Welcome to ACT Boot Camp

Before the testing day Pack before going to bed * Pack bottle water & snacks, mint gum, silent watch, several sharpened, no. 2 pencils, calculator & fresh batteries Get a GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP! *You are paying for this test AND it could earn you money for college or a spot in a competitive program…make sure you are mentally alert! Eat a good breakfast *Protein for breakfast (eggs, sausage or bacon) is better than a sugar-filled breakfast of pop tarts or pastries!

Welcome to ACT prep! ACT English/Reading

The Basics: English Usage/Mechanics: Rhetorical Skills: 75 questions, 45 minutes, 5 passages 15 questions each passage Usage/Mechanics: Punctuation: 13% Grammar/Usage: 16% Sentence Structure: 24% Rhetorical Skills: Strategy: 16% Organization: 15% Style: 16%

Tips: English 9 minutes per section / 25 questions every 15 minutes Check the end of the passage for the Read that question before reading the passage Quickly skim the passage first, then go to the questions. Read the whole sentence, not just the part underlined.

Tips: English Continued Be careful that you don’t correct an error by making another error. Once you choose an answer, reread the sentence with your new answer to make sure it makes sense. Know It’s & Its/Their & There/Your & You’re Punctuation - / , / ; / : / Appositive phrases – proper noun first, appositive phrase off set with commas

Tips: English Continued Between/among, fewer/less, number/amount, many/much Strategy for Ordering No Change is correct 18%-21% Omit is correct over 50% NO Redundancy – when in doubt choose the shortest answer

MATH TEST PREP 60 QUESTIONS/60 MINUTES (1 question per minute) Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra 24 Questions Intermediate Algebra/Coordinate Geometry 18 Questions Plane Geometry/Trigonometry

MATH TIPS Draw a picture if one is not provided. Figures given are not drawn to scale, so mark them with given measures or symbols. Know the following translations: of means multiply and per means divide. Know the area and perimeter formulas for triangles, rectangles, and circles, and how to find the volume and surface area of a box. If a problem is given in terms of fractions, decimals, or percents, consider using an alternate form to find the answer.

MATH TIPS If the question and/or answer set are given in terms of variables only, substitute simple numbers to help determine the answer. Most answers are listed from least to greatest, so you can use a technique called backsolving to find the correct answer. Do not overuse your calculator! The test is written so that every problem can be solved without a calculator. Set up the problem in your test booklet first and take a moment to consider what a reasonable answer would be before using the calculator.

ACT Reading Strategies

R A F T On the Testing Days… elax ttitude ocus hink • breathe  • do exactly what directions ask R A F T elax • stay positive • remember - this is for you ttitude • be like a shark -- keep moving • answer every question ocus • seek best answers • do what your brain does best! hink

Now, let’s focus on the ACT Reading Test… • Read 4 Passages • Answer 40 Multiple Choice Questions • In 35 Minutes (≈ 8 1/2 min. / passage) The ACT Reading Test assesses a student’s ability to • read and understand the lines • read and understand between the lines.

***Each reading passages represents a different type of text: Fiction (a novel or short story excerpt) II. Social Science (an informative piece from anthropology, business, economics, history, political science, psychology, sociology, etc.) Humanities (a “personal” or informative piece from the arts, literature,music, philosophy, etc.) IV. Natural Science (an informative piece from biology, chemistry, geology, medicine, physics, technology, zoology, etc.)

ACT Reading Test Questions Ask Students To… • determine main ideas • locate & interpret important details • understand sequences of events • make comparisons • determine cause/effect relationships • make generalizations / conclusions • analyze the passage's mood or tone Pay attention to • names, dates, titles, theories • italicized terms

General Tips/Strategies Read the questions first but don’t read the answers. Within each section, answer the easy questions first…don’t waste time on questions that are too difficult! Questions are NOT presented in order of difficulty. SKIP difficult questions and come back later (circle these in test booklet). Mark the number of the question by the paragraph or line numbers. Refer back to the passage as needed.

General Tips/Strategies Continued Process of Elimination is key! Narrowing down answer choices before taking an educated guess improves your chances of getting the answer correct!

