ACE the ACT Book + Online

by Kelly Roell MA

Overview

ACE the ACT Book + Online Practice Tests

Completely Up-to-date

Authored by America's top ACT expert, REA's innovative test prep gives high school students crucial test-taking strategies that can help them raise their score and get into the college of their choice.

Four weekly study sessions cover the critical information students need to ace the English, math, science, and reading portions of the exam. An optional fifth week completely covers the enhanced ACT Writing Test. To round out students' preparation, practice tests pinpoint strengths and weaknesses and give students a realistic taste of the ACT test experience.

Kelly C. Roell, M.A., is an author, certified teacher, lecturer, and longtime test prep guru. She taught high school English and Reading for years in one of the nation's top-ranked school districts (Hillsborough County, Florida), instructing students in the many facets of local, state, and national testing. Kelly ran an SAT test preparation course for advanced high school students, guiding them to focus their potential and raise their scores. Kelly has written daily test tips and articles for Scholastic.com and MSN.com.

About REA's prep:

* Tips to boost your score on the Enhanced Writing Test
*Practice tests build your test-day confidence
 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738612232
Publisher:	Research & Education Association
Publication date:	05/22/2017
Series:	SAT PSAT ACT (College Admission) Prep
Edition description:	Second Edition, Revised
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	1,008,936
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Kelly C. Roell, M.A., is an author, certified teacher, and longtime test prep guru. A former high school teacher of English and reading in one of the nation's top-ranked school districts (Hillsborough County, Florida), she has helped students navigate the many facets of local, state, and national standardized tests. Kelly ran a college-admission test prep course for advanced high school students, guiding them to focus their potential and raise their scores. In addition to being published in the education arena, including with ThoughtCo, Scholastic.com, and MSN.com, she has cultivated an enthusiastic following in the parenting realm with appearances in The Washington Post, Scary Mommy, ParentMap, Folks, and other sites. A published novelist, she is currently an editor for Blue Ocean Brain.

Read an Excerpt

How to Use REA’s Ace the ACT

This book and the online tools that come with it are organized into weekly study sections

that align with the four subtests that make up the ACT: English, Math, Reading, and

Science Reasoning. We’ve also included a section for the optional ACT Writing Test.

Ace the ACT puts you on the path to success and gets you ready for the exam. Here’s how:

Review the Book: Each week, study the material related to a single section of the ACT.

The proven strategies will help you tackle any question you may see on test day.

Test Yourself & Get Feedback: After you finish reviewing for the week, go to the online

REA Study Center and test yourself with a full-length practice test for that week’s subject.

Score reports from your online test give you a fast way to pinpoint what you really

know and what you should spend more time studying.

Improve Your Score: Armed with your score reports, go back and review the parts of

the book where you are the weakest, or, if you’ve mastered the material, simply move

on to the next week’s study section.

The REA Study Center

　The best way to improve your score is to get frequent feedback on what you know and

what you don’t. At the online REA Study Center (www.rea.com/studycenter) you have

access to two types of assessment tools: practice tests for each section of the ACT and a

full-length practice test covering all five test sections. Each of these tools provides true-

to-format questions and delivers a detailed score report that pinpoints your strengths

and weaknesses and shows you where to focus your study.

The ACT Test Basics

The ACT Test Has 4 Required Multiple-Choice Sections

English

• 75 questions

• 45 minutes

• Reporting categories: Production of Writing, Knowledge of Language, and

Conventions of Standard English

Math

• 60 questions

• 60 minutes

• Reporting categories: Preparing for Higher Math, Integrating Essential

Skills, and Modeling

Reading

• 40 questions

• 35 minutes

• Reporting categories: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Integration

of Knowledge and Ideas

Science Reasoning

• 40 questions

• 35 minutes

• Reporting categories: Interpretation of Data, Scientific Investigation, Evaluation

of Models, Inferences, and Experimental Results

The ACT Test Has 1 Optional Essay

Although the essay is technically optional, there are three phenomenal reasons you

should just go ahead and register for the Enhanced ACT Writing Test, too.

