Your Guide to Self Prep: The ACT Reading Section
The ACT Reading section is a total of 35 minutes long and tests students' speed and instant recall of facts from passages.
Step Two: Grade your exam and identify your weaknesses.
How do I do this?
Carefully consider the types of questions you got wrong. On the Reading section, categorize your mistakes into these four categories to the right:
- Confusion about the passage
- Did you get the question wrong because the meaning of the passage was unclear? Was the language of the passage difficult to understand?
- Memorization of passage
- Did you think you remembered something from the passage but ended up recalling it incorrectly?
- Finding evidence
- Did you try to find evidence for the answer in the passage but were unable to?
- Vocabulary
- Did you miss questions because there were words you did not recognize?
Step Three: Establish a plan for preparation.
How do I do this?
If you took a practice test with ArborBridge, we will provide you with a detailed score report that includes a prioritized list of topics that you need work on.
If you used The Official ACT Prep Guide, there are detailed explanations for each question. Read the explanations for all of your incorrect answers and look for patterns.
Then, develop a list of topics that you want to review. For example, your list might look like this:
My list of topics to review:
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Purpose Questions
I had difficulty with questions asking me for the purpose of a particular line or of the passage as a whole. I need help figuring out what the author’s purpose in writing a passage is.
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Fiction passage
I struggled most in the fiction passage, which I thought was confusing and long. I’d like to be able to approach this passage with more clarity.
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"EXCEPT" questions
These questions were time consuming. How can I answer these questions more quickly?
Step Four: Identify resources and practice!
How do I do this?
Ask your friends and teachers or go online to find whatever resources you think are relevant and helpful.
Recommendations for Resources:
- Use amazon.com’s “Look Inside” feature to preview a few commercially-available test prep books from major tutoring companies. Choose the one that you think best addresses the plan you created in Step 3.
- Use available practice tests, either from the book you selected in Step 1 or from The Official ACT Prep Guide. We suggest you go slowly first. Take as much time as you need, and identify at least one reason for eliminating every answer choice that you do not select. Find explicit evidence from the passage to justify all of the answer choices you do select. Speed will come later.
- Read articles in well-selected magazines. ACT passages are mostly taken from newspapers and magazines. To increase comprehension, read these full-length articles and ask yourself the same types of questions as the ACT would. Choose magazines that match the passage type (humanities, natural science, social science, etc.) that you struggle with most. Examples might include Time, National Geographic, and The Economist.
Step Five: Track your progress.
How do I do this?
When you feel ready, take another timed practice section. Grade your exam, see where you’ve improved, and repeat Steps 2–5 if necessary.
PLUS, even more tips from our test prep experts...
Avoid answer choices with overly negative tones.
With rare exceptions, the ACT likes to keep the correct answers fairly positive.
Your learning environment matters!
When studying for the Reading section, be sure to find a place with no auditory or visual distractions. 20 minutes of focused practice is better than an hour of distracted practice.