<p>I want some ideas on how you guys handle the reading section. It might help me. So if you could, please list how you approach a passage.</p>
<p>I got a 35 in reading...this is what i did</p>
<p>1) the 1st passage is prose fiction, those are more interpretive so read them fairly slowly..not to slow...just so you understand</p>
<p>2) The last passage is science...that is really straightforward, it is basically word for word in the anwers...THus skim the passage fairly fast (to make up time)</p>
<p>3) the middle two are alright so you should skim as well but not too slow and not too fast (all depends where your speed is right now)</p>
<p>This helped me becasue I found myself missing 2-3 on the ist passage alone!
so slowing down and I did not miss any</p>
<p>Science however, is word for word si i flew through</p>
<p>The other two passages in the middle I just did noramlly and I missed 1</p>
<p>so 35 Hope that helps</p>
<p>O yeah as you are reading make sure you underline random place or things that seem improtant (this will help create place markers in you brain and will be easier to refer to) Also don;t read questions first</p>
<p>I think the above is the best 'overall' strategy for it.</p>
<p>Personally though, I find it easier to read the first two passages fairly slow (enough so that you can comprehend them). I find the last two sciences passages to be the easiest to reference word for word.</p>
<p>On the last ACT test, I read nothing on the reading and just skipped directly to the questions for each passage. I scored 99% percentile in both science passages, but only a horrid 66%ish on the prose and 80%ish on the humanities... so you can see where my strategy for the next test is coming from.</p>
<p>Read.
I find it's way easier to read the passage than to just find the answer w/o reading the passage. Unlike the SAT, the ACT does not usually have "in lines 30-33, the brother mentions" line reference kind of questions. They usually ask "the brother mentions" etc. etc. so you need to get the gist of the whole passage.
My recommendation: quickly read through each paragraph, and quickly jot down three important words that summarize the passage. That way, when the question asks, "the brother thinks what of his cat?" you can just look at your notes for cat and brother to find where it is in the appropriate section.
make sure though don't overanalyze. Once you find the answer, move on. Don't double check it. there isn't enough time.</p>
<p>How long do you guys spend in minutes reading the passage?</p>
<p>arpster how much did you have to refer back the the science passage since you skimmed it?</p>
<p>Well, on the april one i basically skimmed really fast so i had an idea where everything was (I also randomly underlined stuff cause that seems to really help in remembering where the info was, i dunno why though)</p>
<p>Anyway, so I skimmed pretty fast cause i knew that it would be easy. Then when answering the questions only like half I refered back to. By the way I pretty much knew where the exact wording (because of underling) was and I found the answer pretty much waord for word. By the way towards the end of the sicence passage one was a bit tricky because I didn;t read all the answer choices, so make sure you do that. </p>
<p>Umm...what else</p>
<p>So yea u do need to skim to get a basic understanding of where the stuff is and common ideas. About less than half the questions you will need to refer back to, I think. REMEMBER though that u need to go slowest on prose fiction and medium slow on the second passage. Don;t worry because you WILL make up the time in science and social science. Just Take practice tests u will c. </p>
<p>One more thing...on some test the social science and humanites difficulties can be switched so just keep that in mind. I think they rarely have the science hard.</p>
<p>I hope that helps!!!!</p>
<p>I'm not really sure but i think for science i definatley spend less than 3-4. Fiction is probably more like 5-6. everything else is in between. This is an estimate. I'll have to actually time myself and then I will give u a final answer. THis is a pure guess.</p>
<p>What it boils down to is that everyone has a reading strategy that works best for them. If you read through the posts here over the months, you'll see people who scored 35s/36s using all sorts of strategies. Some skim first, some skip all passages, some read every single detail of the passage, some underline. Figure out which works the best for you on practice tests and run with it...</p>
<p>gold mine of info thanks people</p>
<p>Check this out for more tips:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1717416%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=1717416</a></p>