ACT & College Preparation Course for the Christian Student

The writing of history is the selection of information and the synthesis of this information into a narrative that will stand the critical eye of time. History, though, is never static. One never creates the definitive theory of a historical event. History invites each generation to reexamine its own story and to reinterpret past events in light of present circumstances.

The creation of this story is more difficult than it seems. From the beginning the historian is forced to decide what sort of human motivation matters most: Economic? Political? Religious? Social?

For instance, what caused the American Revolution? The historian Bernard Bailyn argues that ideology or the history of thought caused the American Revolution.1 No, the historian Oscar Handlin argues, the Revolution was caused by social upheaval (i.e., the dislocation of groups and classes of people).2 Sydney Ahlstrom argues that religion was an important cause of the American Revolution.3 And so forth. Students will look at several theories of history, primary source material, and then decide for themselves what really happened. “Every true history is contemporary history,” historian Gerald Billias writes.4

After everything is said and done, historians are only studying the past. They cannot really change the past. Theories about the past come and go, and change with each generation. However, the past is past. It is over.

Historians will debate about history, but they can never change history. Only God can change history.

God alone can change history. When persons are reborn in Christ, their present, future, and, yes, even their past is changed. History is literally rewritten. They are new creations. That bad choice, that sin, that catastrophe, is placed under the blood of the Lamb and everything starts fresh and new. A new history for new people.

Let me illustrate. My great-great-great grandfather, whose passion was to kill Yankees, was a slave owner in eastern Tennessee 170 years ago. From that inheritance, like most white southerners who grew up in the 1960s, I grew up to mistrust, even to hate African-Americans. Like so many people captured by their history and culture, present and future became my past. However, when I was a senior in high school, I was saved, Jesus Christ became my Lord and Savior. My attitudes changed. It took time, but prejudices disappeared. Ultimately, I married my New Jersey wife, Karen, and we adopted three African-American children — whose ancestors, by the way, may have been owned by my great-great-great uncle! Three of my children are African-American. Imagine! Quite literally, my history was rewritten. It has been changed irrevocably by my decision to invite Jesus Christ to be Savior of my life. In a real sense, family prejudice and death existing for generations ended in my generation. The destructive, historical cycle that was part of my history has ended. No one, nothing can do that but the Lord. History has been rewritten!

My prayer is that if you do not know this God who can change history — even your history — this history text might encourage you to invite Jesus Christ into your heart as Savior.

CIENCE

Observation Conclusion

The left half of a field of clover was fertilized with lime; the right half was not. What conclusions can be drawn from the picture of this field of clover?

Lime made no difference on the growth potential of the field.
Lime made a great deal of difference on the growth potential of the field.
From the information provided, no conclusion may be drawn.
1. I
2. II
3. III
4. I and II
5. None

NGLISH

Usage

Correct these sentences.5

Let you and I look at these, for they say there are none such in the world.
“Nonsense!” said Amyas, “we could kill every soul of them in half an hour, and they know that as well as me.”
Markland, who, with Jortin and Thirlby, Johnson calls three contemporaries of great eminence.
They are coming for a visit to she and I.

RITING

Rules for the Use and Arrangement of Words

The following rules for the use and arrangement of words will be found helpful in securing clearness and force.

Use words in their proper sense.
Avoid useless circumlocution and “fine writing.” Simplicity and cogency are always virtues in good writing.
Avoid exaggerations.
Be careful in the use of ambiguous words, e. g., certain.
Write with precision.
Be careful in the use of he, it, they, these, etc.
Report a speech in the first person where necessary to avoid ambiguity.
Use the third person if possible. It gives a formal air to your essay.
Do not mix metaphor with literal statement.
Adverbs and adjectives should be placed next to the words they are intended to qualify.

Often authors do not state overtly all their conclusions. Readers are forced to read carefully and to draw their own conclusions about the plot, setting, or characters. Readers do this by inferring, or figuring out, ideas that emerge from the facts. For instance, if a friend ignores your phone calls for six straight days, you might infer that he is not your friend anymore! You could be wrong — he might just be busy — but you will make some sort of inference. You will need to make a lot inferences on the ACT!

OCABULARY

Around the World in 80 Days6

Jules Verne

When Phileas Fogg accepts a challenge from his fellow members at the Reform Club to travel around the world in 80 days — no small feat in the 1880s — the reader is warned to hold on to his seat! — and sets off to prove that you can travel around the world in a mind-boggling 80 days. He sets off by train to Paris with his new valet Passepartout, but then is forced to continue the trip by balloon, arriving next in Spain where Passepartout has an interesting encounter in the bullfighting ring. They continue. Throughout the voyage, they are followed by a detective, Mr. Fix, who is convinced that Fogg is responsible for the recent £55,000 theft at the bank of England. The thrill of seeing all these exotic sights is reason enough to read this novel!

