Chapters 2,3 and 4

Wouldn’t it be great if all the questions on the ACT were arranged in order of difficulty?

According to ACT writers

The English section of the test is NOT in any order of difficulty

In the math test, MOST people find the first questions on the test easier than the ones that come later

“IN AN AVERAGE SENSE” the Science reasoning and the reading passages of the ACT are arranged in order of difficulty

But by its own admission, ACT does not use a definite order of difficulty for its tests

If you want to do the easy questions first, your going to have to find them yourself!

REMEMBER that easy questions are worth just as much as difficult questions

So do the easy ones FIRST!

In ACT triage we adapt the triage strategy

With this method you don’t waste time on problems that will die anyway

With this method you avoid the sudden revelation of how to do problem 5…. on the way home!

Just like the doctor, you need to “triage” your test questions

Do you want to do the question now?

This is the question you should constantly be asking yourself during the exam

If you finish the problem and immediately know how to solve it, then of course you should do it right away

Do you want to do the question later?

If you finish reading a problem and You aren’t really certain how to begin

You think you might be able to figure it out on the second pass

Circle the question number and move on

This might seem hard at first

But it is one of the essential tenets of good test taking

It gets easier with practice

Remember your not skipping the problem, your just putting it at the back of the line

Do you want to do the problem never?

If the problem is a “goner” and you’re sure you are never going to figure it out?

Fill in your “Letter of the Day”

And forget it …there are other problems waiting for you, don’t worry about the ones you just can’t do

Do each section of the ACT in TWO PASSES

During the first pass

The object is to nail every single question you can answer

by answering all the questions of which you are sure, you’ll never have to here the words “pencils down,” and know that there were several more questions you could have done, if only there had been more time. You will have already done it.

As soon as you realize you are stuck

Circle the question and MOVE ON

You have not wasted time, you’ve invested it

When you come back to this question on the second pass, you won’t be starting from scratch

Maybe reading it again will help you realize an important point you missed the first time

After you’ve done all the problems you’re sure you can do

And guessed on the one’s you don’t know

Come back to the questions you’ve circled for a second pass

Again, think ACT triage. Most of the “patients” in your emergency room have been handled. Look over the remaining problems and ask…

Do you want to do it now?

Sometimes when you read the question again, you suddenly realize what the point of the question really is

This will save you from that “Oh, Yeah!” revelation on the ride home

Other times when you reread a question you realize you will hate this question for the rest of your life and you never, ever want to see it again

Throw them to the back of the list and keep looking

Those are NEVER questions: do them only if you have time to spare

Sometimes you circled a question because you think it will take too much TIME. Well now you have TIME

Deciding whether you will do a question now, later, or never is a crucial part in improving your results on the ACT

The whole point in ACT triage is to help you invest your time more profitably

By utilizing the two pass approach and the concept of triage…

You will spend a majority of your time working on question that seem easy or at least doable

As a result, you will score more points

Many students with good grades get below average scores because they refuse to guess

On the ACT there is no guessing penalty at all

You must fill in an answer for every single question on the ACT

Try the following question:

What is the French word for eggplant?

Before you answer, if you can, take a look at the problem the way you would see it on the ACT…

1. What is the French word for eggplantA. ζ ىىىB. تجشC. AubergineD. ۴۱۸۹۶

Suddenly the question looks a lot easier. You may not have known the correct answer, but you certainly knew three answers that were incorrect.

Process of elimination The ACT is a multiple choice test. This

means you don’t have to come up with an answer, you just have to identify the correct one from a four or five choices

Try another question:

2. What is the capital of Malawi?A. New YorkB. LilongwiC. ParisD. Kinshasa

This time you could probably eliminate only two of the answer choices. However, that meant you were down to a fifty-fifty guess – much better than random guessing

The process of elimination is a tremendously powerful tool