Easy Questions These questions will ask you about one word or phrase. Do them first! These questions will contain line numbers that tell you exactly where in the passage you need to look

Medium Questions Strengthen/Weaken Questions: Example: “If true, the author’s argument would be most weakened by…” or “The author’s argument would most likely be strengthened…” *ACT wants you to either provide more evidence to support the point, or contradictory information to attack the point. Inference Questions Inferences are NOT directly stated in the text and MUST be true based on what you read “Except” Questions Find the answer that is NOT supported by the passage…use POE

Hard Questions “Big Picture” Questions *You must understand the point and purpose of the passage. *Always save these for last. Examples: “The tone of the author can best be described as…” “The main point of the passage is that…” *Saving for last means you have already referred back to the passage several times and should know the main point/tone by then.

ACT TRAPS Deceptive language (answer could sound true or be related to the passage, but does not answer the question) Extreme words (best, never, must, most, worst, totally, always, only, cannot, all, …etc.) When you see these words, eliminate the answer. True statements that are not supported by the passage BE ALERT! ACT LOVES to use this to trick you! Half wrong/half right READ ENTIRE ANSWER…ACT is testing to make sure you read the entire answer choice before selecting your answer

A Nonfiction Strategy: 4. Read 1st sentence of other ¶s. Mark key words. Skim rest of ¶, looking for impt. info. 1. Underline title & author for clues to topic. 2. Closely read 1st ¶ for author’s thesis. What does s/he want you to know, think, or believe? 3. Closely read last ¶ to verify thesis. Reader should now know author’s main point.

A Fiction Strategy: Read with a pencil in hand! 1. Read the 1st column to identify • setting • characters • the problem 2. Read the 2nd column to identify • attempted solutions *** don’t expect a full solution Read with a pencil in hand!

Regardless of the reading passage… • Mark the text / underline / annotate. • Expect the text to be uninteresting -- make yourself think & read! (After all, it’s only 35 min.) • When answering questions, only go back and reread the passage when a line number appears in the item. • Trust your impressions of the text. • Pace yourself -- work smarter.

Final Tips A shorter answer is USUALLY better than a longer answer REMEMBER to use POE (process of elimination) to improve your chances of getting answers correct Look for a theme among the correct answers…correct answers should all agree with each other

ACT Science Reasoning Basic Format

ACT Science Reasoning Layout You will have 35 minutes to answer a total of 40 questions There are 7 passages with 5-6 questions per passage 3 data representation passages 3 research summary passages 1 conflicting viewpoint passage

ACT Science Reasoning Tips You do not need to know a lot about science! You will need to be able to: Read & interpret graphs, charts, tables, diagrams Understand how experiments work Make conclusions about different viewpoints

ACT Science Reasoning Tips Answer every question. You will not be penalized for a wrong answer. Eliminate choices. Make an educated guess. Answer the first couple of questions for each passage. They tend to be easiest. Know how to recognize the 3 different types of passages Skim through all the science passages before you answer any question. Start with the type of passage you feel most comfortable.

ACT Science Reasoning Tips Mark up the test booklets Order of Difficulty: most of the passages have questions in increasing difficulty but this does not always hold. But usually if you are stuck on the last question of a passage and time is running out, then guess and move on. Pace yourself. Do not spend more than 30 seconds on a question. You have only 5 minutes for each passage.

Data Representation Passages: Strategies ACT Science Reasoning Data Representation Passages: Strategies

What is this question about? You must understand and evaluate information from tables, graphs, charts and diagrams.

How to Recognize It? Data representations will not have any other heading except for the passage #.

4 Chart Questions to Ask Yourself when looking at the diagrams 1. What does the figure represent? 2. What do the labels tell you? 3. What are the units of measurement? 4. What are the patterns in the data?

3 Step Strategy Highlight key words in the question. Analyze the figure(s) by asking yourself the 4 strategic questions. Find all questions about the figure and answer those first.

What are the different types of questions? What do you know? Underline keywords which tell you what you know Tells you: name of diagram, data point or trend known, title of column or axis for known data point or trend

What are the different types of questions? What do you need? Circle keywords which tell you what you need to find out Wants you to tell: the label of a specific column, row, or axis or info you need is a data point or trend.

