1. Reading: Prose Fiction & Social Science
ACT 1-on-1 Curriculum
Reading: Prose Fiction & Social Science

2. Reading Section at a Glance
ACT Reading
Reading Section at a Glance
40 questions
35 minutes
Two subsections:
Social Studies/ Sciences
20 questions
Arts/Literature
Directions
DIRECTIONS: You will find four passages of various genres. Following each to the passages, there will be 10 questions to answer. Pick the best response and fill in the correct bubble on the answer sheet. If you need to, you can look back in the passages to answer the questions

3. ACT Reading
The Basics
There are four passages on the ACT Reading section:
Prose Fiction
Social Science
Humanities
Natural Science

4. ACT Reading Types of questions
There are two types of questions on the ACT Reading test.
Reference questions
Reference questions refer to a specific phrase in the passage.
Three types of reference question: paragraph, line, and general.
Reasoning questions:
Reasoning questions require you to use context clues to infer what the answer will be in the passage.
Prose fiction and Humanities have more reasoning questions.
Social Science and Natural Science have more reference questions.

5. Test-Taking Strategies
ACT Reading
Test-Taking Strategies
Process of Elimination
It can be easier to eliminate wrong answers rather than find the correct answer.
Eliminate answers that are contrary to the passage, that are not relevant to the question, or that are not discussed by the passage.
Skimming
Skimming effectively means to read the first and last sentence of each paragraph while also finding key words and phrases in the passage.
Underline key words so that you can refer back to them.
This works best on Natural Science and Social Science passages.
Practice this before using it.
Pit Stop Approach
Read 2-3 paragraphs and then stop to think about what you have read.
If you do not understand what you have read, go back and reread it.
Do this again after the next couple of passages.

6. Test-Taking Strategies
ACT Reading
Test-Taking Strategies
Focus on 3
For many students, it is difficult to finish all 4 passages in the time given.
Focus on 3 means that you focus on the three passages on which you can answer all questions correctly and skip the other.
Note Taking
The strategy that will create the most impact on your test
Relies on your knowledge of the passage characteristics

7. Test-Taking Strategies
ACT Reading
Test-Taking Strategies
Between now and the test the two most important aspects of the reading test to focus on are:
knowing the passage characteristics
developing a note taking system that highlights them
Break down the passages:
Use the techniques mentioned before to help you do this
Mark items you know you will see in the questions
Examples: circle transitions, circle character names, label each paragraph with its function, etc.

8. ACT Reading Prose Fiction
Prose fiction passage will be a short story or excerpt from a novel.
70% of the prose fiction questions are reasoning. This means that you need to read the passage completely.
Questions to be prepared for on the Prose Fiction passage:
Who are the characters?
What events or people help shape their personality?
What happens when the characters interact? What is their relationship with each other?

9. Try It out — Prose Fiction
ACT Reading
Try It out — Prose Fiction
Turn to page 91 in the book.
Who are the characters?
What do we know about them?
How do they interact with each other?
What background information do we have about any of these characters?

10. ACT Reading Social Science
Social science is going to a factual, formal passage in a subject such as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, or political science.
This passage will have a point of view or an argument in it.
Questions to be prepared for:
What is the argument the author is making?
What information is used to support this argument
Underlining is very important on this passage. Underline key names, dates, and concepts that are mentioned.

11. Try It Out – Social Science
ACT Reading
Try It Out – Social Science
Turn to page 93.
What is the author’s argument?
What are some of the author’s supporting details for this argument?

12. ACT Reading Try It Out Turn to page 180.
Read the prose fiction passage and then answer questions.
I will let you know when 8 minutes 30 seconds pass.
If you do Focus on 3, you will have 11 minutes, 45 seconds to finish this section.
After you finish this, we will do the social science passage on p. 182.
Use this as a timing lab to practice focus on 3 or focus on all 4. If students employ focus on 3, they have 11:30 a passage. This is to see if they can read the passage in time. If not, encourage them to do focus on 3.
Call out two times when they read. Call out 8:30. Let it continue to 11:30.