<p>Okay well I took biology, and chemistry class...</p>
<p>Then, I realized physics is part of the ACT's too. </p>
<p>I've never taken that class before. Anyone know any great helpful physic websites or books I can study with my Real ACT book?</p>
<p>You don’t need to take any science classes to do well on the science section of the ACT, to be honest. You need to know how to interpret a graph, how to use measurements and simple logic. That’s basically it. If you have an ACT prep book it should teach you how to do all of these things.</p>
<p>ACT science is about working with data, not knowing facts and theories.</p>
<p>^^^^BS…u need to know things… simple stuff tho in general… like pH/acidity, basic biology, cosmology, earth science, and chemistry… its not difficult but u definitely need some background knowledge</p>
<p>ratmkino is right. You don’t need to know much is what tedders should’ve said. They won’t ask about in depth topics like magnetic charge distribution, but knowing basic concepts like kinetic energy would help. For example on the most recent test knowing that potential energy is converted into kinetic energy and heat made the test much easier on a specific question. You could honestly get by on just reading physics for dummies. Fact is though, they could ask a question like that from any area of science, so you just have to hope it’s an area you know.</p>
<p>Oh okay i’ll get that “physics for dummies book” Thanks for the advice you guys.</p>
<p>I was about to quit leadership class to take physics.</p>
<p>Yeah, what they said. </p>
<p>It comes from the ACT itself where you don’t have to take any class in particular (subject knowledge) to get a perfect score on the test. </p>
<p>Rather, the more science you know in general , you can answer some of the questions based off of that without spending 2 minutes reading the passage for 1 answer.</p>
<p>Physics? I haven’t taken any physics and I did just fine on the science. I anything I thought it was quite simple.</p>
<p>I think the only physics I’ve ever seen on the ACT is a distance/displacement/velocity reading and various battery readings with ammeters, voltmeters, etc.</p>
<p>Okay cool. meh oh well i’ll take physics anyways, but hey i’ll probably take the ACT at the beginning of the year. so</p>
<p>@cc123sb LOL really? </p>
<p>Okay, phew i’m kind of relieved after your guy’s input. Thanks you guys!</p>
<p>There are three types of passages in the Science section. You do the first two one way and the last a different way.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Data Representation (3 of these, 5 questions each): almost entirely charts/graphs/etc. with few words. Tend to be the most straightforward.</p></li>
<li><p>Research Summaries (3 of these, 6 questions each): paragraphs mixed with charts/graphs/etc. Tend to revolve around several experiments that you have to examine in isolation and in comparison with one another.</p></li>
<li><p>Conflicting Viewpoints (1 of these, 7 questions): two or three short passages written by “students”, “scientists”, etc. They all talk about the same topic, but have different stances on a key issue.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here are my strategies for the first two:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Read the short blurb at the top of the page to get a very vague, general idea of what you’re dealing with, and then go straight to the questions. Not only does this save time, but it reinforces the central theme of taking the Science successfully: the focus isn’t on understanding the material, but on just answering the questions correctly.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t try to understand the material beyond what you absolutely have to. It wastes time and will usually needlessly confuse you. The ACT makers don’t expect you to be an expert on engines, pendulums, lightning, or God knows what (as can be seen by the fact that comprehension isn’t necessary to answer the questions correctly), so you shouldn’t either.</p></li>
<li><p>Even in the Research summaries passages, the vast majority of questions will be found in the charts/graphs/tables/etc., so spend your time there. Only if you can’t find it there (and sometimes you won’t) should you look to the paragraphs.</p></li>
<li><p>Watch out for the little things. This is the main trademark of high scorers in the Science: they are careful. Most questions people miss have to do with little things like negative signs (-100 is not less than -500, it’s greater), not noticing differences in decimal places or scientific notation between different numbers, automatically assuming that the two things next to one another in a table are what you should be comparing, assuming that the table is in order of least to greatest or vice versa, and so on. Take the time to be careful.</p></li>
<li><p>Take the time to memorize the simple graphs and what they mean about the data they’re representing. These include positive slopes, negative slopes, flat lines, vertical lines, “peaks” (line goes up then down; these lines look like mountain peaks), “valleys” (line goes down then up; these lines look like valleys as well as the letter “v”), exponential-based curve (slope keeps increasing), and the limit curve (slope keeps decreasing, or trending toward a specific flat line). These kinds of graphs all tell you something about their data. Not only will you have to sometimes have to choose between several graphs, but it can also help you with random problems to quickly draw the data’s overall trend.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Here are my strategies for the last kind:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The 2 or 3 passages will be the same except that they differ in opinion on 1 or 2 key issues. These 1 or 2 main points can almost always be found in the first sentence of the first paragraph and the last sentence of the last paragraph. This isn’t an accident: it has to do with where the ACT makers believe the thesis and the conclusion, respectively, should be placed.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t try to hurry and just underline these two sentences. Take the time to re-write in shorthand, in your own words, what each is saying. Not only does this provide an easy place to refer to for the numerous questions that refer to these main topics, but it also forces you to understand what it’s saying and prevents you getting screwed later. Do this for the 2 points in passage 1, then the 2 points in passage 2, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>There may not be a second main point, so don’t spend a lot of time trying to find the hidden point in the last sentence if one isn’t immediately apparent. A good way to tell if something is a main point or not is that a main point will show up in all of the passages (“Tornadoes break windows because of X” “Tornadoes break windows because of Y” etc.), due to the Science section’s design.</p></li>
<li><p>As for reading the passages in full, it’s up to you. There will be some questions that ask about specific details in the body of the passage, but these can usually be located easily and are pretty obvious. If you’re fine on time, I’d recommend reading them for peace of mind’s sake, but I wouldn’t worry if you’re pressed on time and want to skip it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Wow Thanks for the detailed answer! 
I’ll definitely use it. Thanks for the help @injectmagic</p>
<p>@injectmagic, thanks for the great tips! My DS is taking a retired “practice” ACT at our community center tomorrow and we just reviewed your advice. Very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share in-detail!</p>
<p>You don’t need to know Physics for the test. Just chill out and read the information if you are unfamiliar with it and that page will have all the information you need to understand it.</p>