The ACT for Dummies (ISBN - 0764596527)

386 Pages·2021·5.07 MB·English

by Michelle Rose Gilman and Veronica Saydak

Suzee Vlk

Author of The SAT I For Dummies,

The GRE Test For Dummies,

The GMAT For Dummies

The ACT

®

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

4TH
EDITION

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by Michelle Rose Gilman and Veronica Saydak

Suzee Vlk

Author of The SAT I For Dummies,

The GRE Test For Dummies,

The GMAT For Dummies

The ACT

®

FOR

DUMmIES

‰

4TH
EDITION

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The ACT® For Dummies®, 4th Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of
the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005925494

ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-9652-0

ISBN-10: 0-7645-9652-7

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Authors

Michelle Rose Gilman

“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one heck of a
good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day difficult.” — E.B. White

Michelle Rose Gilman is proud to be known as Noah’s mom (Hi Noah!). A graduate from the
University of South Florida, Michelle found her niche early and at 19 was already working
with emotionally disturbed and learning-disabled students in hospital settings. At 21 she
made the trek to California and there she found her passion for helping teenage students
become more successful in school and life. What started as a small tutoring business in the
garage of her California home, quickly expanded and grew to the point where traffic con-
trol was necessary on her residential street. Today, Michelle is the Founder and CEO of
Fusion Learning Center, a private school and tutoring/test prep facility in Solana Beach, CA,
serving over 2,000 students per year. She has taught tens of thousands of students since
1988. She created the Mentoring Approach to Learning and is the author of various books
on self-esteem, writing, and motivational topics. Michelle founded the Addiction and
Recovery Division at Fusion and has overseen dozens of programs focused on helping kids
become healthy adults. She currently specializes in motivating the unmotivatable adoles-
cent, comforting their shell-shocked parents, and assisting her staff of 27 teachers.
Michelle lives by the following motto:

“There are people content with longing; I am not one of them.”

Veronica Saydak

Veronica graduated from the University of San Diego with a Bachelors Degree in English. She
found her real education in travel and seeing the world. She has traveled to over 12 coun-
tries, studying various cultures through their literature and lifestyles. She has been a highly
coveted English teacher, specializing in writing, for over 4 years. Currently, Veronica is the
Director of Student Development at Fusion Learning Center, where she is responsible for pro-
gram development, staff supervision, and teaching her students on a one-to-one basis. As an
administrator, Veronica specializes in the emotional well-being of over 400 students. Her wit
and humor might not solve the world’s problems but it definitely makes the world feel
lighter. Veronica takes the following advice from one of her favorite authors, Goethe:

“Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality.”

Suzee Vlk

“I’m not a complete idiot. Parts of me are missing.”

Although more likely to admit to being a used-car salesperson, Suzee Vlk was a test prep
specialist from 1975 to her death in 2003, working her way through graduate business
school and law school teaching courses in ACT, SAT I, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT preparation.
By her own description, she found the paranoia and take-no-prisoners mindset required for
doing well on the ACT a big help in developing cutthroat tactics to use in the boardroom or
courtroom. Eventually, she became president of Suzee Vlk Test Prep and taught thousands

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of students in dozens of courses at universities and private corporations. She wrote mate-
rial used in SAT and GRE preparation software and videos. Her prep books for the ACT and
other standardized exams have been published worldwide. Suzee lived by the following
motto, which she delighted in sharing with others:

“Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change ready.”

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Dedication

This book is humbly dedicated to the thousands of students who have, over the years,
passed through Fusion Learning Center. When the teacher is ready, the right student
appears. You have taught us well. And to the memory of Suzee Vlk, the original author,
whose humor, wit, and intelligence live on in these pages.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank agent Bill Gladstone of Waterside Productions in Cardiff, California,
for giving us the opportunity to revise the 4th Edition of this book. Special thanks to
Christopher Burger (the Book Fairy), for being a delightful perfectionist, and who meticu-
lously reviewed and updated the math sections. Thanks to Shawn Hicks and Karina Gillick
for their invaluable input. Many thanks also go to Kathy Cox and our editors at Wiley,
Natalie Harris and Neil Johnson. Thanks also to Christina Wolfe for always feeding us, and
Nicholas Angelo for his daily dose of silliness.

