<p>I just can't do it. I tried to take notes, look at the questions before I read the passage and some other things. I always run out of time.I do very well on the other sections but Reading. Reading completely kills my composite score.I wonder what strategies do you guys use.</p>
<p>Read as fast as possible, take no more than 4 minutes. Underline anything that might be important.</p>
<p>After that, questions are easy</p>
<p>Sorry to kill your thread; I have a similar question.
I read the passage in 3.5-4 minutes, however, I took forever to answer the questions. Finishing the section in 40-43 minutes. How to fast-read or whatever?</p>
<p>If you don’t know the questions after reading it…then you obviously didn’t really read it. Skimming it is ok, but you have to actually pick up information while doing it.</p>
<p>^^ he knows what he’s talking about. With the time restraints, there is really no time to read the questions first and take notes or whatever…there’s just not enough time. Read at a decent pace so you finish within 3-4 minutes but then, at the same time, comprehend 90% of the material. then most of the questions should be alright.</p>
<p>Get a general gist of each paragraph and underline a bit to find information quickly if necessary.</p>
<p>The only section I did good on was the reading, and my strategy was to read the questions, find the number that it correlates to, underline or make a note next to it and proceed with all of them except the one that relates the entire passage.</p>
<p>After that I go through the questions one by one and see the context and details of the question and paragraph I’m reading and answer accordingly. I usually have to skip 1 or 2 each passage and I go back to them at the end of the test.</p>
<p>If I have to analyze the whole thing, I read as fast as I can and eliminate using common sense the wrong answers and then pick.</p>
<p>Doing this I had a while at the end to answer the harder questions.</p>
<p>How to read faster and comprehend better is basically all practice in the preceding years of taking the ACT (not literally)</p>
<p>I usually skim the passage, and get the main gist of the main ideas. I underline the important stuff if I see it while skimming.</p>
<p>The rule of thumb I follow is this: If I cannot justify the answer that I picked with evidence from the passage, then the answer is likely wrong. Then I would find another answer choice that fits it.</p>
<p>The problem I have:
- I think almost every detail is important, thus want to highlight almost everything or
- I don’t see ANY info that I think is important</p>
<p>I don’t have this problem on other sections. My reading score is like 10 points less than the other sections. #GodHelpMe</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I think, I figured it out. Time to practice and see how it goes.</p>
<p>i read in 2-2.5 mintues and then spend 4-5 min on the questions. scan the middle of two-three words so u can surf the words.
the faster your brain absorbs words, the faster and more concentrated it will process it. if you read slow and careful, your brain, like people will get bored and not remember. </p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>There are two main strategies you can use for the Reading Section: “First & Last”, or “Questions & Keywords.” Most of my students have success with the latter.</p>
<p>What you DON’T want to do, first and foremost, is try to read the entire thing and memorize all of it. I call it the “sponge method,” where you hope the material is all absorbed after you read the passage and answer the questions.</p>
<p>“First & Last” means reading the first and last sentences of each paragraph to get the introductory and concluding information. This doesn’t work as well for “Prose Fiction,” but can work for the other three passages.</p>
<p>“Questions & Keywords” means before even looking at the passage, you look at the questions and find keywords that they’re interested in. This means vocabulary words, certain concepts, etc. Now that your brain is primed to look for these bits of info, skim through the passage and underline where they appear. Go back through and read these bits as well as what comes before or after. Questions that talk about the “main idea” or inference-type questions come later, as these require reading most or all of the passage. </p>
<p>Given that all the questions are worth the same number of points, it’s in your interest to first answer all the questions that take the least amount of time so that you can have more time for the longer/harder questions.</p>
<p>Hope this helps,</p>
<ul>
<li>Stephen Byer</li>
</ul>