Reading section strategy

<p>What's the best strategy for the Reading section on the ACT?</p>

<p>For me, I just read the whole thing through and then go to the questions. It's not very long, so you should be able to remember 90% of the information. The other 10% you'd have to go back anyway because they refer to specific lines.</p>

<p>Yeah, and DON'T read the questions before you read the passage; you'll forget them anyway.</p>

<p>This is my strategy (with which I've gotten a 36 and 35 in reading on the 2 times I took the ACT)...</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Order the passages according to your own interest/skill level. I do them 3,1,2,4. (Humanities, Prose Fiction, Social Science, Natural Science).</p></li>
<li><p>I go right to the questions for all but Prose Fiction. Read the question, go to the line. If it is a general question, wait until you have picked up on the main points from other questions, or go back and skim.</p></li>
<li><p>for prose fiction, read the whole passage and underline things</p></li>
</ol>

<p>My first practice test, I got a 25 on Reading. Then I got a tutor, he taught me this, and I got a 36 (in Reading, 34 on test) on my first real one.</p>

<p>good luck!</p>

<p>The first time I took the ACT I got a 31 and after testing out different strategies for myself, I got a 35 on the ACT reading portion.</p>

<p>I try to go in order (I'm kind of OCD). Sometimes I stumble across a passage where I just end up reading the same sentence over and over again. That's when I skip it and go onto the next passage. On the easier passages (natural science and humanities for me) I skim the passages. I use my pencil to circle important details that they could possibly ask questions on. You can get better at predicting this the more practice tests you take. It's a matter of knowing the test :) Like people already said, you should be able to remember most of the material. You can refer back to specific lines when asked.</p>

<p>For the harder passages, I read slowly take my time. Going fast on other portions allow for this. Know which passages you are better on so you CAN allow more time on the harder ones. Try to mark questions you're unsure of so you can go back to them, but always fill in a bubble because there is no penalty for guessing.</p>

<p>Some people will tell you to read the questions and then go back and find the answers. Some even read the first few sentences of each paragraph This doesn't work for me. You should test it out a couple of times and decide if it works for you. For me, I find that I tend to forget the questions if I read it beforehand and the ACT also has several questions that ask about the main idea of the passage. I also think that knowing the context will help you in making the right choice.</p>

<p>Also. Remember that the people at ACT will not select an answer choice that may be a bit 'iffy'. They generally will not have a CORRECT answer choice that has the words 'never, always, everybody, everyone, everything'. They also will not address topics that may cause some controversy.</p>

<p>What's the best strategy? Well, for me, it was this: step 1-read the passage. step 2-answer the corresponding questions. feel free to go back in the passage to look for certain info if you've forgotten it by the time you've gotten to a question. good luck!</p>

<p>
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Yeah, and DON'T read the questions before you read the passage; you'll forget them anyway.

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</p>

<p>True.</p>

<p>You have about 8 mins. per passage so spend 3-5 mins. reading and understanding it and you'll breeze through the questions (with the help of POE).</p>