Getting to know the Act

1. Getting to know the Act 3/16/15 College 101

2. Goals for this evening • Brief history & overview of college entrance exams • Exam section layout and timing • ACT exam • Section information • Section strategies • Section example • ACT Accommodations

3. ACT and the SAT (old vs. new) SAT (previous) • Aptitude Test • Predict future behavior such as potential college freshman academic success SAT (current) & ACT • Achievement Test • Assess Present academic skill levels

4. SAT vs. act

5. SAT vs. act

6. ACT vs. SATTesting details 230 minutes (180 minutes) 205 minutes (175 minutes)

7. ACT English information • ACT English • 75 multiple choice questions • 45 minutes (36 seconds per question) • Questions given in conjunction with a passage • Sentence structure • Grammar and usage • Punctuation • Rhetorical skills

8. ACT English Strategies • ACT English • The English section tests not only obscure grammar rules but also punctuation errors as well • In a series of 3 or more items, put a comma before the “and” • Shorter sentences are preferred to longer sentences

9. English problem example • 1. Choose the best answer • NO CHANGE • waiting, by the back door, • waiting by the back door, • waiting by the back door Choose the best answer E. NO CHANGE F. would sit G. sitting H. sat

10. ACT math information • ACT math • 60 multiple choice questions • 60 minutes (1 minute per question) • Arithmetic, Algebra 1, geometry, algebra II and Trigonometry • 7th to 11th grade math questions • Only four Trig problems • (but two can be done without having learned trig) • It’s the wording in the question that makes this section difficult

11. ACT math Strategies • ACT math • Know how to estimate • This will improve your efficiency and score! • Learn how to use a calculator • Graphing functions and matrix problems • Eliminate wrong answers • Read the question carefully • ACT predicts where students will misread questions – you can count on that answer being one of your choices

12. ACT math talk Plain English Math equivalent • More than, increased by, added to combined with, total of, sum of • Decreased by, diminished by, reduced by, difference between, taken away from, less than, fewer than • Of, times, product of • Ratio of, per, out of, quotient • Is, are, was, were, becomes, results in • How much, how many, what, what number • Add (+) • Subtract (-) • Multiply • Divide • Equals (=) • The unknown, usually a variable (x,y)

13. Math problem example

14. 10 minute break After completing English & Math (105 minutes) 70 minutes remaining (100 minutes with writing option)

15. ACT reading information • ACT reading • 40 multiple choice questions • 35 minutes (about 8 - 10 minutes per passage) • There are 4 types of passages on the act • Prose fiction: Most interesting to read, often hardest questions (most time-consuming!) • Social sciences: politics, history • Humanities: arts culture • Natural science: typically the easiest!!

16. ACT reading Strategies • ACT reading • Don’t take the test in the order presented – do the easiest section for you first, because you know you’ll get those right. Save hardest for last • Timing is everything – pace yourself • Skim – don’t read • Pay attention to distractors - distractors are designed to break your concentration, throw you off track & distract your way of thinking • Translate the question – what are they really asking

17. The Men of Brewster Place     Clifford Jackson, or Abshu, as he preferred to be known in the streets, had committed himself several years ago to use his talents as a playwright to broaden the horizons for the young, gifted, and black—which 5 was how he saw every child milling around that dark street. As head of the community center he went after every existing grant on the city and state level to bring them puppet shows with the message to avoid drugs and stay in school; and plays in the park such as actors 10 rapping their way through Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Abshu believed there was something in Shakespeare for everyone, even the young of Brewster Place, and if he broadened their horizons just a little bit, there might be enough room for some of them to 15 slip through and see what the world had waiting. No, it would not be a perfect world, but definitely one with more room than they had now.     The kids who hung around the community center liked Abshu, because he never preached and it was 20 clear that when they spoke he listened; so he could zero in on the kid who had a real problem. It might be an Reading problem example • 1. The point of view from which the passage is told can be best described as that of: • a man looking back on the best years of his life as director of a community center in a strife-ridden neighborhood • a narrator describing his experiences as they happen, starting with childhood and continuing through his adult years as an advocate for troubled children • an unidentified narrator describing a man who devoted his life to neighborhood children years after his own difficult childhood. • An admiring relative of a man whose generosity with children was widely respected in the neighborhood where he turned around a declining community center