Suggested Vocabulary Words

It would be rash to predict how Passepartout’s lively nature would agree with Mr. Fogg. It was impossible to tell whether the new servant would turn out as absolutely methodical as his master required; experience alone could solve the question. Passepartout had been a sort of vagrant in his early years, and now yearned for repose; but so far he had failed to find it, though he had already served in ten English houses. But he could not take root in any of these; with chagrin, he found his masters invariably whimsical and irregular, constantly running about the country, or on the look-out for adventure.
Fix had heard this conversation. A little while before, when there was no prospect of proceeding on the journey, he had made up his mind to leave Fort Kearney; but now that the train was there, ready to start, and he had only to take his seat in the car, an irresistible influence held him back.
The engineer whistled, the train started, and soon disappeared, mingling its white smoke with the eddies of the densely falling snow.
The weather was dismal, and it was very cold. Aouda, despite the storm, kept coming out of the waiting room, going to the end of the platform, and peering through the tempest of snow, as if to pierce the mist which narrowed the horizon around her, and to hear, if possible, some welcome sound. She heard and saw nothing. Then she would return, chilled through, to issue out again after the lapse of a few moments, but always in vain.
The commander of the fort was anxious, though he tried to conceal his apprehensions. As night approached, the snow fell less plentifully, but it became intensely cold. Absolute silence rested on the plains. Neither flight of bird nor passing of beast troubled the perfect calm.
Throughout the night Aouda, full of sad forebodings, her heart stifled with anguish, wandered about on the verge of the plains.

Test-Taking

Insight

Handwriting in the Writing Test Section

Officially, handwriting does not matter. Unofficially, though, your grader will be indisposed to giving you a good grade if he cannot read your essay. Think of it this way: the grader wants to give you a high score; however, if he can’t read your essay, how can he do that? Also, most graders try to grade 2 to 3 essays/minute. The more essays he grades, the higher his chance of success, and this will determine compensation. Plus, a larger essay count will assure a more comprehensive essay percentage success rate. For instance, graders are given a success percentage. If he is grading 40 essays/hour and he incorrectly marks 20, then his success rate is 50 percent. That is too low. Most graders will be “re-educated” (a euphemism for “fired”) if their success percentage goes below 70 percent. Thus, if the grader is able to grade 100 essays/hour, he will have a larger number to average. Generally, a grader will have a spurt of wrong scores and if that spurt occurs in a small number the grader will be in trouble. All this is to say, write in a legible way. Your grader will be able to grade your essay more quickly and will be generous in his evaluation.

EADING

Inference

Colonel Proctor and Mr. Fogg, revolvers in hand, hastily quitted their prison, and rushed forward where the noise was most clamorous. They then perceived that the train was attacked by a band of Sioux.

This was not the first attempt of these daring Indians, for more than once they had waylaid trains on the road. A hundred of them had, according to their habit, jumped upon the steps without stopping the train, with the ease of a clown mounting a horse at full gallop.

The Sioux were armed with guns, from which came the reports, to which the passengers, who were almost all armed, responded by revolver-shots.

The Indians had first mounted the engine, and half stunned the engineer and stoker with blows from their muskets. A Sioux chief, wishing to stop the train, but not knowing how to work the regulator, had opened wide instead of closing the steam-valve, and the locomotive was plunging forward with terrific velocity.

The Sioux had at the same time invaded the cars, skipping like enraged monkeys over the roofs, thrusting open the doors, and fighting hand to hand with the passengers. Penetrating the baggage-car, they pillaged it, throwing the trunks out of the train. The cries and shots were constant. The travellers defended themselves bravely; some of the cars were barricaded, and sustained a siege, like moving forts, carried along at a speed of a hundred miles an hour.

Aouda behaved courageously from the first. She defended herself like a true heroine with a revolver, which she shot through the broken windows whenever a savage made his appearance. Twenty Sioux had fallen mortally wounded to the ground, and the wheels crushed those who fell upon the rails as if they had been worms. Several passengers, shot or stunned, lay on the seats.

It was necessary to put an end to the struggle, which had lasted for ten minutes, and which would result in the triumph of the Sioux if the train was not stopped. Fort Kearney station, where there was a garrison, was only two miles distant; but, that once passed, the Sioux would be masters of the train between Fort Kearney and the station beyond.

The conductor was fighting beside Mr. Fogg, when he was shot and fell. At the same moment he cried, “Unless the train is stopped in five minutes, we are lost!”

Which of the following conclusions can be inferred from this passage?

Native Americans are bloodthirsty, ruthless savages.
Native Americans are noble, courageous warriors.

I
II
I and II
None

As you react to ACT reading selections, or as you write a response to an ACT writing prompt, you will have to make judgments. To make a judgment you must compare the conclusions of the prompt or the text to a standard, or criteria. You will weigh the veracity of the argument, or the conclusion, to a corpus of information (e.g.., the Bible) or other criteria (e.g., exigencies). This is where it gets sticky for Christian ACT test takers. We must be careful not to be “preachy” when we state our case. In any event, always offer well-supported opinions and logical factual arguments.