ACT ENGLISH TEST

Strategies and concept review

ELA Strategies and Techniques
1 all else is equal, lean towards the shortest
answer.
Wordiness and redundancy are never
rewarded. You will be asked to make the
best choices usually the 1ewer words the
better.
i.e. "The tiny, little girl smiled at me.
Both tiny and little have the same meaning
ELA Strategies and Techniques
Skim 1irst
Most are underlined portions o1 text
1 you have a general sense o1 the structure and overall
meaning o1 the passage, you will be more likely to
choose the correct answer.
Take OMT seriously
Selecting this option will remove the underlined portion
1rom the sentence. "OMT is a viable answer when it
eliminates wordiness or redundancy.
When OMT is given it is right more than the time.
ELA Strategies and Techniques
There can be only 1 right answer. 1 you 1ind
2 that are synonyms or mean the same
eliminate them.
Pause at commas
Pause extra long when reading to see i1 it is a
necessary 1it or i1 it seems out o1 place.
Sometimes it helps to 1ear change
The 1irst answer choice is NO CHANGE
This answer choice should be used as o1ten as
the other choices.
!unctuation Rules
Commas
Used to indicate a separation o1 ideas or
elements within a sentence.
Use with a coordinating conjunction to
separate main clauses within a sentence.
Jenny sings in the choir, and she plays the guitar
in a band.
Amanda enjoys her job, but she is looking
1orward to her vacation.
just completed my workout, yet, m not tired.
!unctuation Rules
Commas
Use to separate elements that introduce and modi1y a
sentence.
Yesterday, painted the entire garage.
Use be1ore and a1ter an expression.
The new park, o1 course, is popular.
Use to set o11 an appositive (it renames the preceding
noun)
My brother, a well respected scientist, made an
important discovery.
Use to set o11 interjections
Well, its about time that you got here.
Use to separate items in a list or series.
Skippy packed his suitcase, put on his jacket, and le1t.
!unctuation Rules
Apostrophes
Use to 1orm possessives o1 nouns, to show the
omission o1 letters and to indicate plurals o1
letters and numbers.
My 1riends house is at the end o1 the street.
The horses stalls were 1illed with straw.
Frank and Ruths anniversary is today.
ts raining again.
!unctuation Rules
Colon and semicolon
Colon is used be1ore a list or a1ter an independent
clause that is 1ollowed by in1ormation.
We are required to bring the 1ollowing to camp:
sleeping bag, pillow, clock, and clothes.
Captain Jones said: " have not begun to 1ight.
Semicolon is used to join closely related independent
clauses when a conjunction is not used to join the 2
clauses.
My sister and enjoyed the play; we stopped 1or ice
cream.
!unctuation Rules
Parenthesis
Use to enclose supplemental in1ormation that is not
essential to the meaning.
Alan visited the 1ootball Hall o1 Fame (on a guided tour)
during his summer vacation.
Dashes
Use in place o1 parentheses to place special
emphasis on certain words.
Dr. Evans a noted scientist- spoke to us today.
!unctuation Rules
Periods
Use to end most sentences
Scott enrolled in classes today.
Question mark
Use to end a direct question
Do you think it will rain today?
Exclamation point
Use to end an emphatic statement with
emotion
Please dont use your cell phone in class!
Grammar Rules
Subject/verb agreement
A sentence is composed o1 the basic parts
Subject : is who or what sentence is about
Verb: tells you either what subject is doing or
what is being done to subject.
Grammar Rules
Person
A verb must be in the same person as the subject.
First person: am eating lunch.
Number
Singular subject requires a singular verb.
The earth is round.
Voice
Active voice means that the subject is acting
The dog licked my brother.
NOTE: Active voice is more likely to score higher
points.
Grammar Rules
Present tense the action is taking place now: Jenny works at
the mall a1ter school.
Present per1ect tense the action is occurring over time: Jenny
has worked at the mall 1or 2 years.
Past tense the action happened in the past: Jenny worked at
the mall.
Past per1ect tense the action took place be1ore another action:
Jenny had worked at the mall.
Future tense action will continue to happen: Jenny will work at
the mall
Future per1ect tense Jenny will have worked at the mall 1or 2
years as o1 next week.
Grammar Rules
Nouns and pronouns
Proper nouns name speci1ic people, places
or objects.
Always capitalized
Common nouns name nonspeci1ic people,
places or objects.
Never capitalized
Pronouns take the place o1 a noun
, him, her, he, she, we, they, me, us, you, it,
them etc.
