McGraw-Hill's ACT, 2011 Edition (Mcgraw Hill's Act, 5th edition)

561 Pages·2010·4.62 MB·English

by  Steven Dulan

McGraw-Hill’s ACT
Steven W. Dulan
and the faculty of
Advantage Education
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CONTENTS
About the Author vi
PART I GETTING STARTED 1
Chapter 1 Understanding the ACT 3
What is the ACT? 3
What is the Structure of the ACT? 3
Who Writes the ACT? 4
Registering for the ACT 4
Why Do ACT Exams Exist? 4
ACT Scores 4
Bias on the ACT 5
Disabilities and the ACT 5
Testing Irregularities 6
SAT Differences and Similarities 6
PART II ACT DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT 7
ACT Diagnostic Assessment Test 9
Answer Key 61
Scoring Guide 65
Diagnostic Test Answers and Explanations 69
PART III STRATEGIES AND REVIEW 91
Chapter 2 Strategies to Get Your Best Score 93
The Psychology of Testing 93
Strategic Thinking 95
Relax to Succeed 95
Getting Ready to Take the Test 98
Taking the Test 99
Guessing on the Test 101
After the Test 101
Chapter 3 ACT English Test: Strategies and Concept Review 103
General Strategies and Techniques 103
Usage and Mechanics 105
Rhetorical Skills 107
ACT English Skills Exercises 110
ACT English Exercises: Answers and Explanations 119
Practice Questions 127
Answers and Explanations 132
iv CONTENTS
Chapter 4 ACT Mathematics Test: Strategies and
Concept Review 135
General Strategies and Techniques 135
Mathematics Concept Review 140
ACT Mathematics Skills Exercises 156
Answers and Explanations 168
Practice Questions 189
Answers and Explanations 194
Chapter 5 ACT Reading Test: Strategies and Concept Review 199
Timing 199
General Strategies and Techniques 200
Question Types 204
Strategies for Specific Question Types 205
ACT Reading Skills Exercises 205
Answers and Explanations 214
Practice Questions 219
Answers and Explanations 223
Chapter 6 ACT Science Reasoning Test: Strategies and
Concept Review 225
General Strategies and Techniques 225
The Scientific Method 228
ACT Science Reasoning Test Exercises 230
Answers and Explanations 235
Practice Questions 237
Answers and Explanations 241
Chapter 7 ACT Writing Test: Strategies and Review 243
How to Prepare 244
The Essay Prompt 244
Essay Writing Techniques 245
Common Mistakes 247
Essay Scoring 250
Simplified Essay Scoring Rubric 251
Sample Student Responses 253
ACT Writing Skills Exercises 257
Improving Paragraphs 258
Answers and Explanations 262
PART IV THREE PRACTICE TESTS 265
ACT Practice Tests 267
ACT Practice Test 1 269
Answer Key 319
Scoring Guide 323
Answers and Explanations 327
ACT Practice Test 2 349
Answer Key 399
Scoring Guide 403
Answers and Explanations 407
CONTENTS v
ACT Practice Test 3 429
Answer Key 477
Scoring Guide 481
Answers and Explanations 485
PART V APPENDIXES 505
Appendix 1 What’s Next? 507
Choosing the Best College or University for You 507
Applying to College 510
Suggested High School Courses 512
Appendix 2 Grammar and Punctuation Rules 515
Appendix 3 ACT Vocabulary List 533
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steve Dulan has been involved with the ACT since 1982 when he received
a score of 32 on his own test as a high school junior at Iron Mountain High
School. That score qualified him for the State of Michigan Competitive
Scholarship in 1983. In 1989, after serving as a U.S. Army Infantry Sergeant,
and during his time as an undergraduate at Michigan State University, Steve
becameanACTinstructor.Hehasbeenhelpingstudentstoprepareforsuccess
on the ACT and other standardized exams ever since. Steve attended the
Thomas M. Cooley Law School on a full Honors Scholarship after achieving a
99th percentile score on his Law School Admission Test (LSAT). In fact, Steve
scored in the 99th percentile on every standardized test he has ever taken.
While attending law school, Steve continued to teach standardized test prep
classes (including ACT, SAT, PSAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT) an average of
thirtyhourseachweek,andtutoredsomeofhisfellowlawstudentsinavariety
of subjects and in essay exam writing techniques. Professor Dulan has also
served as an instructor at the college and law school levels.