18. ACT science information • ACT science • 40 multiple choice questions • 35 minutes (about 1 minute per question) • Instead of calling it science reasoning, think of it as technical reading

19. ACT science Strategies • ACT science • Basic understanding of the scientific method will help you • Not much science knowledge is needed • Read and understand charts and graphs • Opposites – when 2 answer choices are direct opposites, one will almost always be the correct answer.

20. Passage I     Unmanned spacecraft taking images of Jupiter's moon Europa have found its surface to be very smooth with few meteorite craters. Europa's surface ice shows evidence of being continually resmoothed and reshaped. Cracks, dark bands, and pressure ridges (created when water or slush is squeezed up between 2 slabs of ice) are commonly seen in images of the surface. Two scientists express their views as to whether the presence of a deep ocean beneath the surface is responsible for Europa's surface features.Scientist 1 A deep ocean of liquid water exists on Europa. Jupiter's gravitational field produces tides within Europa that can cause heating of the subsurface to a point where liquid water can exist. The numerous cracks and dark bands in the surface ice closely resemble the appearance of thawing ice covering the polar oceans on Earth. Only a substantial amount of circulating liquid water can crack and rotate such large slabs of ice. The few meteorite craters that exist are shallow and have been smoothed by liquid water that oozed up into the crater from the subsurface and then quickly froze.    Jupiter's magnetic field, sweeping past Europa, would interact with the salty, deep ocean and produce a second magnetic field around Europa. The spacecraft has found evidence of this second magnetic field. Scientist 2    No deep, liquid water ocean exists on Europa. The heat generated by gravitational tides is quickly lost to space because of Europa's small size, as shown by its very low surface temperature (–160°C). Many of the features on Europa's surface resemble features created by flowing glaciers on Earth. Large amounts of liquid water are not required for the creation of these features. If a thin layer of ice below the surface is much warmer than the surface ice, it may be able to flow and cause cracking and movement of the surface ice. Few meteorite craters are observed because of Europa's very thin atmosphere; surface ice continually sublimes (changes from solid to gas) into this atmosphere, quickly eroding and removing any craters that may have formed. Science problem example • 1. Which of the following best describes how the 2 scientists explain how craters are removed from Europa’s surface: • Scientist 1: Sublimation Scientist 2: Filled in by water • Scientist 1: Filled in by water Scientist 2: Sublimation • Scientist 1: Worn smooth by wind Scientist 2: Sublimation • Scientist 1: Worn smooth by wind Scientist 2: Filled in by water

21. Break / Dismissal 30 minutes remaining with writing option

22. ACT writing information • ACT writing • 30 minutes to respond to a writing prompt • Evaluate and analyze the perspectives • State and develop your own perspective • Explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

23. Writing prompt example Intelligent Machines  Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives. Perspective One What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people. Perspective Two Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone. Perspective Three Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities.

24. Strategies for success • Prepare a positive mind & Body for test day • Stick to your normal routine • Get a good night’s sleep on at least 2 days prior to the test • Eat a balance of protein & carbohydrates that will maintain your energy • No penalty for wrong answers • An educated guess is always best • If you have no idea – pick a specific letter and use that letter every time

25. Strategies for success • Practice, practice, practice • Increase confidence & decrease test anxiety by becoming familiar w/ the test • Increase overall speed and accuracy • www.ACTstudent.org • Register for the test • Test prep • Planning • College planning • Financial aid • College and career readiness

26. ACT Accommodations • Register 1st, request accommodations 2nd • Two types • Extended time – national testing • Up to 5 or 6 hours to work at own pace • Special testing at school • Designed for examinees whose disabilities require accommodations that cannot be provided at a test center • Braille, testing over multiple days, scribe or computer for writing test, more than 50% extended

27. ACT Testing dates

28. Questions