Introduction
One of the biggest sections on your ACT® is the ACT® Reading section and that means having the best possible reading strategies is extremely important. With 75 questions to answer and only 45 minutes to do it in, you need to make sure that you know how to study for this section by reading through the questions and passages properly.
1. Learn Speed Reading
One of the best things you can do for yourself and for your reading skills is learn how to speed read. Now you don’t have to learn the official process which can be quite difficult, but learning how to read faster (without missing content) is still very important. The faster you can read, the faster you’ll be able to answer the questions. By improving your word speed you’ll be able to read every passage and answer every question while still having at least a little time to spare.
2. Read for Content
This is going to sound similar to the last section, but you want to make sure that you’re reading each paragraph (or each question) for the important information. You can breeze right through the entire thing if you make sure to watch for key points, such as the plot or the theme (things your English teacher is always telling you to write essays about). It’s actually a great skill to combine with the next one we’re going to talk about.
3. Read the Questions First
If you want to get the most important information out of your reading then read through the questions and answers before you start. The page or section is going to start with a passage but at the end are the questions about that passage. Take a moment to read through them first and then read the passage. You’ll locate the answers much faster if you know what keywords to watch for.
4. Keep an Eye on the Time
You need to make sure that you’re pacing yourself well throughout the test. That means you need to balance out how much time it takes for you to answer each question. If you spend too much time on the first passage you won’t have enough time once you get to the last one. Divide the time you’re given for the section between the number of passages. Always listen for the warning that your proctor will give when five minutes re remaining. You may want to set an alarm for yourself at this point if you’re practicing but remember you must turn off all alarms during the actual test or you will be disqualified.
5. Improve Your Vocabulary
There are a number of different ACT® vocabulary lists that you can find completely free. These are very important because those words are likely to be on your test. You won’t necessarily be tested on whether you can recite the definition, but knowing the definition will help you answer questions. The larger your vocabulary the better your chances will be of understanding the passages you’re given.
6. Read Often
If you want to improve your ability to read for the ACT® test then you should practice reading. A number of commonly used book club books have questions in the back that you can answer to see if you understood the content of the book. Try reading some of these books (many of them aren’t that long) and answer the questions at the end. If you can answer the questions it means you’re doing well at reading for content, which should help with the ACT®.
7. Improve Your Root Knowledge
Many words you’ll find share a common ‘root.’ The root is a basic component of a word that nearly always has the same meaning. Just like the prefix ‘pre’ means before, other roots will have the same meaning when you see them somewhere else. By knowing a variety of root words you’ll be prepared if a word you don’t know comes up on your test. You’ll be able to at least make an educated guess. This means that you’re going to want to look at a variety of different root words, from common ones like ‘pre’ to more complex ones, like ‘rhod’ which means red.
8. Take a Practice Test
By taking a practice test you’ll be able to time yourself to see how quickly you can answer questions. You’ll also be able to get an idea of the types of questions that you’ll be asked during your test. This is important because you’ll start to learn the tendencies of ACT® questions in order to answer them more effectively.
9. Don’t be Afraid to Skip Around
If you start reading a passage and it doesn’t make sense to you or you’re confused just skip over it. Make sure to make a mark on your answer sheet so you know to come back to those questions (and so you don’t start bubbling in answers to the next questions in the wrong spot) and move on. You don’t have a lot of time and that means you need to get as much done as possible. You can come back to confusing sections later.
10. Learn how to Make Educated Guesses
If you’re not entirely sure what the answer to a question is you can likely still give yourself a little better chance to get it right. Make sure that you read the question and each answer and immediately mark off any answer that doesn’t fit. There will usually be at least one answer that isn’t even close to right and (even if you don’t know what the right answer is) you’ll know it’s not the one you want. This helps your chances by giving you a better probability of getting the question right. For example, if you guess without this technique you’ll have a 1 out of 4 chance of getting it right, which is 25%. If you can eliminate one answer that improves your odds to 33% and eliminating two answers gets you up to 50%.
11. Pre Plan Your Answer
What you want to do is read through the question and create your own answer before you even read the ones provided. Look for an answer similar to yours. If there isn’t one then read through the answers and then read the question again. You may be able to find an answer that makes more sense the second time around.
12. Don’t Jump Too Fast
If you read through the question and it’s asking about a vocabulary word, it may be easy to jump on the definition and move on. In most tests this would be the right thing to do but it’s not the same in your ACT®. That’s because there are often slightly different meanings to every word based on the context. In the ACT®, you’re going to be tested on context. So make sure that you look at each possible answer and then go back and read the sentence where the word was used in the test. You may find that the context gives the word a different meaning.
Conclusion
Using these ACT® reading strategies won’t guarantee you an excellent score on this portion of the test. Hopefully this ACT® study guide has proven helpful to you. Practice these skills and you’ll be far better prepared when you open up that test booklet. You’ll also be ready for any questions that the test might throw at you. Whether you’re already a skilled reader or not, you can easily pass the ACT® reading portion with some focused preparation.
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