Grammar Rules
Verbs and verb 1orms
Simple present: write
Simple past: wrote
Present participle: am writing
Past participle: have written
Most past tenses are 1ormed by adding ed
Past participles include has, had, or have
(helping verbs)
Grammar Rules
Sentence structure rules
Avoid
Run-on sentences
Sentence 1ragments
Misplaced modi1iers
Parallelism
See page 113 1or more help in the McGraw-
Hill ACT book.
Rhetorical Skills
This addresses writing strategy, organization and
style.
Rhetoric: e11ective and persuasive use o1 language.
Look 1or the 1low o1 ideas, the appropriateness and
purpose o1 both the passage and elements o1 the
passage as well as the e11ectiveness o1 the opening,
transitional and closing sentences.
Rhetorical Skills
Organization: is it logical, ranking items in
order, making connections, resolving issues.
The best approach is to determine which
sentence comes 1irst. The 1irst sentence
should introduce.
diom: the common or everyday usage o1 a
word or phrase.
Sit across 1rom, bogged down, admit to, on
each side, single out, big break, eye-catching.
Commonly Misused Words
Accept, Except
Accept is verb means to "agree to receive
something.
Except is preposition meaning "other than
A11ect, E11ect
A11ect means "to in1luence.
E11ect is used to "indicate or achieve a result.
Commonly Misused Words
All Ready, Already
All ready means "completely ready.
Already means "by or be1ore a speci1ied time.
Among, Between
Among is used with more than two items
Between us used with two items.
Capital, Capitol
Capital: o11icial seat o1 government
Capitol: re1ers to the building where government
meets.
For more help see pages 120 to 122.
ACT MATH TEST
Strategies and concept review
ACT MATHEMATICS
Pictures are worth.at least a couple o1 points.
Visualize to prevent errors. Sketches can be quick and
give you accurate 1eedback.
Think be1ore computing
Use a 1amiliar calculator and know what your answer
should be around to avoid errors.
Answer the question they ask you
1 it has three steps to get to the solution do all three
steps
Check the choices
Can you eliminate any o1 them?
ACT MATHEMATICS
Section has 60 questions
Each is weighted the same, you dont get
more points 1or harder questions dont waste
time on hard questions when you can answer
the easy ones.
The whole is equal to exactly the sum o1 its
parts.
Ratio problems note part to part or part to whole
The ratio o1 girls to boys in class is part to part.
The ratio o1 girls to students is part to whole.
ACT MATHEMATICS
Weird doesnt equal hard
Look 1or new "operations to be de1ined.
Apply the de1inition and compute
You will be required to add, subtract, multiply
and divide whole numbers, 1ractions, and
decimals.
Keep track o1 negative signs and line up
decimals
For more help see page 133.
ACT MATHEMATICS
Square roots
Exponents when a whole number is
multiplied by itsel1, the number o1 times is
multiplied is re1erred to as the exponent.
Any number can be raised to any exponential
value.
7
6
= 7x7x7x7x7x7=117,649
ACT MATHEMATICS
Ratio, proportion, and percent
A ratio is the relation between two quantities expressed
as one divided by the other.
1 there are 3 blue cars and 5 red cars, the ration o1
blue to red is 3/5, or 3:5
A proportion indicates that one ration is equal to
another ration. 1 ration o1 blue to red cars is 3/5 and
there are 8 cars, you could say 3 cars is to 8 cars as x
percent is to 100 percent
A percent is a 1raction whose denominator is 100. the
1raction 55/100 is equal to 55%
ACT MATHEMATICS
Linear equations with one variable
n a linear equation with one variable, the
variable cannot have an exponent or be in the
denominator o1 a 1raction.
solate the x and solve 1or x
2x+13=43
2x+13=43
2x=43-13
2x=30
X=30/2, X = 15
ACT MATHEMATICS
Common ACT example o1 a linear equation is
speed o1 travel.
Remember the 1ormula
Rate x Time = distance
The question will give you 2 o1 these values
and you will have to 1ind the remaining value.
ACT MATHEMATICS
Absolute value o1 a number is indicated by placing
that number inside 2 vertical lines.
Absolute value o1 10 = 10
Absolute value o1 -10 = -10
Probability
Used to measure how likely an even is to occur.
To determine probability, divide the number o1
outcomes that 1it the conditions o1 an event by the total
number o1 outcomes.