1. It’s short: The essay is only 40 minutes long. That means it’s less time than a

typical class period. So why sweat 40 minutes?

2. It could be required: Many universities that you’d like to attend actually require

the ACT essay. So, although it’s "optional," it isn’t always. You’ll have to check

with each school to which you want to apply. Why hesitate? Just take it so you’re

covered. For the record, I searched 20 different schools randomly—everything

from Harvard to Wichita State University—and every single one of them either

required or recommended that you take ACT Plus Writing. So, your chances of

getting out of this thing are slim.

3. It’ll reduce later stress: If you end up deciding to attend a school where the

Writing test is required, then you don’t have to schedule another day of testing

to go back and take the whole ACT over again just for the essay. Yes, you read

that right. The Writing test only comes as an attachment to the entire ACT test,

so if you need the essay, you’ll have to take each multiple-choice section again!

　

ACT Scores

　

As of 2016, the ACT changed how it reports scoring. Instead of receiving subscores

based on the subcategories under each section, students now receive percentages on a

comprehensive set of reporting categories. These reporting categories make it easier for

parents and students to determine exactly what types of skills testers need to brush up

on the most. Here’s what your current score report will contain:

• Composite Score: Your composite score will be between a 1 (really low) and

36 (genius). This is an average of each multiple-choice section.

ACE the ACT.p4.indb 4

• Section Scores: Each multiple-choice test section (English, Math, Reading,

and Science) will get a raw score, based on the total number of questions you

answer correctly. That score will then be converted to a scaled score, between 1

and 36.

• STEM Score: The ACT reports a STEM score that is the rounded average of

Math and Science.

• ELA Score: The ACT reports the rounded average of English, Reading, and

Writing scores as a general English Language Arts score.

• Reporting Categories: Although you will not get scores for these specific

reporting categories per se, you will receive percentages correct out of the categories

along with the total possible and total correct.

• ACT Plus Writing: If you take the Writing test, you’ll get an overall score

between 2 and 12, along with four writing competency scores on a scale of 2 to

12 in these areas: Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization,

and Language Use and Conventions.

Good Scores: The national average for composite scores tends to hover around a 21

(ACT.org). Many scholarships require at least a 27 composite score, depending on the

school and program. If you care to see a sample score report for the ACT test, search

"score report" at www.act.org.

Table of Contents

Contents

About Our Author ................................................................................................. viii

About REA ............................................................................................................ viii

Acknowledgments.................................................................................................. viii

　

Welcome to REA’s Ace the ACT 1

How to Use REA’s Ace the ACT................................................................................. 2

The ACT Test Basics ................................................................................................. 2

Test Day.................................................................................................................... 6

General Strategies for the ACT Test .......................................................................... 7

　

Week 1: English 9

ACT English Test Basics............................................................................................ 9

General Strategies for the English Section ............................................................... 10

Conventions of Standard English ............................................................................ 13

Punctuation ............................................................................................................ 13

Practice Punctuation ............................................................................................... 21

Sentence Structure and Formation .......................................................................... 23

Practice Sentence Structure and Formation ............................................................. 28

Grammar and Usage ............................................................................................... 30

Practice Grammar and Usage .................................................................................. 37

Knowledge of Language .......................................................................................... 39

Concision and Precision in Word Choice................................................................ 42

Consistency in Style and Tone................................................................................. 45

Production of Writing............................................................................................. 46

Topic Development................................................................................................. 47

Organization........................................................................................................... 49

Practice Topic Development, Organization, Unity, and Cohesion ........................... 54

Solutions to English Practice Questions .................................................................. 58

English Strategy Cheat Sheet................................................................................... 62

English Practice Test ........................................................... www.rea.com/studycenter

　

Week 2: Mathematics …………………………………………...……………………………65

ACT Mathematics Test Basics ................................................................................. 65

General Strategies for the Math Section .................................................................. 66

Integrating Essential Skills....................................................................................... 67

Practice Integrating Essential Skills.......................................................................... 79

Preparing for Higher Math...................................................................................... 81

Number and Quantity ............................................................................................ 81

Algebra ................................................................................................................... 87

