ACT English
ACT English Cont.
ACT Math
ACT Math Cont.
200
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table.
A) No change
B) waiting, by the back door,
C) waiting by the back door,
D) waiting by the back door
A) No change
It provides the best punctuation for the underlined portion. The semicolon after the word door is appropriate because semicolons are used between items in a series when one or more of these items include commas.
200
Having studied, my mother is a marine biologist. Our household might have been described as uncooperative. Our meals weren’t always served in the expected order of breakfast, lunch, and supper.
Which choice would most effectively introduce the rest of this paragraph?
A) No change
B) There seemed to be no explanation for why Mom ran our household the way she did
C) Our household didn’t run according to a typical schedule.
D) Mom ran our household in a most spectacular manner.
C) Our household didn’t run according to a typical schedule.
This is a good introductory sentence because the rest of the paragraph explains how the narrator's household "didn't run according to a typical schedule." The paragraph goes on to say that "meals weren't always served in the expected order, "which were not on a typical household schedule.
200
A car averages 27 miles per gallon. If gas costs $4.04 per gallon, which of the following is closest to how much the gas would cost for this car to travel 2,727 typical miles?
A) $44.44
B) $444.40
C) $118.80
D) $408.04
D) $408.04
If you divide 2,727 miles by 27 miles per gallon you will get the number of gallons: 
= 101. Then, multiply the number of gallons by the cost per gallon: 101(4.04) = 408.04. This gives the cost of gas for this car to travel 2,727 typical miles.
200
Abandoned mines frequently fill with water. Before an abandoned mine can be reopened, the water must be pumped out. The size of pump required depends on the depth of the mine. If pumping out a mine that is D feet deep requires a pump that pumps a minimum of 
+ 4D – 250 gallons per minute, pumping out a mine that is 150 feet deep would require a pump that pumps a minimum of how many gallons per minute?
A) 362
B) 500
C) 800
D) 1,250
D) 1,250
If you substitute D with 150 in the expression, you get 
+ 4(150) – 250 = 
+ 600 – 250 = 1,250.
200
I grew up with buckets, shovels, and nets waiting by the back door; hip-waders hanging in the closet; tide table charts covering the refrigerator door; and a microscope was sitting on the kitchen table.
A) No change
B) would sit
C) sitting
D) sat
C) sitting
The verb form sitting is best here because it creates a parallel structure for all three items in the series.
200
Mom was always waiting for a full or new moon, when low tide would be lower than average and high tide higher than average. The moon being aligned with Earth and the sun when full or new, so its gravity combines with the sun’s gravity to create an even stronger gravitational pull.
A) No change
B) Since the moon is
C) The moon is
D) The moon,
C) The moon is
This choice creates a structurally sound compound sentence with two complete independent clauses connected by the coordinating conjunction so.
200
When x = 3 and y = 5, by how much does the value of 3x2 – 2y exceed the value of 2x2 – 3y ?
A) 4
B) 14
C) 16
D) 20
B) 14
14 is the correct answer. When you use x = 3 and y = 5 in the given expressions, 3x2 – 2y = 3(3)2 – 2(5) = 27 – 10 = 17 and 2x2 – 3y = 2(3)2 – 3(5) = 18 – 15 = 3. Then subtract 3 from 17 to get 14.
200
The length, in inches, of a box is 3 inches less than twice its width, in inches. Which of the following gives the length, l inches, in terms of the width, w inches, of the box?
A) l = 
w + 3
B) l = w + 3
C) l = w – 3
D) l = 2w – 3
D) I = 2w - 3
Twice a number means to multiply the number by 2, and 3 less than a number means to subtract 3 from the number. Combining these, you get l = 2w – 3.
200
Having studied, my mother is a marine biologist.
A) No change
B) As my mother's interest is science, she is
C) My mother's occupation is that of
D) My mother is
D) My mother is
Clearest, most concise wording for the sentence. "My mother is a marine biologist," it avoids unnecessary words.
200
The moon being aligned with Earth and the sun when full or new, so its gravity combines with the sun’s gravity to create an even stronger gravitational pull.
A) No change
B) one's
C) it's
D) its'
A) No change
The possessive pronoun its is appropriate here because it refers back to the moon: "[the moon's] gravitational pull."
200
What is the value of x when 2x + 3 = 3x – 4 ?
A) -7
B) 1
C) 1/5
D) 7
D) 7
You can solve this problem by first subtracting 2x from each side of the equation to get 3 = x – 4. Then add 4 to each side, so x = 7.
200
Our meals weren’t always served in the expected order of breakfast, lunch, and supper. Everything was subservient to the disposal of the tides. When the tide was low, Mom could be found down on the mudflats. When the tide was high, she would be standing on the inlet bridge with her plankton net.
A) No change
B) was defenseless in the face of
C) depended on
D) trusted in
C) depended on
Clearest and most concise wording for this sentence. "Everything depended on the tides," is a precise statement.
200
Often, my brother and I, joined our mother on her adventures into tidal lands.
A) No change
B) brother, and I,
C) brother, and I
D) brother and I
D) brother and I
No punctuation is needed to separate the subject of the sentence (my brother and I) from the verb (joined).
200
Sales for a business were 3 million dollars more the second year than the first, and sales for the third year were double the sales for the second year. If sales for the third year were 38 million dollars, what were sales, in millions of dollars, for the first year?
A) 16
B) 17.5
C) 20.5
D) 35
A) 16
If x = sales for the first year, then x + 3 = sales for the second year. Since sales for the third year were double the sales for the second year, sales for the third year = 2(x + 3). Sales for the third year were 38, so 2(x + 3) = 38. To solve this equation, you could first divide each side by 2 to get x + 3 = 19. Then, by subtracting 3 from both sides, x = 16.