Thousands of students have benefited from his instruction, coaching, and
admissions consulting and have gone on to their colleges of choice. Steve’s
students have gained admission to some of the most prestigious institutions in
the world, and received many scholarships of their own. A few of them even
beat his ACT score! Since 1997, Stevehas served as the President of Advantage
Education(cid:2) (www.AdvantageEd.com), a company dedicated to providing
effective and affordable test prep education in a variety of settings, including
classesandseminarsathighschoolsandcollegesaroundthecountry,summer
College Prep Camps at The University of Michigan, and one-on-one via the
Internet worldwide via its trademarked Personal Distance Learning(cid:2) system.
The techniques included in this book are the result of Steve’s experiences with
students at all ability and motivation levels over the years.
PART I
GETTING
STARTED
2 PART I
ACT Format
ENGLISH (75Questions, 45Minutes)
Content/Skills Number ofQuestions
Usage/Mechanics 40
Punctuation 10
Grammar/Usage 12
Sentence Structure 18
Rhetorical Skills 35
Strategy 12
Organization 11
Style 12
MATHEMATICS (60 Questions,60 Minutes)
Content Number ofQuestions
Pre-Algebra and Elementary Algebra 24
Intermediate Algebraand Coordinate Geometry 18
Plane Geometry 14
Trigonometry 4
READING(40Questions, 35Minutes)
Passage Type Number ofQuestions
ProseFiction 10
SocialStudies 10
Humanities 10
NaturalSciences 10
SCIENCEREASONING (40 Questions, 35Minutes)
Format* Number ofQuestions
Data Representation 15
Research Summaries 18
ConflictingViewpoints 7
ContentAreas: Earth/Space Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, andBiology
*TheScienceReasoningTestwilltypicallyincludethreeDataRepresentationpassages,threeResearchSummary
passages,andoneConflictingViewpointspassageinrandomorder.
Following a 10-minute break, the optional 30-minute Writing Test will be
administered.
CHAPTER 1
UNDERSTANDING
THE ACT
WHAT IS THE ACT?
Eachyear,morethan1millionstudentstaketheACTinordertogainentrance
into the colleges of their choice. The ACT is a standardized test designed to
measure your critical thinking skills and to assess your ability to apply
knowledge and logic when solving problems. Your ACT score will be evaluated
along with your high school grade point average, involvement in school and
extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, and college application
essay. While the ACT is just one factor that is examined during the admissions
process, it is essential that you maximize your ACT score so that you can
remain competitive among the many other applicants hoping to gain
admission.
The authors of the ACT insist that the ACT is an achievement test, meaning
that it is designed to measure your readiness for college instruction. There is
ongoing debate about how well the ACT accomplishes that mission. What is
not debated is that the ACT is not a direct measure of abilities. It is not an IQ
test. The ACT is certainly not a measure of your worth as a human being. It is
not even a perfect measure of how well you will do in college. Theoretically,
each of us has a specific potential to learn and acquire skills. The ACT doesn’t
measure your natural, inborn ability. If it did, we wouldn’t be as successful as
we are at raising students’ scores on ACT exams.
The ACT actually measures a certain knowledge base and skill set. It is
‘‘trainable,’’ meaning that you can do better on your ACT if you work on
gaining the knowledge and acquiring the skills that are tested.
WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF THE ACT?
The ACT is broken up into four multiple-choice tests and one optional
essay. The multiple-choice tests are called English, Mathematics, Reading,
andScienceReasoning.Theyarealwaysgiveninthissameorder.Infact,there
is a lot of predictability when it comes to the ACT. The current exam still has
very much in common with ACT exams from past years. This means that we
basically know what is going to be on your ACT in terms of question types and
content. Refer to the chart on page 2 for more information on the structure of
the ACT.
3