1. ACT Preview

2. Agenda
Learning Target
ACT review

3. I will review materials and structure of the ACT.
Learning Targets
I will review materials and structure of the ACT.

4. ACT Overall Breakdown Test Number of Questions Time Limit Content
English
75 questions
45 minutes
Measures standard written English and rhetorical skills.
Math
60 questions
60 minutes
Measures mathematical skills students have typically acquired in courses taken up to the beginning of grade 12.
Reading
40 questions
35 minutes
Measures reading comprehension.
Science
Measures the interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving skills required in the natural sciences.
ACT Overall Breakdown

5. Benchmark Requirement
Test
Benchmark Requirement
English 18
Mathematics 19
Reading 20
Overall
ACT Overall Breakdown

6. ACT English Section Rhetorical Skills Usage/Mechanics strategy
The English section consists of 75 questions with a 45 minute time limit.
- This gives you approximately 36 seconds per question
- It is the first section you take on the ACT
Skills covered on the English Section are:
Usage/Mechanics
punctuation
grammar and usage
sentence structure
Rhetorical Skills
strategy
organization
style
ACT English Section

7. Required score to reach Benchmark = 18
- Spelling, vocabulary, and rote recall of rules of grammar aren't tested.
- The test consists of FIVE prose passages, each one accompanied by multiple-choice test questions. Different passage types are included to provide variety.
- Some questions refer to underlined portions of the passage and offer several alternatives to the underlined portion. You must decide which choice is most appropriate in the context of the passage.
- Some questions ask about an underlined portion, a section of the passage, or the passage as a whole. You must decide which choice best answers the question posed.
- Many questions include "NO CHANGE" to the underlined portion or the passage as one of the choices.
The questions are numbered consecutively. Each question number corresponds to an underlined portion in the passage or to a box located in the passage
Required score to reach Benchmark = 18
ACT English Section

8. Rhetorical Skills ACT English Section Usage/Mechanics
Six elements of effective writing are included in the English Test:
Punctuation
grammar and usage
sentence structure
Strategy
Organization
style.
Usage/Mechanics
Rhetorical Skills
ACT English Section

9. ACT English Section A sample question looks like:
Notice how the underlined portion that the question is asking about and the question line up.
This ONLY happens in the English section of the ACT
ACT English Section

10. Sometimes there is technically no question at all and you are required to look at the text, context clues and the answer options to determine the correct answer. Two examples of this are below.
Again notice how the underlined portions lines up with the questions.
ACT English Section

11. Reading Test Description
The Reading Test is a 40-question, 35-minute test that measures your reading comprehension. You're asked to read four passages and answer questions that show your understanding of:
what is directly stated
statements with implied meanings
Specifically, questions will ask you to use referring and reasoning skills to:
determine main ideas
locate and interpret significant details
understand sequences of events
make comparisons
comprehend cause-effect relationships
determine the meaning of context-dependent words, phrases, and statements
draw generalizations
analyze the author's or narrator's voice and method
Reading Test Description

12. Reading Test Description
The test comprises four prose passages that are representative of the level and kind of reading required in first-year college courses; passages on topics in social studies, natural sciences, prose fiction, and the humanities are included.
Each passage is accompanied by a set of multiple-choice test questions. These questions do not test the rote recall of facts from outside the passage, isolated vocabulary items, or rules of formal logic. Instead, the test focuses on the complementary and supportive skills that readers must use in studying written materials across a range of subject areas.
Reading Test Description

13. Prose Fiction (25%). Questions in this category are based on intact short stories or excerpts from short stories or novels.
Humanities (25%). Questions in this category are based on passages from memoirs and personal essays and in the content areas of architecture, art, dance, ethics, film, language, literary criticism, music, philosophy, radio, television, and theater.
ACT Reading Section

14. Social Studies (25%). Questions in this category are based on passages in the content areas of anthropology, archaeology, biography, business, economics, education, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology.
Natural Sciences (25%). Questions in this category are based on passages in the content areas of anatomy, astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, ecology, geology, medicine, meteorology, microbiology, natural history, physiology, physics, technology, and zoology.
ACT Reading Section

15. ACT Reading Section
Passage page: includes one of the four passages with ten multiple choice questions following it.

16. ACT Reading Section
Questions page: includes ten questions over the passage on the previous page

17. ACT Reading Section
Example Questions:

18. ACT Reading Section
The required score to hit benchmark on the Reading Section is a 20.

19. Benchmark Requirement
Test
Benchmark Requirement
English 18
Mathematics 19
Reading 20
Overall
Incentive to hit Benchmark Scores:
You get to go out to lunch (like the seniors) EVERY Friday for the last six Friday’s of the school year (the seniors can only do the first and third Fridays)
You do NOT have to take a remedial or College and Career Readiness class (CCR). Which means not having TWO English or TWO Math classes….or BOTH
You have proven to colleges that you are ready and can apply to more colleges earlier
You can apply for scholarships earlier
ACT Overall Breakdown

20. You were just given a basic overall of the ACT and the sections connected with this class.
What questions do you have now?
ACT Mock Test in on Saturday, December 1st, you are to arrive at 8:45 am. The test will run from 9 am – 1 pm
ACT Review Questions