Skills and Strategies
Question Types
Passages
Stump the ACT creators
Tips and Tidbits
100
What is the name of the strategy where you cross off incorrect answers to narrow down your choices?
Process of Elimination or Poe
100
When you are answering a question that asks, "what is the passage primarily about," you are answering a ______ ________ question.
Main Idea
100
While reading the prose fiction section, you need to pay attention to these
characters
100
The ACT creators do not expect you to answer all of the questions on each passage, but you know you should answer every question even if you have to______.
guess
100

About how much time should you spend on each passage?

8-9 minutes

200
What should you do when you are stuck on a tricky or complicated question?
Guess and Go!
200
When you are asked to answer a question based on why the author wrote the passage, you are answering an _______ __________ question.
Author's Purpose
200
This passage usually includes history, political science, economics, or social studies.
Social Science
200
The _____ your initial ACT Composite score, the more likely your second score will be higher than the first score.
lower
200
True or False: You lose points for incorrect answers
False: You only earn points for questions answered correctly
300
If you are someone who often runs out of time on this section, what should you do to make sure you are reading the passages strategically?
Read the Questions First
300
When you have to find specific bits of information from a passage you are looking for_______.
Details
300
This question would most likely be found on what passage? It may reasonably be inferred from lines 10–17 that James Merrill respected Elizabeth Bishop’s poetry:
Humanities
300

What score do the ACT test makers consider "college ready" reading?

22

300
What is the name of the strategy where you make notes on the passage to refer back to?
Annotating or Passage Mapping
400
This strategy helps you earn more points because you focus on the questions you are most likely to answer correctly.
Answer the easy questions first
400
This type of question asks you to identify unknown words.
Vocabulary
400
This question would most likely be found on what passage? The main point made in the second, third, and fourth paragraphs (lines 14–52) is that the structure of a baby’s brain:
Natural Science
400
Do colleges see all your ACT scores?
No, they only see the scores YOU send them.
400
On vocabulary questions, you can often come to the correct word meaning by __________ the four answers given.
Substituting
500
You should begin with what passage on the ACT reading section?
The passage you are best at!
500
The two types of questions featured on the ACT are? hint--they both begin with "R"
Reasoning and Referring
500
This question is most likely from which passage? The point of view from which the passage is told can best be described as that of:
Prose Fiction
500
What does the ACT have that the SAT doesn't?
A Science Section
500

The best way to prepare for the ACT Reading section is to

read for at least 30 minutes per day

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