<p>What techniques do you guys use for the ACT Reading/Science. Let me elaborate.</p>
<p>Reading:
-Do you read the passage first, then answer questions?
-Do you read questions first, then read the passage?
-How much time do you spend on each passage?</p>
<p>Science:
-Did you ever go over general science?
-Is there any technique for doing well on the Science besides reading question(s)--->then answering?</p>
<p>Any techniques used would be appreciated, and of course, CONFIDENTIAL! :)</p>
<p>Well I didn’t get a great score on the ACT but I got decent scores on Reading/Science. What I did was I read the passages then answered questions, double checked by going back and finding what the question was asking.</p>
<p>I’ll preface this by saying I got a 36 reading (-0) and 35 science (-2)
For reading, I find the prose fiction tends to take me the longest, not exactly sure why. I like to pace myself at a little under 8 minutes/passage. Usually the first couple questions are about the passage as a whole. I quickly skim the questions looking for line numbers so that I know when I’m getting to one of the referenced questions. Then I read straight through. Although it takes more time, I haven’t run out yet so I suggest it because it really gives you the overall feel. However, you have to be really good at remembering your facts because you can’t go over and over the passages.</p>
<p>For science, pacing is the most important thing. Period. Make sure you are adhering to five minutes or less a passage. Don’t spend too much time on any one question. I didn’t go over any general science, but on the April exam, for example, they asked a question about convection, radiation, and conduction in terms of heat transfer that a lot of people (including me) missed because we didn’t know precisely what they meant. It might only be one or two questions, but a little science vocab review might help.
As far as reading questions first, then going to the passages, I didn’t really believe in this technique until I tried it, so I suggest you do on some practice tests. I felt confused without reading all the information, but as I learned, it really doesn’t matter. On the Charts and graphs sections, almost all the answers can be found by just reading the questions and looking at the graphs. Often multiple questions ask about the same pattern in the charts. It’s a little tougher to do this in the experiments, and you have to read the conflicting viewpoints like a reading passage. Hope this helps! Good luck!!</p>
<p>^kinda unrelated but conduction was the correct answer right?</p>
<p>Honestly not sure but I think so - you can check the other forums for their consensus</p>
<p>Reading:
Do you read the passage first, then answer questions? < yes this is the best way to do it for the ACT. SAT however is different.
How much time do you spend on each passage?
as much as I need to. I don’t think you need to “pace” yourself. Just make sure you don’t brood over one question forever. Also, if you really don’t know the answer, it would be better to guess and not skip and come back. Chances are, you’ll forget what the passage was about by the time you get back to it and your guessing will be even more a shot in the dark. </p>
<p>Science:
-Did you ever go over general science?
no… the science portion is hardly science
-Is there any technique for doing well on the Science besides reading question(s)—>then answering?
YES, do exactly the opposite, read the question, look for the necessary information, and then answer.
Example:
Question #1 - Use table 2 to determine which plant mass has more NACLBLAHBLAHBLAH?</p>
<p>then just look over to table 2 instead of reading over tables one and all the introduction information. That saves tons of time and you really don’t ever need the introductions unless it’s one of those conflicting scientists questions. </p>
<p>science is all about reading questions first and looking for the important information, not reading all the information and then determining which pieces are important. </p>
<p>hope this helped
36 composite w/m 35, r/s 36 =]</p>
<p>two people with 36 on this forum lol</p>
<p>@one<em>proud</em>Korean Thank you so much for sharing!!! I just want to take this time on behalf of all the CC community and let you know what an asset you have been to this thread. Sm00th will surely make a 36 (just like you, right?) next time. Have fun in Nova Scotia! </p>
<p>Anyway, I can’t really help you for Science. I made a 25. 
I can, however, help in Reading. I raised my reading score from a 19 (lowest ACT) to a 33. I came up with a strategy. Here’s how I made a 33:</p>
<ol>
<li>Choose your own passage order.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>There are 4 types of passages on every test. Prose Fiction, Social Studies, Humanities, and Natural Science. Take Practice ACT’s and start to pick up trends at which passages you are better at understanding. Choose the two passages you feel you are best at and take those first and last. (Mine is Social Sciences and Humanities.) First, because it gets your head in reading mode. (It’s easier to get in the “mode” if you are choosing something you are interested in.) Last, because just in case you are running out of time, you can speed through easily and not get bogged down in the jargon. </p>
<ol>
<li>Bring a watch.</li>
</ol>
<p>In my opinion, the most important thing is finishing. BRING A WATCH. You have 8 minutes for each section and 3 minutes to bubble in. 8 minutes is not long to read a 750 word passage and answer 10 questions. </p>
<ol>
<li>Speed Read.</li>
</ol>
<p>What I do is speed read the passage first (before reading questions), remembering that I must comprehend it, too. If you speed read, it should bank you some time to go back and search for specific answers in the passage. </p>
<ol>
<li>Bubble in bulk. </li>
</ol>
<p>In order to save time, bubble in the answers in bulk. I circle the answers of three passages in my test booklet, then I go in and mark 30 answers. You DO NOT want the proctor to call time with an empty answer sheet. Bubbling in bulk should save you time compared to finding the answer, finding the space, finding the answer, finding the space, etc… This method also allows you to stay focused on the passage.</p>
<ol>
<li>Move on!</li>
</ol>
<p>You will not be 100% sure of every answer you choose. If you are mostly sure, mark it and move on! You can go back if you have time. </p>
<ol>
<li>Practice.</li>
</ol>
<p>Take practice ACT’s. You must know the pace at which you should be reading and answering at. If not, you could spend the 35 minutes on the first passage and not realize it. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. It helped me. Man, I should write a book.</p>
<p>for the reading section, underline bits that seem important and look like the type of thing a question would be asked about. I really think the act of underlining stuff along helps you concentrate better on the passage and find the right answer.</p>
<p>don’t take time to annotate, just circle and underline stuff so if you need to find something that you underlined earlier quickly to double check a question you can.</p>
<p>I agree with Josh. I forgot to mention the underlining thing because I do that as well.</p>
<p>“What I do is speed read the passage first (before reading questions), remembering that I must comprehend it, too.”
hardest part for me…<em>sigh</em></p>
<p>good advice, stevped. not to mention u get brownie points in my book for this:</p>
<p>“@one<em>proud</em>Korean Thank you so much for sharing!!! I just want to take this time on behalf of all the CC community and let you know what an asset you have been to this thread. Sm00th will surely make a 36 (just like you, right?) next time. Have fun in Nova Scotia!”
LOL. amazing.</p>
<p>haha it seems like one<em>proud</em>korean has made quite the name for himself on CC</p>