ACT Science

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ACT Science

• More comprehension in less time

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The reading challenge applies to Science on the
ACT exam

• Passive Entertainment Students now have a
  variety of entertainment choices that dont
  require them to be actively engaged. This
  entertainment is passive- it doesnt require
  the person to read and think. Examples include
  video games, web surfing and television.
• Students read less and have less focus. As a
  result, their reading speed is slow, their
  vocabulary does not expand and they dont use
  critical thinking skills often enough. We can
  define these skills as Active Reading.
• If the student does not use Active Reading
  skills, courses with heavy reading requirements
  (English, History, Sciences) will become
  difficult.

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A possible solution

• Students can change they way they read and how
  they think about what they read.
• People improve focus when they do something with
  what they read.
• Students need to understand why they are reading
  an assignment and how they will use the
  information (quiz, test, essay, term paper).
• Students need to connect details to an overall
  theme.
• See our Active Reading/ ACT Reading Comp.
  presentations for more information

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Science Content Areas

• Science is Reading Comprehension- with different
  content The science section of the ACT is
  largely another reading exam. Students are
  required to read in a focused way and answer
  questions on the content.
• Charts and Graphs This portion of the ACT
  requires the student to understand charts and
  graphs. Some of them are poorly designed and hard
  to understand. Most incorrect answers are due to
  misreading charts and graphs.
• No prior knowledge All of the information needed
  to answer questions is included in the reading.
  No prior knowledge of science is required. In
  fact, students should use only the information in
  the reading- even if they believe that the data
  is wrong.

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Interpreting Charts and Graphs

• Charts This chart is easy to read
• Numbers on x, y axis are properly spaced Some
  ACT charts crowd information, making them hard to
  read.
• The amount of information is limited Some exam
  charts have the many more items to analyze on the
  x-axis. Its simply too much information.
• Color ACT charts are not in color! Each bar is
  black and white.

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Interpreting Charts and Graphs

• Tables
• Multiple Experiments The ACT often uses simple
  tables that include multiple experiment results.
  Students must notice which experiment the
  question is addressing. Read the question
  carefully. If the question asks about Experiment
  2, underline that fact in the test question.
• Too Much Information The example table below is
  simple, because the amount of information is
  limited. The more data listed in the chart, the
  more time it takes to read and analyze it.
  Imagine if the chart below had 7 experiments with
  5 different solutions? I think we would all
  cringe when we saw the table!
• Percentage of Chemical in Solution
• Experiment
  1 Experiment 2
  Experiment 3
• Water Solution 15
  17 2
• Oil-Based Solution 30
  22 16

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General Comments on Science

• Its OK To Skip If you get a complicated chart ,
  skip to question with a simple chart or graph.
  The game with the ACT is to maximize your correct
  answers. Work the most difficult questions at the
  end.
• Hypothesis Questions The most difficult science
  questions ask the student to support or refute a
  hypothesis. For example, assume Scientist A
  provides three reasons why the earth is flat.
  Scientist B lists reasons why the earth is round.
  You are asked about A and Bs views. The fact
  that the earth isnt flat doesnt matter. You may
  have to support that argument when answering a
  test question!
• No Color Since the exam is not printed in color,
  the differences between bars in a bar graph, or
  sections in a pie chart can be very difficult to
  distinguish. Review carefully.

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General Comments on Test Questions

• 3 Incorrect Answers I was a test item writer for
  the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam for
  several years. The hardest task in writing test
  questions is creating 3 incorrect answers that
  seem plausible. That is, an unprepared student
  might choose one of the incorrect answers. Since
  that task is difficult, writers get tired. There
  is usually one answer choice that you can throw
  out because it uses an absolute. The test writer
  included an absolute, because he was out of other
  ideas!
• Absolutes Since there are few absolutes in life,
  you wont find them in many test questions on the
  ACT exam! Answer choices with words like always,
  never, absolutely are usually incorrect.
• Flipping the booklet Another frustration for
  students is flipping back and forth between a
  question page and an answer page. Marking up the
  passage saves time when you flip from the answer
  page to the text.

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Bibliography

• Barrons ACT 2008, 14th Edition
• www.itvdictionary.com
• www.drscavanaugh.org
• www.mindtools.com
• www.csus.edu/wac/active_reading.stm