ACT Strategy Session

1. ACT Strategy Session 800-2Review | PrincetonReview.com

2. Every point counts! Where Will Your Scores Take You? Review your score results with the Where Your Score Will Take You Flyers! Page 2

3. Why students find the ACT difficult! Page 3

4. The ACT Test Writers! The test writers: intentionally make the questions time consuming include trap answers include words that lead you to the incorrect answer choice Page 4

5. Boys v. Girls Who does better on standardized tests? Boys or Girls

6. Boys v. Girls Who does better in College? Boys or Girls

7. Are you an average Joe? You all have 3 seconds to pick a NUMBER! Test writers use this to their advantage when writing questions! YOU are Joe Bloggs! Page 7

9. Do cows DRINK milk or do they PRODUCE milk and DRINK water!

10. Basic Strategies Practice Makes Perfect • Students should take numerous practice tests! • Students should not under any circumstances take the tests for the first time when it counts towards their admissions! By taking several practice exams students will • Increase their confidence & decrease test anxiety by becoming familiar with the test • Increase their overall speed and accuracy Page 10

11. Basic Strategies Study Practice Test Results Too often we see students take one practice test, receive a score, and do nothing with that information. Our practice test score reports give students a detailed breakdown of their results, not just their score in each section. Take a practice test & dive deeply into the specific sections that you need to improve upon. Page 11

12. Basic Strategies Study The ACT Study simple facts about the test Number of sections & what they are Specific material covered in each section Number of questions asked How much time do you have on each section & question? What are trap answers? Are the questions arranged from easy to hard or are they mixed? Page 12

13. Basic ACT Strategies Answer Every Question A A A A A A Not A B A C D E A There is no penalty for wrong answers on the ACT Pick a letter of the day and use that letter every time you guess Page 13

14. Basic Strategies • Use P.O.E. • Process of Elimination • Get in the habit of placing a line through the answers you know are wrong in the test booklet • NEXT Let’s review a sample problem to demonstrate P.O.E. Page 14

15. General Strategy: POE Eliminate what you know is wrong. What is the capital of Malawi? Page 15

16. Process of Elimination Eliminate what you know is wrong. What is the capital of Malawi? London Tokyo Paris Washington D.C. Lilongwe Did you know what the right answer was? Page 16

17. Basic Strategies • ACT Triage • Work on the easy/quick questions first • Be sure to know your POOD: • Personal Order of Difficulty Page 17

18. Basic Strategies Use a Watch • Timing and Pacing are the most difficult aspects of the test because students are not used to dealing with time constraints. • Wearing a watch will helps keep your pacing goals and tell you if you are spending too much time on one section or passage. Page 18

19. Basic Strategies Day of the Test • Take the day before the exam off – do not study • Get a good night’s sleep on at least the 2 days prior to the test • At breakfast students should review 1 or 2 questions in each section of the test. • Eat a balance of protein and carbohydrates that will maintain your energy level for 4 hours Page 19

20. How are the essays graded? ACT essay is “optional” for $14 extra. It’s really not optional because Most schools require the essay! Graders: They grade 200 essays in about 4 hours, all on the same topic. They spend around one minute on each essay. The essay is scored from 2-12. Topics: ACT: Close to the hearts of high school students. They think you care. For Example: Do you think schools should require foreign language? Style over substance! People who take The Princeton Review are excellent at producing first-draft essays, not excellent writers. This is not your admissions essay, and you will never have to write like this! Page 20

21. ACT English Information ACT English Grammar • 75 multiple choice questions; 45 minutes , 36 seconds per question • Question given in conjunction with a passage • Sentence Structure, Grammar and Usage, Punctuation, Rhetorical Skills • The English section tests not only obscure grammar rules but also punctuation errors as well ACT expects students to know what they want—It’s more than just pure grammar! • In a series of 3 or more items, put a comma before the “and” • Shorter sentences are preferred to longer sentences Page 21

22. ACT English Strategies • Tests against your ear • Grocery store: 10 Items or…. Less? Fewer? • No Change = correct 25% of the time it appears • Omit this Underlined Section = correct 50% of the time it appears Page 22

23. ACT English Sample Question Watch the context. The scientist’s work in the field of physics continued to influence the public’s understanding of the subject. No Change continue will continue has the ongoing effect of continuing Page 23

24. ACT English Sample Question Keep it consistent. The scientist’s work in the field of physics continued to influence the public’s understanding of the subject. His research will redefine a common misconception held by many people. By conducting this experiment, the scientist will become more famous than Albert Einstein. No Change continue will continue has the ongoing effect of continuing Page 24

25. ACT Math Information Math 60 multiple choice questions; 60 minutes 1 minute per question! Algebra I and II, Arithmetic, Geometry, Trigonometry This is 7th-11th grade math It’s the wording in the question that makes this section difficult Only four Trig problems, but two can be done without having even learned Trig! They are out to intimidate you! Page 25

