer choice
seems too obvious to be right, it’s probably right!
Pay attention to the theme of the passage: The
ACT has built a shortcut into many of the non-fiction
passages to ensure that the section can be completed
within the allotted time: theme. As you complete your
first pass, construct a one-sentence summary of the
passage in your head by pretending to describe it to
someone else. In most passages, the correct answers
to several questions will be very slight variations on
that theme. When stuck, ask yourself: “which of these
choices lines up the best with my summary?”
© Inspirica 2019
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PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Time your work on a passage-by-passage
basis. If you’re over 9 minutes per passage,
aim to complete the next passage 30
seconds faster. Repeat as necessary. Once
you get your timing under 10 minutes per
passage, focus on building accuracy.
Track which passage types are your
strongest and which are your weakest so
that you can appropriately sequence your
work in this section.
Consider completing the paired passage
last, treating it as two mini-passages, each
of which can be completed in half the time
of a full passage.
Always review your mistakes carefully to
understand both why your answer is wrong
and why the correct answer is right.
PAIRED PASSAGE METHOD
Begin by labeling the margins with question
numbers as explained in the Two-Pass
Method (right), then work your way through
Passage A.
Next, complete a round of POE on all
questions that ask about both passages,
eliminating answers that must be wrong
based on what you know about A only.
Now forget that A exists and move through
Passage B, answering questions as your
margin notes require.
Finally, return to the “both” questions and
complete a second round of POE based on
Passage B.
KEY TECHNIQUE
TWO-PASS METHOD
Spend 60-90 seconds labeling the margins of the
passage with question numbers.
• For questions with line or paragraph numbers,
write the question number in the margin next to
those lines.
• For questions that reference specific proper
names, dates, or jargon, scan the passage for 15
seconds to locate the relevant term(s) and label the
margin. If you cannot find the key word(s) in that
time, move on to the next question.
Make two passes through the questions.
• PASS ONE: Answer questions with margin labels
first, working from the beginning of the passage to
the end.
o Always read the first paragraph, then head
directly to your first question.
o Read the question in full. If the line references
or terms are in a short paragraph, read the
entire paragraph. If they’re in a longer
paragraph, read five lines before and five lines
after the references.
o Eliminate all answers not directly supported by
the text, then select the best that remains.
• PASS TWO: Work through remaining questions
that did not produce margin labels.
o First, complete any questions that had specific
references that you could not locate at the start.
o Next, complete questions asking about the
entire passage.
o Finally, complete any Except/Least/Not
questions. These can sometimes be time-
consuming, so monitor your pacing and guess
if necessary.
Remember: Wrong answers are often partially right, so
read the entirety of every answer choice.
© Inspirica 2019
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ACT SCIENCE TEST
SECTION OVERVIEW
Time crunch: 6-7 passages sharing a
total of 40 questions that must be
completed in 35 minutes
Three passage types, all out-of-context
excerpts taken from previously
published papers or textbooks:
Data Representation (DR): Tables,
charts, and graphs with little reading –
typically only a short introductory
paragraph. Each test features two or
three passages of this type.
Research Summaries (RS): Short
introductory paragraph(s) providing a
very brief overview of an area of
research, followed by two or three
short summaries of related
experiments, often with one or more
data representations for each. Each
test features two or three passages of
this type.
Conflicting Viewpoints (CV): Several
introductory paragraphs detailing a
scientific phenomenon/concept,
followed by two to four short
summaries of competing answers or
explanations about some aspect of
that phenomenon/concept. Each test
only features one passage of this type.
KEY STRATEGIES
Only read when you must: This section has the
most difficult timing of the entire ACT. You can save
valuable time by cutting out unnecessary reading and
focusing only on the information that you need to
understand. On the non-CV passages, ignore the
passage text and go straight to the questions, reading
the graphs/charts and the relevant portions of the text
only when the questions direct you to do so.
Remember: This is not a science test; it is a test of your
ability to read and interpret scientific material. You
don’t need to understand the concepts, just the data.
Plan, prioritize, execute: Use the process of
answering easy questions to propel your
understanding to the next level for the harder
questions. Answer the questions that ask about
specific charts/graphs/tables first, even if that means
skipping around, then return for the ones that require
you to read the passage or make inferences from data.
Remember: Know the anatomy of the passages. For
example, if a question in an RS passage asks about a
specific experiment, look first at the paragraph
underneath the heading for that experiment; likewise,
if a question asks about a general scientific concept,
look first at the introductory paragraph.
Stay calm and carry on: You’re here to convert time
into points. Allot a time limit per passage and keep an
eye on the clock. If you find yourself spending too
much time on any one passage, finish the question
you’re working on, guess on any that remain, and move
to the next passage to collect more points there.
Remember: Though most questions require no prior
knowledge, three to four questions on each test will
require you to know things that are not provided in the
passage. If you skim the passage for a key term from a
question and don’t see it, it probably isn’t there.
© Inspirica 2019
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PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Timing strategies have recently been
complicated by a shift from a consistent
seven passages per section to a variable six
or seven passages per section; you will
therefore need to be flexible in your
approach.
If the section has seven passages, aim for 10
minutes per two passages to compensate
for differences in length and difficulty
between individual passages. If the section
has six passages, aim for 12 minutes per two
passages.
