1. ACT: Reading Strategies
Ms. Sneed – B6

2. Things to remember about the ACT:
17 = minimum composite score for college
36 = maximum score
To maximize your composite score, concentrate on your highest scoring/strongest section.
The ACT has more time pressure than the SAT.
NEVER leave an answer blank.

3. Reading Section 4 passages (in this order) Fiction
Social science (non-fiction)
Humanities (non-fiction)
Natural science (non-fiction)
10 questions each

4. Reading Strategies
Have you POOD today? Make sure you do it on ACT day!
Personal Order of Difficulty
Order the genres from your best/favorite to your worst/least favorite.
“Read” the passages in THAT order, not necessarily the order they appear.
Why?
Limited time = PACING
Imagine this…

5. Why POOD? 25 scale score 27 scale score Attempt all 4 passages
75% correct
30 raw score
25 scale score
Attempt 3 passages (letter of the day)
100% correct
32 raw score
27 scale score

6. If you get 5 questions correct per section OR 2 sections almost perfect, you’re college bound!

7. Reading Strategies Map the questions.
Underline the lead words (specific words & phrases you will find in the passage).
Star any line or paragraph reference.
Save “big” questions for the end.
Find the lead words in the passage. DON’T READ THE PASSAGE.
POE: Process of Elimination

9. Reading Strategies Map the questions.
Underline the lead words (specific words & phrases you will find in the passage).
Star any line or paragraph reference.
Save “big” questions for the end.
Find the lead words in the passage. DON’T READ THE PASSAGE.
POE: Process of Elimination

11. POE: Process of Elimination
Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers
Out of the 4 answer choices, 3 of them have something that is totally wrong about them. Only 1 answer is 100% correct, which means the other 3 are 100% wrong.
Wrong Answer Types:
Too Specific (only focusing on a portion of the passage)
Too Broad
Reversed Relationship (all the right words, but the order is wrong)
Unrelated Concept (you should be able to find it in the text)
Only ½ of the answer choice is right
Overly strong language (ie) always/never; all/none

12. POE

13. Critical Skill:
You must be able to skim effectively. This means being able to quickly digest a text without having to slowly read every word. If you're not quite good at this yet, practice it on newspaper articles and your homework reading.

14. DO NOT LEAVE A SINGLE BUBBLE BLANK!
GOOD LUCK!