Practice Number and Quantity and Algebra............................................................ 95

Functions................................................................................................................ 96

Statistics and Probability ....................................................................................... 100

Practice Functions, Statistics, and Probability........................................................ 102

Geometry.............................................................................................................. 105

Distance, Midpoint, and Slope.............................................................................. 105

Equations of Circles.............................................................................................. 108

Angles, 2-D and 3-D Figures ................................................................................ 109

Trigonometric Ratios ............................................................................................ 119

Practice Geometry................................................................................................. 123

Solutions to Math Practice Questions ................................................................... 126

Math Strategy Cheat Sheet.................................................................................... 131

Math Practice Test .............................................................. www.rea.com/studycenter

　

Week 3: Reading …………………………………….………………………………….135

ACT Reading Test Basics ...................................................................................... 135

The Four Passages.................................................................................................. 136

General Strategies for the Reading Section ............................................................ 136

6 Steps for Reading a Passage and Answering Questions........................................ 138

Key Ideas and Details............................................................................................ 139

Determining the Main Idea................................................................................... 140

Practice Reading for the Main Idea ....................................................................... 144

Finding Supporting Details................................................................................... 146

Practice Reading for Supporting Details................................................................ 151

Making Inferences................................................................................................. 153

Practice Making Inferences.................................................................................... 156

Craft and Structure ............................................................................................... 158

Understanding Vocabulary in Contexts................................................................. 158

Determining the Author or Narrator’s Voice and Purpose ..................................... 161

Practice Reading for Vocabulary, Author’s Voice, and Purpose............................... 166

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas ...................................................................... 168

Analyzing an Author’s Arguments or Claims ......................................................... 168

Making Connections Between Texts...................................................................... 173

Practice Analyzing Author’s Arguments and Making Connections ........................ 178

Solutions to Reading Practice Questions ............................................................... 182

Reading Strategy Cheat Sheet................................................................................ 188

Reading Practice Test .......................................................... www.rea.com/studycenter

　

Week 4: Science Reasoning……………………………………………………………………… 191

ACT Science Reasoning Test Basics....................................................................... 191

General Strategies for the Science Reasoning Section ............................................ 192

Science Reasoning Reporting Categories ............................................................... 193

Data Representation.............................................................................................. 193

Data Representation Reading Strategies ................................................................ 194

Practice Data Representation................................................................................. 203

Research Summaries.............................................................................................. 206

Research Summaries Reading Strategy................................................................... 207

Practice Research Summaries................................................................................. 225

Conflicting Viewpoints ......................................................................................... 229

Grasping the Conflicting Viewpoints Passages....................................................... 231

Practice Conflicting Viewpoints ............................................................................ 246

Solutions to Science Reasoning Practice Questions ............................................... 249

Science Reasoning Strategy Cheat Sheet................................................................ 253

Science Reasoning Practice Test .......................................... www.rea.com/studycenter

　

Week 5: Writing 257

　

Enhanced ACT Writing Test Basics....................................................................... 257

General Strategies for the ACT Writing Test ......................................................... 258

The Enhanced ACT Writing Prompt .................................................................... 258

The ACT Writing Process...................................................................................... 259

Practice Outlining................................................................................................. 267

How to Compose Your Essay ................................................................................ 268

Practice Your Vivid Language................................................................................ 275

Practice Writing Your Essay................................................................................... 279

How to Correct Your Essay ................................................................................... 280

Writing Strategy Cheat Sheet ................................................................................ 287

Writing Practice Test........................................................... www.rea.com/studycenter

　

Full-Length ACT Practice Test (also available online at www.rea.com/studycenter) 291

English.................................................................................................................. 293

Mathematics ......................................................................................................... 319

Reading................................................................................................................. 341

Science Reasoning................................................................................................. 357

Enhanced ACT Writing ........................................................................................ 377

　

Practice Test Answer Keys and Explanations 381

　

English.................................................................................................................. 382

Mathematics ......................................................................................................... 392

Reading................................................................................................................. 402

Science Reasoning................................................................................................. 410

Writing ................................................................................................................. 417