Remember that the CV passage tends to
take the most time, and as such it’s often a
good idea to either save it for last or
complete it first, depending on your
individual strengths and weaknesses.
Track which passage types are your
strongest and which are your weakest. If
your pacing requires you to skip a portion of
the section, make certain that you skip either
the passage types or question topics that
your practice shows are most problematic
for you.
Always review your mistakes carefully to
understand both why your answer is wrong
and why the correct answer is right.
KEY TECHNIQUE
CONFLICTING VIEWPOINTS
Ignore the passage at the start and instead jump
immediately into the questions. Spend roughly 30
seconds sorting them into categories based on which
perspective they ask about. For instance, if the
passage presents hypotheses from Scientist 1 and
Scientist 2, questions can ask about only Scientist 1,
only Scientist 2, both, or neither.
Return to the passage and do a “heavy skim” (think 2%
milk) of the introductory paragraphs. You’re not trying
to memorize and comprehend every single detail, but
you should be able to describe the central concept or
phenomenon under consideration by the time you
finish skimming. Once you’ve finished reading the
introduction, stop and don’t go any further.
Go to your questions and answer any that ask about
neither perspective, returning to consult the passage
as needed. Next, read through the paragraph(s) that
describe the first hypothesis, then answer any
questions that ask about only the first hypothesis.
Continue in this manner until all questions asking
about only a single hypothesis have been completed.
Finally, use the cumulative understanding of the
passage that you have developed in your work to
answer the questions that ask about multiple
hypotheses. These questions should ideally be the
quickest and easiest to answer, as you’ve now had a
chance to process the passage in detail by answering
all of the other questions first. In nearly every case,
these comparative questions will focus on the primary
claim made by each of the scientists and will not
require you to do any analysis of your own.
© Inspirica 2019
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ACT ESSAY
SECTION OVERVIEW
40 minutes to write an argumentative
essay on a topic chosen by the test
writers
You may choose any position: partial,
agreement, full agreement, or
disagreement.
You need not agree with yourself. Your
goal is to construct a coherent
argument, not a correct one.
Your examples and evidence need not
be real. Make up news stories, scientific
studies, and other forms of evidence as
you write, the more specific the better.
PRACTICE GUIDELINES
Remember that the Writing score does
not affect your ACT composite score at
all, and many colleges no longer require
that you submit a Writing score as part
of your application. As such, the essay
should be a MUCH lower priority during
your preparation process than any other
part of the test.
Complete details on the Writing test,
including grading criteria and sample
essays, can be found on the ACT
website by using the following URL:
https://inspirica.live/ACTEssay
KEY STRATEGIES
Spend 7-8 minutes organizing your thoughts:
• Organize the three perspectives offered into
pro and con categories.
• Identify the specific claim made in each,
summarizing it in a short phrase.
o Ex: “efficiency good”
o Ex: “loss of humanity bad”
o Ex: “exciting new possibilities good”
• Write several pieces of evidence to support
both the pro and con perspectives.
o Ex: “Mobile phones make businesses
more efficient, improve standards of
living.”
o Ex: “Social media is easy to hide behind,
encourages loss of humanity.”
o Ex: “Internet creates exciting new
possibilities for interconnection.”
• Construct a thesis that explicitly rejects one
side in favor of the other.
o Ex: “Although the use of computers
does often allow people to mistreat one
another, it nevertheless increases
standards of living and creates exciting
new possibilities for interaction.”
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KEY ESSAY STRATEGIES, CONTINUED
Spend 30 minutes writing:
• Intro: Summarize the debate in 3-4 sentences, then offer your thesis. Be simple, direct, and
concise.
• Body 1:
o Offer a 2-3 sentence explanation of the “although” half of the thesis, detailing how it
does have some merit. Don’t worry — you will reject this later in the essay!
o Explicitly connect it to the perspectives offered by the test writers using detailed but
made-up examples.
Ex: Scientific study detailing how people are more likely to be rude to one
another on Facebook than in person, leading to loss of humanity
Ex: Buzzfeed article about online bullying, leading to loss of humanity
o End with a statement that rejects this argument and transitions into your own
position.
• Body 2:
o Offer a 3-4 sentence explanation of the second half of your thesis statement.
o Explicitly connect it to the relevant perspectives using detailed, made-up examples:
Ex: Economist story about rural poor using mobile phone to grow business
Ex: NYT article about revolutionaries using social media to build movement
that toppled a tyrant
o End with a statement that reiterates and summarizes your position.
• Conclusion: Briefly restate the debate and re-offer your thesis. Add nothing new. Be as
clear and concise as possible.
Spend 2-3 minutes skimming your essay and making minor corrections:
• Never Erase: If you need to make corrections, draw a single line through the mistake and
write your correction above it. Your essay will be scanned using a high-speed scanner, a
process that often renders large-scale erasures unreadable to the graders.
• Never Repeat: You need only mention each of the three perspectives once in the essay, and
you get no additional credit for referring to them multiple times.
• Never Waver: If you do not write as if you believe what you are writing, then your graders
will not believe your argument either.
• Never Worry: No one other than the graders will ever see your essay, so it does not matter
if you agree with yourself. Moreover, the essay is graded as a rough draft, so it is far more
important for it to be complete than it is for it to be perfect.