26. ACTMath Strategies Know how to ballpark - this will improve your efficiency and score! Learn how to use a calculator – graphing functions and matrix problems Take 2 passes - X the questions in the test booklet you do not understand at all and skip them on your second pass - when should I circle some P.O.E. - be sure to eliminate the wrong answers Follow your personal order of difficulty – start with your easiest section Read the question carefully – they predict where students will misread the question– you can count on that answer as being one of your choices – they do this to trap students Page 26

27. ACT Math Sample Problem 102 - 10π 102 - 52π 10 - 5π 52 - 52π 52 - 10π 47. A circle is inscribed in a square, as shown in the figure below. If the square measures 10 feet on a side, which of the following expressions gives the area of the shaded region in square feet? Page 27

28. ACT Math Sample Problem 102 - 10π 102 - 52π 10 - 5π P.O.E. eliminate any answer choice that does not have 102 52 - 52πP.O.E. eliminate any answer choice that does not have 102 52 - 10π P.O.E. eliminate any answer choice that does not have 102 47. A circle is inscribed in a square, as shown in the figure below. If the square measures 10 feet on a side, which of the following expressions gives the area of the shaded region in square feet? Area of the square minus the area of the circle. Area (Square) = length x width SquareCircle Page 28

29. ACT Math Sample Problem 102 - 10π P.O.E. eliminate any answer choice that does not have π r2 (missing r2) 102 - 52π 10 - 5π P.O.E. eliminate any answer choice that does not have π r2 (missing r2) 52 - 52π 52 - 10π P.O.E. eliminate any answer choice that does not have π r2 (missing r2) In the previous example, we deleted CDE, in this example, we got rid of ACE leaving us with B. You could just ballpark and get this right as well! 47. A circle is inscribed in a square, as shown in the figure below. If the square measures 10 feet on a side, which of the following expressions gives the area of the shaded region in square feet? Area of the square minus the are of the circle. Area (Circle) = π r2 __ __ __ Page 29

30. ACT Reading Information Reading40 multiple choice questions; 35 minutes, less than 1 min to answer each question There are 4 types of passages you will encounter on the ACT. 1. Prose Fiction: Most interesting to read, but often the hardest questions! Most time-consuming! 2. Social Sciences: politics, history 3. Humanities: arts, culture 4. Natural Science: Typically the easiest! (POOD) Factual information! Page 30

31. ACT Reading Strategies Don’t take the test in the order it’s presented!Do the easiest section for you first, because you know you’ll get those right. Save the hardest for last. Timing is everything! Pace yourself! You don’t have to read.Skip or Skim. You should look for and eliminate the wrong answers Pay attention to distracters.Distracters are designed to distract your way of thinking, break your concentration, and throw you off track. Translate the question Page 31

32. ACT Science Reasoning Instead of calling it Science Reasoning, think of it as Technical Reading. Basic understanding of the scientific method will help you out. Not much science knowledge is needed. Read and understand charts and graphs There are 3 types of science passages: 1. Charts and Graphs = consists only of charts and graphs 2. Experiments = combination of reading text and charts and graphs in the same question 3. Fighting Scientists = much like the reading section, only reading text, no charts and graphs Work out of order – know your POOD usually students find the charts and graphs the easiest, then the experiments – if you find the reading section easy then you should do the fighting scientists second. Opposites – when a student encounters 2 answer choices that are direct opposites, one will almost always be the correct answer. Page 32

33. ACT Science Reasoning 11. According to the chart, which of the following populations shows the greatest degree of uniformity regarding its blood groups? Eurasian (Ukraine) Western European (Spain) South American (Peru) European American Page 33

34. ACT Science Reasoning 11. According to the chart, which of the following populations shows the greatest degree of uniformity regarding its blood groups? Eurasian (Ukraine) Western European (Spain) South American (Peru) European American Page 34

35. How to Read Your Score Report!

36. Score Reports ITEM ANALYSIS: SECTION This part lists the correct answer (“Corr”), your answer (“You”), and the category (“Cats”) for each question, section by section. The numbers in the top line represent the question numbers. 1 2 3 4 5 Corr A C D C B You + A – b * Cats i i i j j In the example above, the correct answer to question one is “A” and the “+” indicates that you answered the question correctly. On question two, the correct answer is “C”, but your response was “A”. The “–” indicates that you left question three blank. A lowercase letter, like “b” in question four, tells you that you guessed incorrectly and indicates the letter you chose. The “*” in question five indicates that you guessed correctly on that question. The letters in the “Cats”row correspond to the categories listed in the “CATEGORY” section (see explanation 5 below). In this example, they indicate that questions 1-3 are easy sentence completions, and 4-5 are medium sentence completions on an ACT. Each test type has its own categories, so refer to the Category listing on your sheet for the correct list of question types. Page 36

37. Let TPR be your guide Krissi Taylor Leslie kleslie@review.com | 866-408-8867 x.5225| PrincetonReview.com Questions? Page 37

38. Farewell Thank you! 800-2Review| PrincetonReview.com Page 38