SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR THE PSAE (PRAIRIE STATE)

With the PSAE (Prairie State Achievement Exam) coming up in a few weeks, it is worthwhile for Illinois Juniors to take a look at what's on the test. The ACT result becomes part of the permanent high school transcript which will be sent to each college to which the student applies. A not-too-stellar result could adversely impact the admission status of an otherwise qualified student. For sample ACT questions, log on to
http://www.actstudent.org/

TIPS FOR ACT TEST DAY

These tips have nothing to do with your knowledge of the topics covered in the ACT. In fact, what you are about to read can be applied to any test-taking situation including classroom exams.

1. HAVE A SNACK AVAILABLE. There is a scheduled break between Math and Reading and you should refuel at that point. Take the next week to experiment with the type of foods you should bring: nothing too filling that will put you to sleep. Avoid turkey and some legumes, for example, because of the tryptophan effect. Keeping in mind that you aren't allowed to eat DURING the timed portions of the test, I usually have raisins in my pocket in case I start to lose energy. They are quiet and nutritious and won't cause a deleterious sugar high. No candy, please.

2. STAY HYDRATED. The brain needs fluid to facilitate electrical and chemical exchanges that are the basis of thought. Water is good. Soda pop is not. Coffee is not. Try out "sports drinks" and "energy boosters" before assuming that they will have the desired effect.

3. SIT UP. In addition to fluids, the brain needs oxygen. Slumping over the desk is robbing your brain of its ability to function at full force. Deep breaths, a little stretching, and straightening your back can refresh you without using up precious minutes.

4. USE BOTH SIDES OF YOUR BRAIN. Use your nondominant hand to mark your place in a passage or chart while reviewing questions or bubbling on the scantron sheet. The activity will help your brain to use both concrete and abstract strengths, and having a finger on your place will avoid the need to search for where you left off when moving your eyes from the test to the answer sheet.

5. HAVE A DEFAULT ANSWER READY AND WAITING. Statistically, every alternative is used an equal number of times in a section. Since the ACT does not penalize for incorrect answers, it is to your benefit to fill in a bubble for every question even if you aren't sure which alternative is correct. "Educated guesses" are, of course, preferable, but if you just don't know or don't have time to address all of the questions before time runs out, bubble straight down the scantron. It doesn't matter which position you choose. I take the third alternative -- C -- for a totally arbitrary reason. If you're superstitious, pick a default that has some meaning; for instance, select the first position -- A -- if your middle name is Alex.

QUICK REVIEW OF ACT SCIENCE REASONING

Some students fret over the Science Reasoning section because the name seems to imply that we need to know a lot about current science theory in order to make "reasonable" conjectures. On the contrary, you should be glad to know that, aside from a very few terms, all of the information that you need in order to find correct answers is presented within the data sets themselves.

Your tasks for this 40 question section are threefold:
1) The first 2 questions in any group are DIRECT, asking whether you can read a chart or a graph or find a discrete piece of data within a paragraph. Your response should be a confident, "Sure."

Identify the key elements from the question, like a direction to look at a specific exhibit. Locate the labels of each axis on a graph or the column and row headings of a chart. Find the appropriate data and match it with the available alternatives.

Zero errors from this question type will give you a 14 point head start toward an average or higher score.

2) The next question or two are INDIRECT, asking how 2 or more snippets of data are related. You already know how to find the statistics, so now you just need to compare them. When one goes up, what does the other do? Sometimes there IS no relationship, although there is only a 25% chance that it is the correct answer if available.

Avoiding errors on this question type could result in another 10 to 14 points and you're well on your way to earning a score in the high 20's or even into the 30's.

3) EXTRAPOLATION questions are the "reasoning" part of the test and are usually the last one or 2 questions in any group. Using your skills in locating and comparing information, you now need to formalize your findings into something like a hypothesis so you can predict what would happen in a different, but related, situation.

GENERAL HINTS:
-- ANSWER QUESTIONS WITHIN A DATA SET IN THE ORDER PRESENTED. Because you are using specific skills in an expanding manner, you will learn a little about the science concept while answering easier questions. This strategy allows you to build knowledge while making progress on questions and avoids the time-consuming attempt to fully understand the topic before trying to answer the questions.
-- TAKE NOTES. This can be as simple as circling important information, underlining rows in a chart, making tic marks alongside useful data, or drawing a grid on a graph. Designing your own personal note taking abbreviations can expedite the process. I use arrows, for example, to mark increasing and decreasing trends on a chart. If I can't draw a linear pattern, the correct answer to a comparison question is probably "there is no relationship."
-- BE CAREFUL ON SENTENCE COMPLETION QUESTIONS. The ACT is not compelled to put the subject of a question at the beginning of the sentence. Here are two formats of the same question:
Based on the information in Exhibit A, the sun's diameter, compared to Jupiter's, is...
or
Based on the information in Exhibit A, compared to the diameter of Jupiter, the sun's diameter is...
In the heat of exam battle it is easy to be misled by sentence structure, so I make a note that simplifies the question before looking at a comparison of the diameters: "Sun is." This allows me to circumvent the need to reread the question before verifying the alternative selection, avoids confusion, and saves time.
-- If pacing is an issue, SELECT THE ORDER IN WHICH TO APPROACH THE DATA SETS based on your knowledge of your own strengths. For example, if Differing Viewpoints is tough for you and likely to result in wasted minutes and few correct answers, think about holding that set for last and default any questions that you don't answer before time runs out. The object is to COLLECT POINTS and unless you're going for a nearly perfect score (which means you've been studying for weeks) you don't need to correctly answer every question.

