ACT English Test Taking Strategies Work Smarter, Not Harder

Know Your POOD—Personal Order of Difficulty Now—Types of questions you know how to do, so do them NOW! Later—Will this question take some time to work? Come back to it later Never—Know thyself test-taker! Know the type of questions that are your worst enemy. Do not waste time on questions you should NEVER do. Instead… --Use the Letter of the Day (LOTD)…When you guess on Never questions, use your favorite two letter combo and stick with it. For example…always choose A/F or C/H.

POE—Process of Elimination It’s often easier to identify what’s wrong and eliminate that answer/s first You may have not clue what you just got done reading, but you’ll like know what you haven’t! Using POE will eliminate one or two answers and increase your odds of picking up more points!

Fun Facts about the ACT English Test 5 prose passages ranging from historical essays to personal narratives 75 questions; 45 minute time limit Portions of the passage are underlined and you must decide if these are correct or one of the other answers would fix or improve the selection Other questions will ask you to add, cut, re-order or evaluate the passage as a whole

The 4 C’s—Complete, Consistent, Clear and Concise Good writing should be in complete sentences Everything should be consistent The meaning should be clear The best answer, free of any errors, will be the most concise

3 Types of Heavily Tested Questions Commas Apostrophes Rhetorical Skills Strategy Questions— you’ll see these the most!

ACT tests the correct way to link ideas in several ways On Commas… ACT tests the correct way to link ideas in several ways If a choice offers no commas, it’s right unless you can identify a reason to add a comma

Example: Where does the comma go and why? Orson Wells wanted listeners to know the upcoming broadcast was a work of fiction so he made sure that the program began with a disclaimer.

Example: Where does the comma go and why? Orson Wells wanted listeners to know the upcoming broadcast was a work of fiction, so he made sure that the program began with a disclaimer. “so” is acting as a coordinating conjunction

Make your writing more concise On Apostrophes… Make your writing more concise They have two uses: possession and contraction

For tricky plurals that do not end in s, add ’s Possession To show possession with single nouns, add ‘s, and with plural nouns, add just the apostrophe For tricky plurals that do not end in s, add ’s

Example: Make a possessive and the apostrophe goes? The career of Orson= ? The action of the boys= ? The voices of the men= ?

Example: Make a possessive and the apostrophe goes? The career of Orson= Orson’s career The action of the boys= boys’ action The voices of the men= men’s voices

Contractions Whenever you see a pronoun with an apostrophe, it’s (it is) a contraction, which means the apostrophe takes the place of at least one letter

Example: Make a Contraction and the Apostrophe goes…? It is a classic= ? They are fans of the production= ? Who is the star of the play= ?

Example: Make a Contraction and the Apostrophe goes…? It is a classic= It’s They are fans of the production= They’re Who is the star of the play= Who’s

Rhetorical Skills Strategy Questions These are the most common and confusing They come in different forms but all revolve around the purpose of the text Expect these questions to ask you to add, replace, or delete text, or evaluate the impact if the text is deleted and judge the overall effect of the passage on the reader

Example Many of them, assuming that what they were hearing was genuine, on-the-scene coverage, panicked; they were very frightened. Question: If all the choices on the next slide are true, which best uses specific detail to convey the panic that the broadcast of The War of the Worlds caused?

F. No change G. The highways were clogged with cars full of people seeking escape, and train stations were crowded with mobs willing to buy tickets for anywhere far away. H. Many felt they had never encountered anything as terrifying in their lives and fully believed that what they were hearing was the truth J. They did not stop to think that what they were hearing might be fiction; instead they leaped to the unlikely conclusion that an interplanetary invasion was occurring

F. No change G. The highways were clogged with cars full of people seeking escape, and train stations were crowded with mobs willing to buy tickets for anywhere far away. H. Many felt they had never encountered anything as terrifying in their lives and fully believed that what they were hearing was the truth J. They did not stop to think that what they were hearing might be fiction; instead they leaped to the unlikely conclusion that an interplanetary invasion was occurring

Summary Identify what the question is testing by changes in the answer choices Use POE heavily Don’t skip the non-underlined text: use it for context Trust your ear, but verify the rules NO CHANGE is a legitimate choice Good writing has the 4 C’s Apostrophes are used for possession and contractions Strategy questions always involve a purpose

For additional grammar help, the link below is a great resource! http://blog.prepscholar.com/everything-you-need-to-know- about-commas-for-the-act