SCIENCE TEST 35 Minutes; 40 Questions; 7 Passages 5 – 7 questions per passage 5 minutes per passage Evaluates your ability to reason scientifically 3 Question formats  Data Representation (15 questions)  Research Summaries (18 questions)  Conflicting Viewpoints (7 questions

CONTENT COVERED BY THE SCIENCE ACT EXAM Taken from fields of biology, chemistry, physics, and the physical sciences (astronomy, geology, and meteorology) About two-thirds of the questions on the Science subtest require you to read data from graphs or tables For harder questions, you may need to draw inferences or note patterns in the data

SCIENCE TEST FORMAT 1.Data Representation15 Multiple Choice - Read tables, graphs, or scatter plots - Your ability to read and interpret information presented in this format will be measured 2.Research Summaries 18 Multiple Choice -Descriptions of one or more related experiments -Questions focus on experimental design -Interpret experimental results

SCIENCE TEST FORMAT (continued) 3.Conflicting Viewpoints 7 Multiple Choice -Reading passage represents several hypotheses or views that are inconsistent with each other -Understand, analyze, and compare conflicting viewpoints or hypotheses

STRATEGY 1 DIRECTIONS: Always memorize the directions Questions are very similar, in their essence, to reading comprehension questions

STRATEGY 2 All the information you need to answer the questions is right on the page Some questions include wrong choices that are scientifically correct but don’t relate to the passages Try not to rely primarily on your knowledge of science Use your ability to pull information from the passages

STRATEGY 3 STEP 1: MAP THE PASSAGE – Read the introduction to orient yourself – In the introduction, mark the purpose of the experiment (bracket it, circle it, or put a “P” next to it) – Quickly scan the rest of the passage – What is the method of the experiment? – How was the experiment set up? – How is the information presented? – Graphs? Diagrams? Size? Shape? Temperature? Speed? Chemical Composition?

STRATEGY 3 (continued) STEP 2: SCAN THE FIGURES – Identify variables and patterns – Know what tables and graphs in the passage are meant to represent – Scan data first – Take note of general trends in the data – Your goal is to answer questions, not to learn and remember everything that goes on in the passage

STRATEGY 3 (continued ) STEP 3: FIND SUPPORT FOR THE ANSWER IN THE PASSAGE – Understand exactly what the question is asking – Then go back to the passage and get a sense of what the answer should be before looking at the choices

STRATEGY 4 3 BASIC KINDS OF SCIENCE QUESTIONS 1. Figure Interpretation Questions - Easiest on the Science test - Will be checking back to the graphs - Knowing the headings of each figure will help make these questions that much easier

STRATEGY 4 (continued) 2. Patterns Questions - Medium difficulty - Look beyond the data that is presented in the figures to see what the patterns are in the data

STRATEGY 4 (continued) 3. Scientific Interpretation Questions - Among the hardest questions - Based on what is in the text versus what is in the figures - Apply a scientific principle or identify ways of defending or attacking a principle - Make predictions based on a given theory - Show how a hypothesis might be strengthened or weakened

STRATEGY 5 Reading graphs, tables, and research summaries -Many questions involve accurately retrieving data from only one graph or table -Others involve combining knowledge from two different graphs or tables -Others involve understanding experimental methods enough to evaluate information contained in summaries of experiments

STRATEGY 5 (continued) What does the figure show? – Titles will tell what they represent – Some information will be in the instruction What are the units of measurement? What is the pattern in the data?

STRATEGY 6 Looking for patterns in the numbers that appear – Do these numbers get bigger or smaller? – Look for extremes – Look for critical points – Look for relationships – Where are the highest numbers? – The lowest? – At what point do the numbers change? – A little calculation is sometimes required, but not much – In Science, you won’t be computing with numbers so much as thinking about what they mean

TIPS Get textbooks and skim through the material Look at chapter reviews at the end of each chapter Read the glossary at the end of the book Familiarize yourself with words and concepts again Read newspaper and magazine articles referring to scientific research Don’t panic if you read the names of chemicals you don’t understand. This section is based on reading comprehension, and you don’t need to know all of the chemistry, biology, and physics. Science questions will never ask you to make inferences far beyond what is given. Analyze the data, but DO NOT make unjustified conclusions. Read all the intros as they will give you background for the rest of the passages

TIPS (continued) If you get stuck on a problem, see what answer choices you can eliminate. The more you eliminate, the closer you are to the correct answer. Learn to recognize patterns in data, and you’ll be able to answer most ACT Science questions. Look for extremes, critical points and variations. The words not and except will show up in question stems and missing them is an easy way to get a question wrong. Pay attention to these words and circle them when you see them. Only go back to the passage once when trying to answer a question. Going back another time will cause you to waste time and lose points.

SUMMARY Questions are to test understanding of science method, not scientific content Understand scientific terms and concepts Map the passage Scan the figures Find support for the answers in the passage Determine the main point or object of the experiment

SUMMARY (continued) Data representation passages include tables, bar charts, pie graphs, curves on coordinate systems, maps, cross-sectional diagonal diagrams, or pictures, among others Study examples in textbooks, newspapers, and magazines to become more comfortable with graphs and charts Research summaries describe two or more experiments

SUMMARY (continued) Read passages carefully to identify what variables are being changed and what results are being observed Determine research objective or the purpose of the experiment Conflicting viewpoints opens with a short question about a scientific hypothesis or statement of a scientific issue Analyze each viewpoint