PR's Cracking the ACT

<p>Just when I'm getting used to PR's technique on the reading section (read question first, find clue words in question, look for clue words in the passage, skim passage quickly and take few notes on the side) I hear from others that I should avoid PR's strategies on the reading section all together because it doesn't help you at all in the real test. </p>

<p>Is that true? If so, should I read the passage first or can I skim it? What's the best way to get through the section? And what prep books go over the reading section correctly?
Does the same hold true for PR's technique on the science section?</p>

<p>as far as i can say, the PR's science tips fail. haha for me at least.. they're wayy too extravagent. all i do is read the question and go straight to the charts/graphs to look for the answer.</p>

<p>i don't know, i just read the passages all the way through and then answered the questions (for the reading and science sections-it helped me on reading, but probably not so much on science).</p>

<p>^ Mika, that's <em>exactly</em> what I did on the reading section and I did fine. Nothing wrong with that, unless your brain works differently than mine ^^ Oh, this rhymes!</p>

<p>Haha, thanks! I like the whole bit about reading the question first and then finding the clue words in the passages, so I'm glad I can still do that.</p>

<p>i've got a 35 in reading and the best thing to do is just read it and try to remember exactly what's in each paragraph, then answer all the generalized questions (main idea etc) then if there are some tricky problems that you dont' remember think of which paragraph it was in and quickly find it
that's what i do, but you should experiment until you find what works best for you</p>

<p>everyone that seems to score 35/36 on the reading seems to read the passage first and then tackle the questions. yeah?</p>

<p>yes :]</p>

<p>^mika, I agree with dragonforce. I've tried the PR way, and it didn't seem natural. I think if you read the questions frist and try to find the answers in the passage, you (1) waste time trying to remember what's in the question-with all the anxiety on test day, I don't need more anxiety- (2) waste time searching for the topics in the passage-because you haven't read the passage, you don't know the flow of the info; since the questions need more than one line reference to be sure it's the correct one, you may get the question wrong if you only read one snippet of what the passage says.</p>

<p>hope this helps
:]</p>

<p>Thanks! I guess that makes sense. Do you read the passage or skim it?</p>

<p>i read it, but i myself am a very fast reader
if you can in practice tests consistently finish all the passages then i suggest you read it and then answer the questions. However, if you find yourself running out of time (as picking up reading speed can take a while) i suggest you follow the skim method. Again you really shouldn't follow a cookie cutter method of the practice books because they aren't written exactly for you. Instead, you should find what tips from them really help you, and then try your own methods as well.</p>

<p>again, I agree with Dragonforce.
I'm not a fast reader, and I still get the passage finished. To me, it's faster for me to read the passage and then find the answers in the passage rather than read the questions, have the questions stuck in your mind, and trying to look for them.</p>

<p>"everyone that seems to score 35/36 on the reading seems to read the passage first and then tackle the questions. yeah?"</p>

<p>uh huh...</p>

<p>btw, do any of you know of anyone who received a 36 on the reading section (for the Dec. test)?</p>

<p>i got a 35in reading on the december test</p>

<p>so did i; i haven't found a single person who received a 36, though.</p>

<p>did you miss one in the social science part</p>

<p>that's where i missed one</p>

<p>i'm not sure where i messed up, because i answered every question and got an 18 on each subscore-several other people i spoke to received the same scores (18 on each subscore, and a 35 on the section). i was just wondering if it was even possible to get a 36 this time around.</p>

<p>LOL arachnophobia12, were you answering my question affirmatively or were you being sarcastic with the "uh huh..." </p>

<p>haha i couldn't tell :(</p>

<p>I am a bad reader..how do u guys read so fast...when i read...i just understand the basics...then when i go to the question...it seems that I don't understand everything...how should i improve</p>

<p>I took a practice test from the ACT booklet and got a 32 in reading! I read the passage first and it helped! </p>

<p>I'm going to keep on practicing until I get a 35-36.</p>

<p>"LOL arachnophobia12, were you answering my question affirmatively or were you being sarcastic with the "uh huh...haha i couldn't tell"</p>

<p>lol, don't worry... i was actually being serious (i noticed that the people who tended to score higher on the reading section read the passages all the way through, and then answered the questions). :)</p>