Chapter 10 The ACT Reading Test

Even students with superior reading skills find this test to be tough. To crack the Reading test, you have to learn a strategic approach of how to work the passages in an order that makes sense for you. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to order the passages and apply a basic approach.

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE READING TEST

The Reading test consists of 4 passages, 10 questions each, for a total of 40 questions that you must answer in 35 minutes. There are many factors about the structure of this test that make it difficult. For one thing, the particular passages will obviously vary from test to test, so you can’t predict whether you’ll like the topic or find the passage more readable than not. Moreover, the questions are in neither order of difficulty nor chronological order. And while line references in the questions can make finding answers easier, it’s not unusual to have passages with few line reference questions.

There are, however, several consistent factors on each test. The passages are all roughly the same length, and they always come in the same order: Prose Fiction, Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science. But just because that’s ACT’s order doesn’t mean it has to be yours.

PERSONAL ORDER OF DIFFICULTY (POOD)

To get your best score on the Reading test, you have to pick your own order of the passages, and on each passage, your own order of the questions. When time is your enemy, as it is on the ACT, find and work up front what’s easier for you. Leave for last, or never, what’s difficult for you.

The Passages

You can’t risk doing the passages in the order ACT provides just because they’re in that order. What if the Natural Science passage turned out to be the easiest and you ran out of time before you could get to it?

Every time you take the ACT, for practice and for real, pick the order of the passages that makes sense for you. There are four issues to consider when picking your order. In practice, you may build up a track record to determine a typical order. But pay attention to the particulars of each test and be willing to adapt your order.

1. Your POOD

Use your own POOD to identify the genres and topics you like best. For example, do you rarely read fiction outside of school? Then the Prose Fiction is unlikely to be a smart choice to do first. The topics, however, may change your mind. Read the blurbs to see if that day’s Social Science, for example, is a topic you know more about than, say the topic of the Humanities.

2. Paragraphs

The passages are all roughly the same length, but how they’re arranged in paragraphs will differ. It’s much easier to find answers on a passage with more, smaller paragraphs than on a passage with just a few huge paragraphs. Look for passages with six to eight decent-sized paragraphs.

3. Questions

ACT can be pretty cheap with line references, so the more questions with line references the better. Glance at the questions: Do you see many with numbers? That’s a great sign.

4. Answers

Difficult questions tend to need longer answers. So look for many questions with short answers. Just like with line references, the more the better.

Be Flexible and Ruthless

Picking your order isn’t a long, deliberative process. Use the practice tests in Chapters 10, 12, 14, and 16 to determine a typical order, but always be prepared to adapt. Take 10 seconds at the start of every ACT to look at the topics, paragraphs, questions, and answers to confirm or adapt your order.

The Questions

Same song, different verse. You can’t do the questions in the order ACT provides. They’re not in order of difficulty, and they’re not in chronological order. Instead, think of Now, Later, Never. Do Now any question that is either easy to answer OR for which the answer is easy to find. Do Later, or perhaps Never, questions that are both difficult to answer AND for which the answers are difficult to find.

1. Easy to Answer

ACT describes the questions in two categories: those that ask you to refer to what is directly stated, and those that require you to reason an implied meaning. In other words, reference questions ask what does the author say, while the reasoning questions ask what does the author mean. It’s easier to answer “what does the author say?” than to answer “what is the author really saying?”

2. Easy to Find the Answer

A question easy to answer may do you no good if you can’t find the answer in the passage. On the other hand, a reasoning question with a line reference tells you exactly where you can find the answer. Even if it’s a tougher question to answer, do it Now if you know where to find the answer.

In a perfect world, we’d give you an exact order to follow every time. The ACT is not a perfect world. Instead, you have to consider the particulars of each test and know how to make an order that works on that test.

PACING

With just 35 minutes to do 4 passages and 40 questions, you don’t have even 9 minutes for every passage. But should you do all 4 passages? Think about the pacing chart we discussed in Chapter 1. You may hit your scoring goals if you take more time and if you do fewer passages. On the other hand, you may decide that you can’t get all of the questions right no matter how much time you spend. In that case, you’re better off getting to as many Now questions as you can.

35 ÷ 4 ≠ 36

Whichever pacing strategy works for you, don’t treat all the passages you work equally. That is, even if you work all 4, you shouldn’t spend 8.75 minutes on each. Spend more time on your best passages and spend less on your worst. For example, spend 12 minutes on your first passage, 10 minutes on your second, 8 minutes on your third, and 5 minutes on your last. This is just an example: practice, practice, and practice to figure out a pacing strategy that will reach your target score.

POE

Many students destroy their pacing with one particular bad habit on the Reading test: They keep rereading and rereading part of the passage, trying to understand the answer to a tough question. But you’re ignoring the one advantage of a multiple-choice test: The correct answer is right on the page. Use POE to eliminate three wrong answers to find the correct answer. It’s not always easy to answer these questions, but you will likely be able to spot at least one wrong answer. In fact, using POE is a crucial step of our 4-step Basic Approach.

Now that you know how to pick your order of the passages, it’s time to learn the Basic Approach.

