Acing The ACT

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Acing The ACT

• J.Martin, BGHS

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Todays WN ACT

• Did you run out of time on the practice ACT we
  did? Why?
• How do you feel like you did?
• How hard did you try?
• What seemed to give you trouble?
• Will you take the ACT again? When? Why?
  (scholarships, get in college, etc.)
• What score did you make last time?
• What is your goal?

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How many times have you taken the ACT?

1. 0
2. 1
3. 2
4. 3 or more

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What was your high score?

1. 15 or below
2. 16-20
3. 21-25
4. 26-30
5. 31-36
6. Havent Taken It

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What have you done to prepare?

1. nothing
2. online
3. act books
4. ACT prep class

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How well do you know the ACT?

1. clueless about it
2. a little, not much
3. Im fairly knowledgeable about it.
4. I could pretty much teach others about it.

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Part 1 General Information
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ACT Warm Up Handout

• Use this to answer questions as you pay attention
  to the power point.

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Who should take the ACT?

• Anyone going to college after H.S.
• Anyone wanting scholarship
• Anyone who wants more KEES .
• Anyone going to a Vo-Tech school requiring ACT
  scores.

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Who should take the ACT?
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What is the ACT?

• A standardized test many colleges use to assess
  which students they will accept into their
  college.
• Required for some scholarships.
• TIMED test.
• Multiple Choice

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When is the test?

• September 8, 2012 (8-17-12)
• October 27, 2012 (9-21-12)
• December 8, 2012 (11-2-12)
• February 9, 2013 (1-11-13)
• April 13, 2013 (3-8-13)
• June 8, 2013 (5-3-13)

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Where is the test?

• BGHS
• WKU

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Why me? Im BRILLIANT!
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• Preparation can still give you an edgean edge
  you may need to get in a certain school or nab an
  awesome scholarship.

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Why me? My Grades STINK!
Just Kidding!!
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• Maybe youre a misunderstood GENIOUS! (Genious
  in hiding?) If so, a college may want you even
  with lousy grades.

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Do well, and you can say, SHOW ME THE
MONEY!
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How Much does it cost?

• 35.00 Regular Deadline
• 22.00 Late Registration

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GET A COPY OF YOUR TEST SCORES?

• list of your answers
• copy of the multiple-choice test questions
• answer key
• scoring instructions

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How can you GET A COPY OF YOUR TEST SCORES?

• Test Information Release
• Dates Dec.
• Apr.
• Jun.
• Fee 19.00

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How Much does it cost?

• Free or reduced lunch?
• See your counselor for a fee voucher.
• 2 per eligible person

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Special Circumstances?

• If you have an IEP, accommodations can be made
  for you.

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How many times can I take it?

• As many as you want to pay for.
• Until you get the score you want
• Best to plan to take it more than once. At least
  1x Jr. year 1 x Sr.

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Whats it like?

• Multiple choice
• Takes about 3 ½ hrs. with breaks
• 4 Sections
• English 45 min. 75 questions
• Math 60 min. 60 questions
• Reading 35 min. 40 questions
• Science Reasoning 35 min. 40 questions

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Register Early

• Registration Deadlines are usually 1 month before
  the test date.
• Late registration 22.00 more

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How do you register?

• Online with a credit card
• OR
• Snail mail with a check

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Where can I get Information?

• BGHS Guidance office
• BGHS Library
• www.actstudent.org

Dont ask me, I took the SAT!
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So, what have you learned?
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Part 2 General Test-Taking Strategies
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Take Notes on your own paper.
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1. Know the Directions before you go

• The directions are always the same.
• Knowing them beforehand will save you time.

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2. Use your test booklet as scratch paper.

• Feel free to underline or circle things.
• Draw diagrams in the margins.
• Mark out answers you know are incorrect.
• Put question marks beside possible answer
  choices.
• Make a distinctive mark beside questions you need
  to come back to if you have time.

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3. Answer easy questions 1st

• Quickly move through the entire section and mark
  the questions youre sure you know the answers
  to. Mark each answer as you go,
• Make note of which questions you guessed on and
  come back to them later if you have time.
• Dont miss the opportunity to get all the easy
  answers right because you spend too much time on
  some hard ones.

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4. Dont get bogged down by a hard question.

• 60-90 seconds is a LARGE amount of time to answer
  1 question on the ACT
• If you find yourself spending anywhere close to
  this amount of time on one problem, its time to
  make a guess and go on.
• Come back to it later if you have time, but
  youve got to keep moving.

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5. Avoid carelessness

• Dont make mistakes because you move too quickly
• Answer choices often include tempting partial
  answers Dont mistake a partial answer for a
  real one.
• Take a deep breath, look at the question and
  consider all the answer choices.
• Dont make mistakes because you become frustrated
  or lack confidence.
• Just because a question looks complicated,
  doesnt mean you cant answer it.

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6. Be careful bubbling in your answers.

