English
Use the Vertical Line Test when _________________.
STOP punctuation appears in the answer key!
How many questions are on the math section, and how many minutes do you get to complete it?
60 and 60
What are the four types of passages you will encounter on the ACT reading section, and in what order?
Literary Prose (Fiction), Social Sciences, Humanities, Natural Science
How many passages are in the science section, and in what order of difficulty do the passages appear?
6-7 passages - no order of difficulty; it's completely random!
How much time do you get to write the essay?
40 minutes
How can you determine whether to use who or whom in a sentence?
Who or whom?:
I didn't realize ____ I was talking to.
- Who is the subject of the sentence (the thing doing the action); whom is the object of the sentence (the thing having the action done to it)
- Replace the who/whom with he/him and see which sounds better. If the sentence sounds better with he = use who. If it sounds better with him = use whom.
Whom!
True or False:
The ACT math section has questions in three flavors: easy, medium, and hard. The first twenty questions tend to be the hardest, while the last twenty questions tend to be the easiest.
False!
What makes an ACT Reading question a "Now" question?
Great lead words and/or paragraph/line references (such as "in lines 56-58" or "in the third paragraph").
Good lead words are anything that stands out in the answer that would be easy to scan for in the passage. This can include dates, long complicated words like "subdermatoglyphic", words in other languages like in media res, or the use of proper nouns, such as Spain or George's brother.
What science passages should you do "now"? What questions within those passages should you do first?
"Now" passages have only one graph/table, and they have clear relationships between variables on the table or graph (e.g. increasing, decreasing, staying the same).
"Now" questions are short, with numbers in the answer choices or "yes/yes/no/no" types of answer choices, where two answers can be easily eliminated (this includes increasing/increasing/decreasing/decreasing and all similar types of answers).
How many paragraphs should your essay contain? What should each paragraph be about?
4-5
Intro, body paragraph (argue your point), OPTIONAL: body paragraph #2 (argue your point further), body paragraph #3 (refute possible counterarguments), conclusion
"GO" punctuation is used to connect which kinds of ideas?
Complete:Complete
Complete:Incomplete
Incomplete:Complete
Incomplete:Incomplete
Go punctuation = commas and no punctuation
C:I, I:C, I:I
Translate the following word problem into math, and solve the equation:
3 is subtracted from an integer, h, and the product of this difference and 3 is equivalent to the quotient of 12 and 2.
3(h-3)=12/2
3h-9=6
3h=15
h=5
Identify whether this question is fetch or reasoning, easy or hard to find:
3. Based on the passage, the narrator's mother's reaction to her husband naming her son Travis can best be described as:
Fetch, easy to find (good lead word - Travis)
What should you take note of on the figures (graphs/tables) immediately, before looking at the questions, answers, or passage?
Notice the variables used, circle the units, and take note of trends and relationships!
What should you include in your body paragraphs?
A topic sentence, examples from real life, incorporate at least 1 of the perspectives
What are all four comma rules?
1. Lists of three or more things
2. Connecting C:I or I:C (as "go" punctuation)
3. , + FANBOYS (as "stop" punctuation)
4. Before and after unnecessary information
Use "plugging in" to solve this ACT math problem:
28. If z>10, which of the following is the smallest?
F. 3/z
G. z/3
H. z2/3
J. z/z
K. (10-z)/z
K
z>10, so let's try plugging in z=12.
F. 3/12 = 1/4
G. 12/3 = 4
H. (12)2/3= 144/3 = 48
J. 12/12= 1
K. (10-12)/12 = -1/6 = smallest!
Identify this question as fetch or reasoning, easy or hard to find:
28. The main idea of the last paragraph is that:
Reasoning, easy to find
What are at least two things an ACT science question might ask you to do?
- Look up values on the graph or table
- Make predictions
- Draw conclusions from the data given
- Synthesize information from multiple tables/graphs
You will be given 3 perspectives on the ACT essay section. What is one of the most important steps you should take during the "pre-writing" (planning) stage of your essay regarding each of the 3 perspectives?
- read and make sure you fully understand the perspectives
- determine which of the perspectives is pro, which is con, and which is in the middle of the issue introduced in the prompt (the middle one will discuss the prompt from a different angle or introduce a different perspective on the issue)
- figure out where each of the 3 perspectives FAILS to consider all sides of the argument
8. The ability to use the tools after which seeing them would seem to be an evolved behavior, passed down through many generations.
A) NO CHANGE
B) tools
C) tools. After
D) tools after
D
How do you spot when to use "plugging in"?
- There are variables in the answer choices
- Variables are defined in relation to one another in a question
- Non-specified numbers in relation to one another (ratios, percents, etc.)
1. How many minutes should you spend reading the passage?
2. When should you read the passage, if ever?
3. What is one strategy for skimming you can use on the ACT reading section?
1. No more than 2-3 minutes reading
2. Only read the passage AFTER you've looked at and mapped the questions as now, later, never.
3. Read the first sentence or two of every paragraph (topic sentences should give you a good understanding of what the passage is about).
1. True or False:
The science section of the ACT requires a basic understanding of scientific principles.
2. The science section is most similar to what other section on the ACT?
1. False! It requires you to be able to read and interpret tables and graphs.
2. Reading
Please re-write this thesis statement to make it into an argument:
"I don't like that I have to take a bunch of standardized tests."
There are many possible answers. You could write something like:
"Standardized testing is an ineffective way of measuring students' abilities in school, because they only measure how well students can take tests."