The ACT Reading Test

The test wasn’t created for Einstein; it was

created for high school students!
This test is about how quickly you can read
accurately.
• Many people think that they have to know everything,
or be a genius, to do well on the ACT Reading test.

• This is not true!

• The test is made to test how quickly you can read and
comprehend.

4 passages, 40 questions, 35 minutes

Reading Video (4:25 min.)
Test Structure
• There are four passages on the test:
▫ Prose fiction
▫ Social science
▫ Humanities
▫ Natural science

• Each passage is about 750 words, or roughly two pages of a typical

book. There are 10 questions/passage and 40 questions total.

• Use Triage
▫ If you have a knack for a particular passage type, great! Do it first. If
not, look at the topics, as well as the questions and answer choices. Some
will be straightforward, while others will look like true pains.
Insider Reading Test Taking Tips
• Use POE
▫ Don’t look for why an answer is right, look for why it is
wrong and get rid of it.
• Most people try to read the whole passage then
answer the questions from memory. That is a mistake.
• Your opinions, any outside knowledge you may have
on the topic, and critical evaluations you may have
are all out of bounds.
Insider Reading Test Taking Tips
1. Reorder the passages.
2. See through the camouflage.
3. Identify and eliminate distracters.
4. Prove your answers in the passage.
This is your Strategy
1. Pick which passage you are going to read first.
2. Give yourself 9 minutes to complete each passage.
3. Read the questions and underline key words and
phrases. Skim the answer choices.
4. Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph
in the passage. Underline key words and phrases
from the questions and other stuff that seems
important. Scan the entire paragraph. Scribble the
main idea in the margin.
5. Answer the questions and use POE to eliminate
distracters and wrong answer choices.
ACT’s Strategy
• The shady ACT test writer’s have a strategy too. They
are out to trick you.

• The test is designed to make you guess the wrong

answers. These poor answer choices are called
distracters.

• Look out for Weasels, Shifts, Enticers, Extremes and

Camouflage.
The Weasel
• A distracter may try to weasel in a misstatement of
the author’s words.
• It distorts the meaning of the passage.
• Even a slight change in wording or meaning may
make the answer choice incorrect.

• Read this and answer the question on the next slide.

Tom loves going to the movies with Mary.

The Weasel
According to the passage, which of the following
statements is true about Tom and Mary?

A. Tom fell in love with Mary at the movies.

B. Tom enjoys viewing motion pictures with Mary as his
companion.
C. Tom and Mary generally enjoy seeing movies about
love.
D. Both Tom and Mary love going to the movies.
The Shift
• They will try to shift your thinking to choose the correct
answer to another question.

• It correctly represents the meaning of the passage,

but does not correctly answer the question being
asked.
 The Shift

Read this statement.

Professor Thorne generally explains a technological

discovery first in terms of its history and then in terms of
the science up on which it was founded.
The Shift
Does this statement mean the same thing?

1. Professor Thorne generally explains a technological

discovery first in term of the science up on which it
was founded, and then in terms of history.

It looks like the statement, but it is backward.

 The Shift
Does this statement mean the same thing?

2. After Professor Thorne describes the scientific

aspects of a technological breakthrough, he explains
the historical context in which the breakthrough was
made.

Because it uses the word after, it means the opposite of

what is said in the original passage.
The Enticer
• This choice appeals to you because it looks really
nice, is sensible, seems reasonable, is sweet,
sentimental, or appears to be universally true.

• They want you to pick it because it looks like who

would disagree with it, but does it really answer the
question you are being asked.
The Enticer
• Ultimately, the voting public knows its own best
interest.
• Structure is important, but it should not be imposed in
such a way as to stifle creativity.
• The ideal society is one that allows for individual
difference, but at the same time creates a people
united in interest.
• All people have a right to live and die with dignity.
The Extreme
• An incorrect answer choice may include words like:
always, completely, absolutely, or perfectly.

• If you can think of one exception or if the answer is

debatable, then the extreme answer choice is
incorrect.

• Be careful, because not all extreme answers are

incorrect.
The Extreme

• Patients who are chronically depressed never enjoy

their lives.

• A political leader should seek to make peace at all

costs.
 The right answer might be camouflaged.

• Look at these two phrases:

▫ “rationally conceived idea”
▫ “concept born of reason”

• The two don’t have a single word in common, but if

you think about it you’ll probably agree that they
mean the same thing.