What are some keyword clues? Directly proportional… Inversely proportional… Ratio… Consistent… Most likely… Expect… Respectively…

Data Representation: Understanding Diagrams ACT Science Reasoning Data Representation: Understanding Diagrams

Quick Review of Tables & Figures Line graphs… Tables… Scatter plots… Vertical line graphs…

Data Representation: Understanding Experiments ACT Science Reasoning Data Representation: Understanding Experiments

Key points in an experiment Independent variable Dependent variable Control

In some questions, you will be asked about the design of the experiment How does changing the design change the results? How does changing one part of the design change another part? Explain why parts of the design were performed Identify the figures that illustrate the design Identity problems in the design (confounding variables) Identify a new experiment that would give more info

Data Representation: Creating Graphs ACT Science Reasoning Data Representation: Creating Graphs

Things to consider when creating a graph: Sketch a graph and look for it in the answer choices. Determine which values are greater and lesser and ELIMINATE those which do not match Examine how much greater or how much lesser each data point is in comparison to those nearby

Using Information from 2 Tables: Use the 3 Step Strategy to determine correct data point, trend, or label from 1st figure Use info from 1st figure to apply the 3 Step Strategy on the 2nd figure Match your results to the answer choices

Data Representation: Solving Equations ACT Science Reasoning Data Representation: Solving Equations

Strategy: Read text around equation and write down what each variable means Find the values of each variable and plug-in Match results to answers

Data Representation: Final Tips ACT Science Reasoning Data Representation: Final Tips

The figures are more important than the text Refer back to the figures often. Never try to answer questions based on your memory. You don’t have to understand everything about a data rep passage. If you can answer the 4 Chart Questions, you’ll have enough info to answer many of the questions.

You gain points by answering the questions, not by understanding every scientific fact in the passage. Ignore all the technical jargon.

Conflicting Viewpoints: Strategy ACT Science Reasoning Conflicting Viewpoints: Strategy

3 Step Strategy: Summarize & scan the passages- Annotate in the margins: What is the writer’s theory? What evidence does each present Answer the easy questions Details in intro: states the conflict, evidence already known, and what is agreed by both sides Summarize 1 or the others Locate supporting details for one or the other Then answer the harder questions Compares both arguments

Conflicting Viewpoints: Evaluating Evidence ACT Science Reasoning Conflicting Viewpoints: Evaluating Evidence

How to Evaluate Evidence: Read the experiment or results and underline the keywords. Or you can do a Venn diagram. Look for similar keywords in the viewpoint, and reread the sentence. Determine whether the ideas in the question are the same as or the opposite of the ideas in the viewpoint.

Supporting & Contradicting Data: Some questions ask you to evaluate whether a piece of evidence strengthens or weakens an idea presented in one of the viewpoints…

Compare & Contrast: These questions ask you to determine which scientist supports a specific idea, or identify which theory could be strengthened or weakened by a new piece of evidence.

Predicting Results: Evaluating Evidence can be used for predicting the results of experiments as well. Simply treat each prediction as if it were evidence, and compare it to he evidence in the viewpoint.

ACT Science Reasoning Research Summaries

What are they? Provide you with descriptions of 2 or more scientific experiments You are presented with the purpose of the study, the methods the researchers used, and the results that were found You can ID them because they have headings which say Experiment 1 & Experiment 2 or Study 1 & Study 2

What types of questions are asked? Some asks about figures But some require you to dig deeper to make conclusions about results using the data

Strategy: 3 Steps Skim introduction quickly to get basic idea of experiment Identify parts of the Scientific Method including variables Answer experiment questions first Questions about individual experiments Compare and contrast both

What is the Scientific Method? Observation Question Hypothesis Prediction Experimentation Conclusion

We can also discuss the Experimental Design… Observe phenomena Research what is known Form a hypothesis Make a Prediction Design Experiment

Some key terms: Outliers: Lab Report: data found which defies observed pattern. Should determine their cause Lab Report: scientific paper to communicate data and results

ACT Resources and Practice links ACT Free Guide with practice questions http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/Preparing-for-the- ACT.pdf ACT Online Practice by sections http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/test- preparation.html ACT Free PowerPoint by QualPro legacy.lmunet.edu/ACTprep/documents/ACTPrep_student_PowerPoint.ppsx ACT and other online test prep https://march2success.com/