• Avoid knowing the right answer and bubbling in
  the wrong bubble.
• Pay attention to the letters. Thats why they
  have odds A-D and evens F-J.
• You can mark your answers in the test booklet,
  then go back and bubble the answer sheet (five at
  a time or a page at a time).

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7. Should You Answer Every Question?

• YES!

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8. Pace Yourself

• Its a timed test.
• Take some timed practice tests to get a feel for
  how quickly youll need to work.
• Dont spend too much time in one place.
• Guess if you must, then come back to it if you
  have time.
• Wear a watch
• Find a happy medium, a groove, a speed at which
  you can be both accurate and efficient.

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9. When time is called

• STOP!

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10. Its multiple choice

• Only 1 right answer per question matters.
• The correct answer is right in front of you.
• Pick the right answer if you know it.
• Eliminate wrong answers until youre left with
  the right answer.
• Guess if you must.

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11. Good Guessing

• Eliminate as many wrong answers as you can before
  you guess.
• Sometimes you can look just at the answers and
  notice patterns in the choices that leave only
  one of them different from the rest.
• On the ENG test, less is more.

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12. Review your work

• If you have time at the end, check your answers.
• Make sure youve marked an answer for every
  question.
• Make sure your marks are dark and all erased
  items are completely erased.
• Re-check answers to difficult questions

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13. Set a target score

• Your target doesnt have to be a 36.
• Be realistic

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14. Prepare

• Study regularly
• Schedule yourself time to study just for the ACT
• 15 min a day? 1 hr. 45 min a week
• 30 min per day? 3 ½ hrs a week
• Check out
• http//www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/act/chapt
  er1.html
• http//www.number2.com/
• www.actstudent.org

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Order of Difficulty

• The ACT isnt arranged in order of difficulty.
• Some easy some harder questions throughout.
• So, how should you answer questions?

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Part II Review questions

1. Why should you know the test directions before
   you go?
2. Why do you need to pace yourself?
3. What can you do to help pace yourself?
4. Which questions should you answer 1st?
5. Why should you answer those questions 1st?
6. What are some strategies for answering harder
   questions?
7. Why should you mark an answer for every question?
8. What should you do if you have extra time at the
   end?
9. What should you do when time is called?

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Part 3 English Test
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Take Notes on your own paper.
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English Test

• 5 Reading Passages with underlined portions
• 75 Questions 45 Minutes
• 36 seconds per question
• 9 minutes per section
• Measures standard written English and rhetorical
  skills

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2 Main Types of Questions

• Standard English
• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Usage
• Sentence Structure

• Rhetorical Skills
• Strategy
• Organization
• Style

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40 Usage/Mechanics Questions

• Punctuation 10
• Basic Grammar Usage 12
• Sentence Structure 18

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35 Rhetorical Skills

• Strategy 12
• Organization 11
• Style 12

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Why not trust your ears?

• The ACT is a test of formal English, not the
  informal English you speak daily or the e-mail
  English you read on a regular basis.

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Look for Specific Errors
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• You dont need to be a strong writer to do well
  on this test. You do need to know what types of
  errors crop up again and again, and how to fix
  them.
• Cracking the ACT (25)

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What does the test look like?

• See Example

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On the English Test. . .

• Most of the easier punctuation, grammar,
  sentence structure questions come 1st.
• Rhetoric questions usually at the end, but can be
  anywhere

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Test taking tip

• Move through the test marking every answer youre
  SURE about, then go through it again to think
  more about the tougher ones

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Can you trust your ear?

• Pick what sounds right?
• Do you speak in FORMAL ENGLISH?
• Better to look for specific errors that appear.

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NO CHANGE is Correct

• 25 of the time
• Dont automatically pick it, but if youve
  eliminated other incorrect answers are stuck,
  you might pick NO Change

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OMIT the underlined portion

• Correct over 50 of the time
• Dont automatically pick it, but consider it
  carefully.

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Part 4 Basic Terminology

• Under Construction Do not continue.

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Simple Sentence

• Tom broke the vase.
• 2 nouns Tom vase
• 1verb broke
• 1 article the

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A Noun

• Names a person, place, thing or idea.
• Tom vase

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Verb

• Expresses action
• broke

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Article

• Modifies or limits a noun
• the

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Subject

• The person, place, or thing the sentence is about
• Tom broke the vase.

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Object of the sentence

• Receives the action of the verb.
• Tom broke the vase.

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Adverb

• Modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb
• Often ends in ly
• Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers.

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Adjective

• Word that modifies a noun
• Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers.

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Preposition

• Word that notes the relation of a noun to an
  action or thing
• Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers

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Phrase

• A group of words that acts as a single part of
  speech

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Prepositional Phrase

• Group of words beginning with a preposition
• Tom accidentally broke the big vase of flowers.

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Pronoun

• Takes the place of a noun.

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Clause

• Group of words containing a subject a verb.

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Independent Clause

• (complete sentence) or part of a sentence that
  can stand by itself as a complete sentence

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Dependent Clause

• Contains a subject verb but does not express a
  complete thoughtnot a complete sentence by
  itself.

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