• Lots of reading questions test your ability to see that

one sentence or phrase means more or less the same
as another even though the wording is different.
POE
• Use process of elimination
▫ Identify and eliminate answer choices that are
distracters.
▫ Eliminate none and you have a 25% chance of guessing
the right answer.
▫ Eliminate two and you have a 50% chance of guessing
the right answer.
▫ Guess from the remaining choices
Strategy
• The next slides are a sample of how one student
approached the Reading test. Look over the sample
pages and tell me what strategies you notice.
Strategy – did you get all of them?
• All of the questions have parts underlined.
▫ The part of the question that will point the student to the
answer in the passage is underlined.
• Each question has a circled number next to it. What
do those numbers represent?
▫ The numbers show the order that the student attacked
the questions. The student used TRIAGE and decided to
answer the easiest questions first.
Strategy – did you get all of them?
• Key words and phrases are underlined throughout the
entire passage.

• Each paragraph has notes scribbled next to it in the

margin stating the main idea of the paragraph.
Strategy Review
1. Pick which passage you are going to read
________,
First then Give yourself ___
9 minutes to
complete each passage.
2. Read the Questions
_________ first and underline key words
and phrases.
3. Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph
in the passage. _________
Underline key words and phrases
from the questions and other stuff that seems
important. Scribble the _________
Main Idea in the margin.
4. Answer the questions and use ______
POE to eliminate
distracters and wrong answer choices.
Let’s Practice
1. Pick which passage you are going to read first, then
Give yourself 9 minutes to complete each passage.
▫ If you time yourself, you will not run out of time which
means you will answer every question and earn more
points.
▫ Always begin with the easiest questions to get the
easy points first. Remember what is easy for one
person may not be easy for another person.
▫ Review your practice test from ACTONLINE and
determine which passage you did best on. This will
help you decide which ones you are good at versus
which ones are hard for you.
Let’s Practice
• When you first start to time yourself, you may not be
able to complete a passage in 9 minutes, but the
more you practice, the faster you will become.

• Since this is practice, we are not going to time

ourselves. We will slowly “walk through” our first
passage.
Let’s Practice

2. Read the questions and underline key words and

phrases. Skim the answer choices.
▫ Who cares what the passage is really about. Reading
the questions first will help you determine what is really
important in the passage and help you focus only on
those parts that you need to know to answer the
questions. You do not have to read the entire passage.
▫ If they do not have key phrases ignore them for now.
▫ You will look for these key words and phrases as you
skim the passage.
Let’s Practice
3. Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph
in the passage. Skim the entire paragraph.
▫ Read the bibliographical information at the top of the
passage to get an idea of what the passage is about.
▫ Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph
(topic sentences) to determine the topic of the
paragraph.
▫ Sometimes you have to read the first two sentences or
last two sentences before they make sense.
Let’s Practice
3. Scan the passage and Underline key words and
phrases from the questions and other stuff that
seems important.
▫ Don’t read the entire passage, Scan it:
 pass your eyes over all of it trying only to spot key words.
 Every time you see a key word or phrase underline it.
 Also underline any words that seem similar to the key
words you identified in the questions.
Let’s Practice
3. Scribble the main idea in the margin.
▫ In the margin, write what the paragraph is about.
▫ This will help you determine the main idea of every
paragraph.
▫ Even if you cannot find the exact words in the passage,
you will know where to look for an answer.
▫ This saves you time because you will not read the entire
passage word for word.
Let’s Practice
4. Answer the questions.
▫ Go to the first question that points to an answer and
read it carefully.
▫ Return to that part of the passage and read around it
carefully.
▫ Formulate your own answer to the question.
▫ Pick the answer choice that best matches your own.
▫ Even if you cannot find the wording in the passage, you
will know where to look.
Let’s Practice
4. Answer the questions.
▫ Use POE.
▫ You may not be able to tell what the correct answer is,
but you might be able to tell which answers are wrong
and eliminate them.
▫ This drastically improves your chances of getting more
questions correct.
Strategy Review
1. Pick which passage you are going to read
________,
First then Give yourself ___
9 minutes to
complete each passage.
2. Read the Questions
_________ first and underline key words
and phrases.
3. Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph
in the passage. _________
Underline key words and phrases
from the questions and other stuff that seems
important. Scribble the _________
Main Idea in the margin.
4. Answer the questions and use ______
POE to eliminate
distracters and wrong answer choices.
Let’s Practice
1. Pick which passage you are going to read first.
2. Give yourself 9 minutes to complete each passage.
3. Read the questions and underline key words and
phrases. Skim the answer choices.
4. Read the first and last sentence of every paragraph
in the passage. Underline key words and phrases
from the questions and other stuff that seems
important. Scan the entire paragraph. Scribble the
main idea in the margin.
5. Answer the questions and use POE to eliminate
distracters and wrong answer choices.
Reading Test Strategy
• What did you underline in each question?

• What did you underline in each paragraph?

• What did you identify as the main idea of each

paragraph?

• Which questions did you answer first?