<p>9 minutes a passagE!!??
that is IMPOSSIBLE.</p>
<p>people say, just do the questions without reading the entire passage</p>
<p>how r u supposed to do that??
they ask: </p>
<p>from this passage, it can be inferred that...</p>
<p>the author thinks that the main character...</p>
<p>you HAVE to read the passage to get those GENERAL questions (50% usually)</p>
<p>Well??</p>
<p>how do u people do it without reading the passage?</p>
<p>plus, 9 minutes-I get really Pressured and i get Confused and whirly inside my head--can't focus--because everything is thrown on to me at once, and I have 9 minutes!!!...disaster and confusion in the brain</p>
<p>haha. I'm retarded at BOTH the Reading AND Science sections.</p>
<p>I did 3 past ACTs for practice before the actual test, and I'd never ever ever finish the Reading+Sci passages in time. I took like 50 minutes for each of those sections! I was actually banking on the adrenaline rush I always get when I sit for tests to increase my speed. lol. But sadly, the room was totally hot and stuffy, and I was feeling exhausted after the first two sections. (it was hell by the time I got to Science. I couldn't concentrate at all!)</p>
<p>Anyway, I got a 29 for Reading, which is grrreat for me, since I didn't have time to do the entire last passage (bubbled all 'A's for those last 10 questions. ughh.). And it turns out... I got everything right (18 subscore) for the first 2 passages, which makes me wanna hit myself even more. haha.</p>
<p>Then I got a 23 for Science, which I expected. Like most of you guys, it was also because of the time factor.. not to mention I was feeling damn lethargic by then. :( SO, I too need to pull up my Reading+Sci scores!!! and I really am at a lost as to how to. :( They totally pulled down my composite score! (got a 34 and 31 for English+Math respectively.) </p>
<p>OK, I don't really have any reading strategies for you, 'cause as you can see, I'm just as bad as you are, lol. Just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one who thinks it's tres difficult and practically impossible. =P</p>
<p>I took the ACT last April and I got totally stuck on the reading (I thought)--the proctor called 5 minutes when I still had like 10+ questions left. So I scanned the passages super fast and answered the questions with what information I had picked up as a skimmed over the passage. I figured I had kind of messed up on that section and wasn't really expecting a very good score--turns out I got a 36 in that section, and I am NOT one of those awesome test takers who is just naturally really good at that stuff, and I didn't prepare for the test either.<br>
The moral of my story is that if you can just scan the passage and get the main points of it down, the questions are pretty straightforward and you should be fine. You can always look back over it if you're stuch on one of them.</p>
<p>Yeah, I usually have to refer back for almost all the questions, save for general ones.</p>
<p>And what's worse is that I sometimes don't even know which PART of the passage to look at, so that takes up even more of my time! (I have to scan the whole thing again, lol.)</p>
<p>I really just read and answer the questions and ignore time...I'm a really slow reader but I usually end up with like a minute left over....I got a 33 the first time and a 35 in february...</p>
<p>do the questions as you go... like read the first question and find the answer in the first paragraph, the next question and answer in the 3rd paragraph. usually by the time you do the basic questions you have a vague understanding of the passage and can figure out the author's message or whatever. </p>
<p>also i just guessed on a few of them when i took the ACT and it seemed to work out ok, i got like a 34 or something on the reading section and i have no idea how that is possible seeing as i didn't read the whole passage. unlike the SAT, the ACT does not try to trick you, so you can actually guess. if you do a bunch of practice ones you'll probably see the pattern of types of questions and types of correct answers.</p>
<p>but i totally know what you mean about feeling frustrated/unable to do a section. i just can't do SAT reading comp. no matter how long i have there are always multiple answers that sound correct to me... i could write a whole essay backing up either option. for me, the ACT reading comprehension was tested in a different way that i found easier. have you tried the SAT?</p>
<p>veronique, but, if the questions are not in chronologicla order, how can you use the method "do the questions as you go... like read the first question and find the answer in the first paragraph, the next question and answer in the 3rd paragraph."</p>
<p>i mean the question might start with paragraph 5, then 3, then 6, then 1... i don't think you can understand the passage by jumping from a paragraph to another</p>
<p>I thought the ACT reading was much simpler than SAT verbal. It's very straightforward, not so much something to study for. I read really fast, that helps. I just read the passage, read the question, picked the answer that came to mind and after I did that for each section I went back and verified. As someone said, every correct answer is supported by a statement in the passage. I got bored and didn't really read the last passage, answered the Qs and then read it-- didn't change any answers still. Straightforwardness is a big plus.</p>