The ACT Part 2

Yesterday, I explained a few general ways that the ACT and SAT differ.  Today I would like to go into some more specifics about the ACT.


The ACT test prep focuses on 5 key areas:

1. English
The ACT test prep for the English section focuses on grammar rules.  Most people do not speak grammatically correctly.  The ACT takes advantage of this.  It gives students sentences that sound correct, but that might actually be incorrect.  
The ACT test prep teaches students to make choices based on grammar rules, not based on the way sentences "sound."

2. Math
The ACT test prep for the Math section focuses on Basic Math, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and Trigonometry.
The ACT test prep also focuses on tricks that students can use to take advantage of the multiple choice nature of the test.  Because the ACT is multiple choice there are many clever techniques, which wouldn't work on a regular math test, but which do work wonders on the ACT.

3. Reading
The ACT test prep for the Reading section teaches students to identify specific question types and methods for breaking down long, complicated reading passages.
The ACT presents students with 4 page-long passages.  The first passage focuses on prose.  The second passage focuses on social science. The third passage focuses on humanities.  The fourth passage focuses on natural science. Each of these passages has ten questions.
The ACT test prep teaches students that there are three types of questions:  general questions, specific questions with line numbers, and specific questions without line numbers.  The ACT test prep teaches students to look at the questions first, and then scan the passage for answers to those questions.  Students then break down the passages into shorter, more manageable pieces.

4. Science
The ACT test prep teaches students that the Science section is really a chart reading section.  There are 40-questions in the ACT Science section.  Out of those 40-questions only 3 require actual science knowledge.  Because these questions might focus on topics from Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry, or Physics the ACT test prep does not focus on specific knowledge.
The ACT science section presents students with charts, graphs, and questions on those charts and graphs.  The ACT test prep teaches students to eliminate unnecessary information and focus on key terms to answer questions based on those charts and graphs.

5. Writing
The ACT test prep teaches students to write in an essay format that has been proven to score highly on the ACT.
The ACT prompts students on a topic.  Students are then given 30-minutes to write an opinion essay on that topic.  These topic usually focus on issues of interest for high school students.  The ACT test prep teaches students that there is a standard essay format which tend to score highly on this section.