ACT 1-on-1 Curriculum Reading: Humanities & Natural Science

1. ACT 1-on-1 Curriculum Reading: Humanities & Natural Science

2. 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.

3. ACT Reading Test-Taking Strategies • Process of Elimination • It can be easier to eliminate wrong answers rather than finding 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 least sentence of each paragraph while also finding key words and phrases in the passage. • Underline key words so 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 read. • If you do not understand what you read, go back and reread it. • Do this again after the next couple of passages as well.

4. ACT Reading Test-Taking Strategies • Focus on 3 • It might be difficult to finish all 4 passages in the time given. • Focus on 3 means you focus on the three passages that you can answer all questions correctly on and then skipping the rest. • Reorganizing passages • You don’t have to do the passages in the order they are in on the exam. • Work from your best passage to your weakest passage. • Use your past experience to decide in which order to complete this section. • Note Taking • Develop a system for taking notes about the passages characteristics, highlight similar items in the same way each time to improve your speed.

5. ACT Reading Humanities • The humanities passage has a cultural significance, such as music, theater, art, or literature. • This question has about 50% reference questions and 50% reasoning questions. • Questions to be prepared for on Humanities • What is the author’s perspective on the subject he/she is writing about? • What events help shape the author’s opinion? • What information does the author use to support his/her point?

6. ACT Reading Try it out — Humanities • Turn to p. 95 in the book • What is the author’s argument? • What are some of the supporting details the author uses for this argument?

7. ACT Reading Natural Science • Natural science will be a technical passage in a science field, such as biology, astronomy, physics, or earth science. • You will want to slow down on this passage but must read it quickly. • This passage contains 80% reference questions. • 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 obscure terms, names, dates, and research findings.

8. ACT Reading Try it Out – Natural Science • Turn to p. 96 • What is the main idea of the passage? • What are some of the names, findings, or obscure terms you came across? • How is the passage organized? Is it a comparison and contrast, cause and effect, process of discovery?

9. ACT Reading Try it Out • Turn to p. 184-187 • Read the 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.

10. ACT Reading Try it Out • Now we will do a timed reading test. • Decide if you will focus on three or four passages. • Think of the order you will do the passages. Write this down. • Take notes on the passages characteristics! • We will do the timed test and then go over the answers.