1 / 20

Breaking Down the Reading

Understand the key elements of the ACT Reading section, including types of passages, question formats, and essential skills. Learn effective strategies, time management tips, and recommended resources to boost your performance.

childress
Download Presentation

Breaking Down the Reading

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Breaking Down the Reading What are the ‘need to knows’ of this section of the ACT?

  2. The Reading Section: • 35 minutes • Four passages • Eight types of questions • Can be read in any order

  3. The Reading Section • Avid readers WILL score better on this section of the test (Kaplan).

  4. Breakdown of Passages • Humanities: • Literature, drama, art, and art criticism. • Main idea (which requires reading the entire passage) • Details (What does each paragraph do to support the thesis)

  5. Breakdown of Passages • Natural Science: • Could cover anything from basic genetics to paleontology. • Make sure the kids know they are not expected to know all of the vocabulary in context. Questions NEVER ask for the Webster’s definition of a word. • This passage has a main idea too. Find it.

  6. Breakdown of Passages • Social Science: • The study of society and people, history, politics, or geography. • This could be anything from a passage about a specific Chinese Dynasty, the Victorian Era, or the rise of the Aztecs. • This is FACT BASED, so note the important details. Those will be found in the questions.

  7. Breakdown of Passages • Prose Fiction: • It’s a story. Understanding the story and the characters will make the questions easier to answer. • Most questions will deal with the story as a whole, inferences made from specific paragraphs, and the meaning of certain words used in context. • These questions are not ‘hunt and find the facts’ like the other passages.

  8. Skills • Understand main ideas • Locate details within a passage and interpret them • Interpret sequence of events and flow of ideas • Make comparisons • Understand cause-effect relationships

  9. Skills • Determine the meaning of words, phrases, and statements in context (these are usually straightforward, but may be used in an unusual or significant way in context) • Draw generalizations • Analyze the author's or narrator's tone and purpose

  10. Types of Questions • Big picture questions • Little picture/detail questions • Vocabulary in context questions • Function questions • Inference questions

  11. Examples of Questions ?????

  12. Big Picture

  13. Little picture/detail

  14. Vocabulary in context

  15. Function

  16. Inference

  17. Timing • 35 minutes for four passages with ten questions each. • 53 seconds per question.   • If you spend a total of 15 minutes just reading the passages, that brings your time per question down to 30 seconds.

  18. Strategies • TIME! TIME! TIME! • REVIEW • STUDENT ACOUNTABILITY

  19. Strategies • Start BIG…Go small…Go back to BIG • Let the student be the judge • TIME! TIME! TIME!

  20. Resources • Mastery Prep ($$) http://online.masteryprep.com/login/index.php • Prep Factory (Free) https://www.prepfactory.com/ • www.princetonreview.com • http://blog.prepscholar.com • https://www.kaptest.com

More Related