1. Breaking Down the Reading
What are the ‘need to knows’ of this section of the ACT?

2. The Reading Section: 35 minutes Four passages Eight types of questions
Can be read in any order

3. Avid readers WILL score better on this section of the test (Kaplan).
The Reading Section
Avid readers WILL score better on this section of the test (Kaplan).

4. Breakdown of Passages Humanities:
Literature, drama, art, and art criticism.
Main idea (which requires reading the entire passage)
Details (What does each paragraph do to support the thesis)

5. Breakdown of Passages Natural Science:
Could cover anything from basic genetics to paleontology.
Make sure the kids know they are not expected to know all of the vocabulary in context. Questions NEVER ask for the Webster’s definition of a word.
This passage has a main idea too. Find it.

6. Breakdown of Passages Social Science:
The study of society and people, history, politics, or geography.
This could be anything from a passage about a specific Chinese Dynasty, the Victorian Era, or the rise of the Aztecs.
This is FACT BASED, so note the important details. Those will be found in the questions.

7. Breakdown of Passages Prose Fiction:
It’s a story. Understanding the story and the characters will make the questions easier to answer.
Most questions will deal with the story as a whole, inferences made from specific paragraphs, and the meaning of certain words used in context.
These questions are not ‘hunt and find the facts’ like the other passages.

8. Skills Understand main ideas
Locate details within a passage and interpret them
Interpret sequence of events and flow of ideas
Make comparisons
Understand cause-effect relationships

9. Skills
Determine the meaning of words, phrases, and statements in context (these are usually straightforward, but may be used in an unusual or significant way in context)
Draw generalizations
Analyze the author's or narrator's tone and purpose

10. Types of Questions Big picture questions
Little picture/detail questions
Vocabulary in context questions
Function questions
Inference questions

11. Examples of Questions
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12. Big Picture

13. Little picture/detail

14. Vocabulary in context

15. Function

16. Inference

17. Timing 35 minutes for four passages with ten questions each.
53 seconds per question.  
If you spend a total of 15 minutes just reading the passages, that brings your time per question down to 30 seconds.

18. STUDENT ACOUNTABILITY
Strategies
TIME! TIME! TIME!
REVIEW
STUDENT ACOUNTABILITY

19. Strategies Start BIG…Go small…Go back to BIG
Let the student be the judge
TIME! TIME! TIME!

20. Resources
Mastery Prep ($$)
Prep Factory (Free)