FREE Study Skills DVD Offer Dear Customer, Thank you for your purchase from Mometrix! We consider it an honor and a privilege that you have purchased our product and we want to ensure your satisfaction. As a way of showing our appreciation and to help us better serve you, we have developed a Study Skills DVD that we would like to give you for FREE. This DVD covers our best practices for getting ready for your exam, from how to use our study materials to how to best prepare for the day of the test. All that we ask is that you email us with feedback that would describe your experience so far with our product. Good, bad, or indifferent, we want to know what you think! To get your FREE Study Skills DVD, email [email protected] with FREE STUDY SKILLS DVD in the subject line and the following information in the body of the email: The name of the product you purchased. Your product rating on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest rating. Your feedback. It can be long, short, or anything in between. We just want to know your impressions and experience so far with our product. (Good feedback might include how our study material met your needs and ways we might be able to make it even better. You could highlight features that you found helpful or features that you think we should add.) Your full name and shipping address where you would like us to send your free DVD. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. Thanks again! Sincerely, Jay Willis Vice President [email protected] 1-800-673-8175 Mometrix Scholarships If you or someone you know is working on their undergraduate or graduate degree and is looking for a chance to win some scholarship money, we think you’ll be excited to learn that Mometrix Test Preparation offers some awesome scholarship opportunities. Since hosting our first contest back in 2014, we’ve distributed more than $15,000 in scholarship prizes to winners from multiple schools across the country. Starting with the 2017/2018 school year, we added three more scholarship contests specifically geared toward future nurses and teachers as well as current Masters-level/graduate school students. Each contest requires students to write an essay (the prompts are different for each contest) - that's it! The contests generally start up in the Fall and run through the following May. For more information, including official rules, FAQs, and how to enter visit www.mometrix.com/scholarships. ACT ® SECRETS Study Guide Your Key to Exam Success Copyright © 2019 by Mometrix Media LLC All rights reserved. This product, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Written and edited by the Mometrix College Admissions Test Team Printed in the United States of America This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Mometrix offers volume discount pricing to institutions. For more information or a price quote, please contact our sales department at [email protected] or 888-248-1219. Mometrix Media LLC is not affiliated with or endorsed by any official testing organization. All organizational and test names are trademarks of their respective owners. Paperback ISBN 13: 978-1-5167-0740-9 ISBN 10: 1-5167-0740-0 Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-5167-0759-1 ISBN 10: 1-5167-0759-1 D F E S S EAR UTURE XAM UCCESS TORY First of all, THANK YOU for purchasing Mometrix study materials! Second, congratulations! You are one of the few determined test-takers who are committed to doing whatever it takes to excel on your exam. You have come to the right place. We developed these study materials with one goal in mind: to deliver you the information you need in a format that’s concise and easy to use. In addition to optimizing your guide for the content of the test, we’ve outlined our recommended steps for breaking down the preparation process into small, attainable goals so you can make sure you stay on track. We’ve also analyzed the entire test-taking process, identifying the most common pitfalls and showing how you can overcome them and be ready for any curveball the test throws you. Standardized testing is one of the biggest obstacles on your road to success, which only increases the importance of doing well in the high-pressure, high-stakes environment of test day. Your results on this test could have a significant impact on your future, and this guide provides the information and practical advice to help you achieve your full potential on test day. Your success is our success We would love to hear from you! If you would like to share the story of your exam success or if you have any questions or comments in regard to our products, please contact us at 800-673-8175 or [email protected]. Thanks again for your business and we wish you continued success! Sincerely, The Mometrix Test Preparation Team Need more help? Check out our flashcards at: http://MometrixFlashcards.com/ACT i ii T C ABLE OF ONTENTS INTRODUCTION ____________________________________________________________ 1 SECRET KEY #1 – PLAN BIG, STUDY SMALL __________________________________ 2 SECRET KEY #2 – MAKE YOUR STUDYING COUNT _____________________________ 3 SECRET KEY #3 – PRACTICE THE RIGHT WAY _________________________________ 4 SECRET KEY #4 – PACE YOURSELF __________________________________________ 6 SECRET KEY #5 – HAVE A PLAN FOR GUESSING _______________________________ 7 TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES ________________________________________________ 10 THE ENGLISH TEST _______________________________________________________ 15 OVERVIEW ______________________________________________________________________ 15 TOPIC DEVELOPMENT _____________________________________________________________ 16 ORGANIZATION, UNITY, AND COHESION ______________________________________________ 18 KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE ________________________________________________________ 25 CONVENTIONS OF STANDARD ENGLISH ______________________________________________ 29 PUNCTUATION ___________________________________________________________________ 37 IMPROVING SENTENCES ___________________________________________________________ 43 THE MATH TEST _________________________________________________________ 62 NUMBER AND QUANTITY __________________________________________________________ 62 ALGEBRA _______________________________________________________________________ 78 FUNCTIONS _____________________________________________________________________ 89 GEOMETRY ____________________________________________________________________ 100 DATA ANALYSIS, PROBABILITY, AND STATISTICS _____________________________________ 136 THE READING TEST _____________________________________________________ 145 KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS _________________________________________________________ 145 CRAFT AND STRUCTURE _________________________________________________________ 151 INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND IDEAS __________________________________________ 159 THE SCIENCE TEST _____________________________________________________ 163 LIFE SCIENCE __________________________________________________________________ 164 CHEMISTRY ___________________________________________________________________ 171 EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE _____________________________________________________ 174 PHYSICS ______________________________________________________________________ 179 INTERPRETATION OF DATA _______________________________________________________ 184 SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION ______________________________________________________ 186 EVALUATION OF MODELS ________________________________________________________ 191 THE WRITING TEST _____________________________________________________ 193 OVERVIEW OF WRITING _________________________________________________________ 193 PRACTICE TEST ________________________________________________________ 196 ENGLISH ______________________________________________________________________ 196 MATHEMATICS ________________________________________________________________ 212 READING _____________________________________________________________________ 230 iii SCIENCE ______________________________________________________________________ 243 ANSWER KEY AND EXPLANATIONS ________________________________________ 257 ENGLISH ______________________________________________________________________ 257 MATHEMATICS ________________________________________________________________ 264 READING _____________________________________________________________________ 273 SCIENCE ______________________________________________________________________ 279 APPENDIX A: TIME STATISTICS FOR THE ACT ______________________________ 282 APPENDIX B: SAT/ACT EQUIVALENCY TABLE ______________________________ 283 APPENDIX C: AREA, VOLUME, SURFACE AREA FORMULAS ____________________ 284 HOW TO OVERCOME TEST ANXIETY _______________________________________ 285 CAUSES OF TEST ANXIETY _______________________________________________________ 285 ELEMENTS OF TEST ANXIETY ____________________________________________________ 286 EFFECTS OF TEST ANXIETY ______________________________________________________ 286 PHYSICAL STEPS FOR BEATING TEST ANXIETY ______________________________________ 287 MENTAL STEPS FOR BEATING TEST ANXIETY _______________________________________ 288 STUDY STRATEGY ______________________________________________________________ 289 TEST TIPS ____________________________________________________________________ 291 IMPORTANT QUALIFICATION ______________________________________________________ 292 HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR FEAR OF MATH _________________________________ 293 FALSE BELIEFS ________________________________________________________________ 294 MATH STRATEGIES _____________________________________________________________ 296 TEACHING TIPS ________________________________________________________________ 298 SELF-CHECK __________________________________________________________________ 299 THANK YOU ___________________________________________________________ 300 ADDITIONAL BONUS MATERIAL ___________________________________________ 301 iv