<p>Hi, i am currently studying for the ACT (im taking it this April) and i was wondering what the best strategy was for completeing the reading section. I know that time is very crunched and that you have to read 4 passages so should i read the passage first or go straight to the questions?</p>
<p>I quickly read the passage first.</p>
<p>I would just scan the passage first, but don’t read word-by-word. You won’t have enough time to thoroughly examine the questions and their choices if you read the whole passage.</p>
<p>I think it pays off to read the passage fairly thoroughly first and then try to refer back to the passage as little as possible. In October I took the ACT and my strategy was to skim through the passage very quickly and then try to work on the questions… I got a 24 on the reading. In February I read the passage thoroughly and then barely went back to the passage (and if I did have to refer back it would be very quick) and got a 34.</p>
<p>Well, there isn’t one set method. Everyone does things differently. For the ACT, I go straight to the questions. During tests I’m usually pretty nervous, so I don’t retain as much when I read (I never really remember much about passages if I read them before hand). The questions on the ACT are usually really straightforward, and are almost always directly stated in the passage, so what I do is skim the passage for a key word (that relates to the question I’m on) and find the answer. I made a 33 on the reading section so apparently it worked for me! (:
Good luck!</p>