ACT guidelines

Basics

• Wake up early, because the test is at 8AM
• Eat breakfast and bring a snack for break at 10AM
• Manage time well. The room may not have a clock.
• Make sure you have a lot of energy for the test.

Calculators

• Bring a calculator when you take the ACT.
• It is allowed but it will not be provided.
• It can save time by doing simple math much faster.
• Students should check what calculators are not permitted.

Time Limits

• Classes may not have a working clock.
• Bringing a watch would be ideal.
• Each test is less than 1 hour so work quickly.

Manage Time

•  Complete each passage in English then bubble in answers.
• Math: Complete one page then bubble in answers
• Reading: Complete each passage then bubble in the answers.
• Science: Complete each activity then bubble in the answers.
• Watch out when you bubble in if you skipped around.

Answer Choices

• There is no penalty for wrong answers.
• The answer choices are ranged from A-E and F-K 
• No Change will be the correct answer, 16 times out of 64.
• If there are no errors don't be afraid to put 'No Change.'
• Focus on what makes the answer choices different.

English Test

• 45 minutes long
• 60 questions to answer.
• It is recommended to spend 36 seconds on a single question.

English Skills

• Students will be tested on their knowledge of:
• Fragments, Verb Agreement, Pronouns, Punctuation, and Rhetorical Skills 
• Students should be comfortable with the Omit and Delete options.

Punctuation

• Punctuation appears a lot on the English part of the ACT
• The most common are commas, dashes, colons, and semicolons

Types of Punctuation

• Commas are most common punctuation mark on the ACT.
• They often are used in inappropriate situations.
• Dashes are also sometimes used, often as stronger commas.
• Semicolons are also common while colons hardly appear.

Commas

• Commas appear the most on the test.
• A correct use of a comma is:
• October 17, 2014
• I like eating cake, but I like eating pie more.

Reduce Wordiness

• Using many words tends to be redundant. 
• Students should try to reduce wordiness.

Mathematics Test

• 60 minutes long
• 60 questions to answer
• Based off of: Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry

Difficulty

• For most, the first 20 question are the easiest.
• The last 20 questions usually are the hardest.
• Save more than 20 minutes for the last 20 questions.
• The questions are based off of what you know.
• It is important to study and understand most of the topics.

math answer choices

• It is ideal to take advantage of answer choices
• If you can't solve the problem, plug-in possible answers.
• Answers Can be used to plug into a problem if it is faster than solving it.

Math Skills

• Students will be tested on their knowledge of:
• Quadratic Equations, Angles, Perimeter & Area, Slope, etc.

Geometry Questions

• Students will have to memorize formulas such as:
• Distance Formula, Midpoint Formula, Pythagorean Theorem
• Student will also have to know important angle concepts.
• Such as: Triangle Sum Theory, Vertical Angles, etc.

TRIGONOMETRY

• The ACT only has 4 questions with Trigonometry.
• The questions tend to be basic and easy.
• You need to know sine, cosine, tangent, and how to use them

Reading Test

• There are 4 passage a student must read. 
• The types of passages include:
• Prose Fiction, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Natural Sciences.
• The test is 35 minutes long.
• There are 40 questions to answer.

Answerings Questions

• Some questions may refer the reader to a part of the passage.
• They can be answered without entirely reading the passage
• Students should look for a bold or italicized word in the question.
• Students should also heed words that say 'EXCEPT' or 'is NOT.'

Time Management

• Students taking the reading test are usually constrained on time
• They should quickly read the passages or skim them. 
• There are 35 questions in 40 minutes on top of 4 passages to read.
• Some suggest to read 3 passages out of the 4.

Skim passages

• A student should only read enough to answer the questions.
• This can save wasted time reading unimportant parts of the passage
• A lot things in the passage won't even show up in the questions.

Types of Questions

• Questions will be asking for the following:
• Main Idea, Specific Details, Conclusions, Extrapolate, and Vocabulary
• Students should refer back to the passages for some specific details.

Science Test

• The Science test is 40 minutes long.
• There are 35 questions to answer.
• The passages involve analyzing data and experiments.

Introductions

• In the beginning of each passage there is an introduction.
• The introduction is usually unimportant and should be ignored.
• It can contain some information that may confuse you.

Science Tips

• All of the questions are based off the data 
• Students should understand what each table or chart is showing. 
• It's important to notice relationships and trends to understand the data
• Positive and negative trends may be called direct & inverse relationships.
• Just like the reading section, the passages should be skimmed briefly