Chance o1 1lipping heads is 1 out o1 2, or
The probability is .5
The probability o1 1lipping 3 heads in a row
is x x , or 1/8
ACT MATHEMATICS
10 algebra questions on
Function
Polynomial operations and 1actoring simple
quadratic equations
Linear inequalities with one variable
Properties o1 integer exponents and square
roots
See pages 136-141 1or help
ACT MATHEMATICS
For help on coordinate geometry, equation o1
a line, distance and midpoint 1ormulas, plane
geometry see pages 141-147.
ACT READING TEST
Strategies and concept review
ACT READING
4 passages will be
Prose Fiction
Humanities
Social Sciences
Natural Sciences
You will have about 8 minutes to work on each
passage.
Some suggest to slow down on 2 or three and
guess on the remaining passage.
ACT READING
Question types
Main idea/point o1 view
Authors point o1 view and the intended audience
Speci1ic detail
Asking you about a 1act
Conclusion/in1erence
put together in1ormation and use as evidence 1or a conclusion
Extrapolation
Go beyond the passage itsel1 and 1ind answers that are
probably true based on your knowledge
Vocabulary
There are questions that ask what speci1ic words mean within a
passage. The context should lead you to a guess.
ACT READING
Read the question stems 1irst
Skim the passage
read 1or main ideas
3 components: what, what about it and why did
the author write this
Answer the questions
Re1er back to the passage
Predict an answer
Process o1 elimination
ACT READING
Main idea
What? What about it? And Why?
Speci1ic Detail
Use line or paragraph re1erences to 1ind the answers
Sometimes they are paraphrased
Conclusion/in1erence
Find strong evidence to support
Extrapolation
What is probably true look 1or clues in authors tone
or attitude.
ACT SCIENCE TEST
Strategies and concept review
ACT SCIENCE
Passages in 3 1ormats
Data Representation
Research summaries
Con1licting viewpoints
Prioritize you may only really get to 4 or 5 o1
the 7 passages.
1 you have a hard time with one, move on and
remember to come back and guess.
ACT SCIENCE
Think 1irst
Understand the main idea
Look 1or trends in the charts
Vocabulary you can answer questions
without even knowing exactly what they mean
i1 you 1ocus on the overall idea.
Dont "listen to science
Dont spend time trying to pronounce the
terms
ACT SCIENCE
Scienti1ic method
Process by which scientists attempt to
construct an accurate representation o1 the
world.
s a means o1 building a supportable,
documented understand
Four essential elements:
Observation
Hypothesis
Prediction
Experiment
ACT SCIENCE
Experimental design
ndependent variable manipulated by the
experimenter is under control o1 the scientist
As scientist changes the ndependent
variable, it is hoped that the dependent
variable will change as a result (observed by
experimenter)
A control is an element that is not subject to
the same changes
ACT WRITING TEST
Strategies and concept review
ACT WRITING
Prompt
THERE S NO WRONG ANSWER!
Writing is assessed by your ability to write a
clear, organized and persuasive essay
ACT Writing
Read prompt care1ully 1ollow
directions
Who will you be addressing?
Create a 2 column mind map
denti1y 3 points 1or each side
Organize ideas be1ore you
begin writing which is your
strongest point?
Label your points 1rom
strongest to weakest
ACT PROMPT
PRO
1.
2.
3.
CON
1.
2.
3.
ACT Writing
Decide which side you will write 1rom it
doesnt have to be side you believe in
There is no wrong answer!
Form your topic sentences and use them to
outline your paragraphs
FORMAT is key
Avoid pronouns (, him, her, she, he, they, etc.)
ACT Writing
Begin writing with your HOOK
Form a question that restates the question and
"hooks your reader
Stay 1ocused on your topic and stick to the
side you chose.
ACT Writing
ntroduction
Form a question that "hooks the reader and
restates the prompt
Thesis statement is last its your opinion
believe, think, 1eel etc
believe high school should be extended to 1ive
years because students need the time to become
involved in school activities, get the work
experience and take on hard courses 1or college
prep.
ACT Writing
2
nd
paragraph
ntroduce your strongest point in a topic
sentence
Support your topic in 1-2 sentences
Example
ACT Writing
3
rd
paragraph
ntroduce your 2
nd
strongest point in a topic
sentence
Support your topic in 1-2 sentences
Example
ACT Writing
4
th
paragraph
ntroduce your weakest point in a topic
sentence
Support your topic in 1-2 sentences
Example
ACT Writing
Rebuttal
Acknowledge there is another side but state why you
side is stronger keep to your side.
Conclusion
Restate in new words your thesis and leave the reader
with a remark or question that supports your side
Take your time and plan; then write your essay.
Persuade your reader to believe in what you are
writing.