THE BASIC APPROACH

The Reading test is an open-book test. You wouldn’t read a whole book and answer all the questions from memory, so you shouldn’t do that on the ACT. Instead, you need a smart, effective strategy.

Step 1: Preview

This step involves two parts.

First, check the blurb to see if there is additional information other than the title, author, and copyright. There usually isn’t, but occasionally there is. You have to check each time to see if this one time is the exception.

Second, map the questions. Put a star next to each line or paragraph reference, and underline the lead words. By lead words we mean words you’ll actually find in the passage. Don’t underline generic words like “main idea” or “how the author would characterize.”

Here are ten mapped questions.

21. One of the main points the author formulates is that:

22. The author mentions a “photographic motion study” (line 36) in order to emphasize what quality of Duchamp’s Nude?

23. The first paragraph states that certain early critics of modern art:

24. It can be inferred from the author’s reference to “an explosion” and “an earthquake” (lines 38–40) that Duchamp’s Nude:

25. As it is used in line 42, the word abhorrent most nearly means:

26. It can be reasonably concluded from the passage that the most important characteristic of “modern” art was that it was:

27. Which of the following best describes Roosevelt’s reaction to modern art?

28. It can reasonably be inferred that the use of the words “Ellis Island” (line 17) indicated that:

29. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the organizers of the Armory Show:

30. Which of the following is NOT answered by the passage?

Spend no more than 30 seconds mapping the questions. Do not read the questions thoroughly for comprehension at this stage. Just spot the line and paragraph references to star and the lead words to underline.

Do look at the lead words you’ve underlined, however. They telegraph the main idea before you’ve read one word of the passage: This passage is about modern art.

Step 2: Work the Passage

In this next step, spend no more than 3 minutes on the passage. Look for and underline your lead words. If you struggle with time, read only the first sentence of each paragraph. You’ll read what you need to answer specific questions.

Here are the first sentences of each paragraph to our passage, with the lead words from some questions found and underlined.

The show was grandly titled “The International Exhibition of Modern Art,” but the dynamite, as The New Yorker later commented, was in the word “modern.”

The star image of the exhibition was most certainly Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase (or, as Roosevelt called it, “a naked man going downstairs”), a painting so abstract it defied its own title, which, of course, was the point.

Roosevelt said Duchamp’s Nude reminded him of a Navaho rug he stood upon while shaving each morning in his bathroom.

Anticipating a reluctant audience, the organizers of the Armory Show had included an editorial in the exhibition catalog urging viewers to greet the new art with an open mind.

Between the stars and the lead words you found in the first sentences of the paragraphs, you have a lot of questions whose answers are easy to find, and you’re ready to move on to the next step.

Step 3: Work the Questions

Work the questions in an order that makes sense: Do Now the questions that are easy to answer or whose answers are easy to find. Look at all the stars on questions 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, and 29. You know where to read to find those answers. But when you worked the passage, you found the locations for questions 26 and 27.

Do Later, or Never, questions that are both difficult to answer and whose answers are difficult to find. Questions 21 and 30 are both good Later/Never questions.

As you make your way through the Now questions, read a window of five to ten lines to find the answer.

Here’s an example.

22. The author mentions a “photographic motion study” (line 36) in order to emphasize what quality of Duchamp’s Nude?

Now read lines 27–37 to find the answer.

You may feel you’ve spotted the exact line with the answer, but don’t worry if you haven’t. Move to the last step, and Work the Answers with POE.

Step 4: Work the Answers

If you can answer the question in your own words, go through the answers and look for a match. If you can’t answer it, don’t worry. Review each answer, and eliminate the ones you’re confident are wrong.

F. The different interpretations of the painting

G. The painting’s photographic realism

H. The painting’s inappropriate subject matter

J. The movement implied in the painting

Here’s How to Crack It

Lines 35–37 describe the painting as a nude on the move, which choice (J) paraphrases well. Alternatively, use POE to get rid of choice (F), because there is only one interpretation of the painting, and choice (H), because there is no proof that the author disapproves of the subject matter. Choice (G) may tempt you because of to the degree that it looked at all like what it was supposed to be in lines 34–35, but those lines actually argue against photographic realism.

Repeat

Steps 3 and 4 repeat: Make your way through the rest of the questions, reading what you need for each. Use POE to find the answers. Continue to make smart choices about the order of your questions, doing Now every question that is easy to answer or whose answer is easy to find.

Save for Last

The toughest reasoning questions should be done last (if at all—your pacing strategy may mark them as Never). After you’ve worked all the specific questions on the passage, you understand the main theme better. Questions 21 and 30 for this passage are both smart choices to do last.

Now move to Chapter 11 to practice picking your order and applying the Basic Approach.

Summary

◦ Pick your order of the passages.

◦ Use your POOD to identify the genres and topics you like best.

◦ Pay attention to your track record in practice.

◦ Examine the particulars of each test and be prepared to confirm or change your order each time.

◦ Look for passages with many, small paragraphs.

◦ Look for passages with many line reference questions.

◦ Look for passages with many short answers.

◦ Use the 4-step Basic Approach.

1. Preview

2. Work the Passage

3. Work the Questions

4. Work the Answers