It’s important for us to acknowledge the staff and students of Fusion Learning Center,
Solana Beach, California, for their encouragement and their ability to distract us from our
seriousness. Also, gratitude to our patient friends and family who continually heard, “We’ll
see you after this book is done.” We’re now ready to party!

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at
www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

Project Editor: Natalie Faye Harris

Acquisitions Editor: Kathy Cox

Copy Editor: E. Neil Johnson

General Reviewers: Don and Diana Garner

Senior Permissions Editor: Carmen Krikorian

Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

Editorial Assistants: Courtney Allen, Melissa Bennett

Cartoons: Rich Tennant, www.the5thwave.com

Composition

Project Coordinator: Nancee Reeves

Layout and Graphics: Carrie Foster, Lauren Goddard,

Denny Hager, Stephanie D. Jumper, Lynsey Osborn

Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Betty Kish,

Carl William Pierce, Dwight Ramsey

Indexer: Infodex Indexing Services Inc.

Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies

Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel

Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

Publishing for Technology Dummies

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

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Contents at a Glance

Introduction.................................................................................1

Part I: Coming to Terms with Reality: An Overview of the ACT.........7

Chapter 1: Getting Your ACT Together: The Format................................................................................9
Chapter 2: Succeeding on the ACT...........................................................................................................15
Chapter 3: Reading the Admissions Committee’s Mind: What Colleges Want ...................................21
Part II: Serving Your “Sentence”: English Review and Test ............25

Chapter 4: Glamour Grammar: The Five-Star Review............................................................................27
Chapter 5: Misspellers of the World, Untie! Mastering the English Test.............................................41
Chapter 6: It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It: English Practice Questions...........................47
Part III: Writing the Writing Test Rightly: You Have a Choice .......53

Chapter 7: ACT Write: The First Words on Essay Writing.....................................................................55
Chapter 8: Write Right: The Writing Test Review...................................................................................65
Chapter 9: Practicing Promptly with Practice Prompts: Essay Practice Examples...........................75
Part IV: Don’t Count Yourself Out: The Math Review
and Mini-Test ............................................................................77

Chapter 10: Ogling More Figures than a Beauty Pageant Judge: Geometry Review..........................79
Chapter 11: Catching Some (X’s, Y’s, and) Z’s: Algebra and Other Sleeping Aids .............................99
Chapter 12: Reviewing Miscellaneous Math You Probably Already Know .......................................117
Chapter 13: Numb and Number: Acing the Mathematics Test ...........................................................131
Chapter 14: More Fun Than a Root Canal: Mathematics Practice Questions...................................137
Part V: Time to Read the Riot ACT: The Reading Test ..................143

Chapter 15: This, Too, Shall Pass(age): Sailing through the Reading Test .......................................145
Chapter 16: Where Are CliffsNotes When You Need Them? Reading Practice Questions..............151
Part VI: Proven to Cause Brain Defects in Laboratory Rats:
The Science Reasoning Test.......................................................157

Chapter 17: Frankenstein to Einstein: Excelling on the Science Reasoning Test.............................159
Chapter 18: Faking Atomic Ache Won’t Get You Out of This: Science Practice Questions.............169
Part VII: I’d Rather Wait for the Movie: Full-Length
Practice ACTs ..........................................................................179

Chapter 19: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Day, Part I: Practice Exam 1...........................................181
Chapter 20: Practice Exam 1: Answers and Explanations...................................................................227
Chapter 21: How to Ruin a Perfectly Good Day, Part II: Practice Exam 2..........................................265
Chapter 22: Practice Exam 2: Answers and Explanations...................................................................311

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Part VIII: The Part of Tens ........................................................351

Chapter 23: Ten Wrong Rumors About the ACT...................................................................................353
Chapter 24: Ten Differences between the ACT and the SAT ...............................................................357
Index.......................................................................................359

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