-- STAY FOCUSED for just 35 more minutes. If you aren't taking the Writing section, time called on Science Reasoning means you're DONE. The ACT is over!

QUICK TIPS FOR THE ACT

April 10....the next national administration of the ACT. Really too late to start studying, but a few quick tips could help raise that score by a point or two. For English and Math you might need 2 more correct answers to gain one more section score point; each Reading and Science Reasoning question should usually give you a point. Four more section score points are needed to raise the composite average by just one point.

ENGLISH: Recognize the punctuation questions relating to independent sentences. You always need a full sentence in front of a period, semi-colon, comma-conjunction, or colon. For the first 3 you also need a full sentence (not a prepositional phrase) after the punctuation. A colon can be followed by either a full sentence or a list or just more detail.

Recognize prepositions. They introduce phrases, not full sentences, and might need a comma at most.

SHORTER IS BETTER. At least consider the shortest alternative since it's the right answer more often than not.

MATH: Avoid silly mistakes, especially on the first 30 questions. And work problems for the entire hour; there are some easy questions in the last 10.

READING: Keep moving. Don't get "stuck" on one difficult question. Unless you're working toward a perfect score (which means you've been studying for weeks), you don't need to get every question right. Take the loss of one point rather than denying yourself the chance to gain 2 by finding easier questions further along in the section.

SCIENCE REASONING: Get the first two questions in every data set correct. These ask if you can read the data given and the answer should be "sure." If the last 2 questions are too hard, default them and move on to the next data set where the first few questions will be easier.

IN GENERAL: Leave nothing blank. Pick a default answer and use it to fill in bubbles for any question you can't answer. ONE DEFAULT ONLY. Pick the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth alternative and use only that one for default. Statistically you will be correct 20 - 25% of the time. Arbitrarily picking a different alternative every time could result in a success rate of 0%!

SIT UP! If you start to fade, take a second to sit up straight, stretch, breath deeply. Get the brain oxygenated again and dig back in!!

GOOD LUCK! And remember that if your score doesn't turn out to be what you hoped, there is also June, September, and October for 2011 graduates. With any of these test dates, you'll have results in time for early admission to most colleges.

START SLOWLY. WORK SMART. DO IT TODAY!

I know from experience how difficult it is to get moving on a task that seems as massive as working toward the score you deserve on the ACT. But this weekend of Spring Break is the perfect time to start.



Begin slowly: download a few questions from the ACT website, sign up for the question of the day while your there, get a copy of The Real ACT Prep Guide (about $25). Complete a small part of each section:
English -- answer the 15 questions in any of the 5 passages.
Math -- work 10 problems.
Reading -- answer the 10 questions in any of the 4 essays.
Science Reasoning -- pick one data set and answer all of the questions. Just for fun, keep track of the data sets as you do them and we can look later at a pattern that should tell which are the easiest and which are more challenging.

Work Smart: Stick to this daily plan and you'll gain knowledge of each of the sections. Don't time yourself yet. Concentrate on thinking about the problems you're working. It should take you only about half an hour to do this work but at the end of the week, you'll have completed 1.5 English sections, 1 Math, 2 Reading, and one whole Science Reasoning. That's a pretty good study week, especially since you may be on holiday!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

IMPROVING ACT READING

Perhaps the most difficult area in which to alter an ACT score is Reading. Even though the test generally gives one point for each correct answer in this section (unlike English and Math where two more correct questions may be needed to gain just one point), improvement depends on understanding the structure of the test and altering your reading style to match the requirements of a passage. Changing your reading style requires knowing what that style is in the first place, something most of us don't think about after elementary school. The foundational skill was formulated as early as 4 or 5 years of age and honing it has occurred almost imperceptibly ever since. There are no rules or formulas, only unique strategies which are largely undocumented but have become second nature to the individual reader.

Reading tests in elementary school tend to examine comprehension on a very superficial level. In upper grades and higher level English courses, reading becomes more than just fact-finding, moving into identifying implications or "reading between the lines" and identifying literary devices. The ACT Reading test is a mutation of the two functions.

To change the way in which someone has become accustomed to reading may take open-minded experimentation. The goal in preparing for the ACT Reading section is to try out different strategies, practice each sufficiently, and select the approach or approaches which garner the most points, possibly picking the modus operandi based on the topic of the essay.

FOR EVERYONE

FIRST, EXAMINE YOUR CURRENT READING STRATEGY. Do you read every word? Reread? Skim or scan? Do you "create mental pictures?" Do you pause to digest what has been read? Does your mind wander either to related information useful in synthesizing the reading with prior knowledge or to unrelated information to entertain and distract?

How do you take note of important information? Mentally? In writing? Do you circle or underline facts?

Are you compelled to thoroughly read or are you satisfied to simply answer required questions? (Think about a history class, for example. If given the assignment to read a chapter and answer the 5 questions at the end, how do you proceed? Questions first? Reading and note taking first? Scanning for answers?)

NEXT, TRY SOME STRATEGIES THAT ARE EXPECTED TO WORK REGARDLESS OF YOUR READING STYLE.

1. Take notes from the questions by underlining or circling clue words. This will focus attention on key elements that can be used to search through the text for related information.

2. Take notes as you come across relevant information within the passage. Circling may be more helpful than underlining because it limits the amount of copy highlighted and can be easier to find among all the words in a paragraph.

3. Do not try to learn anything. The goal of the Reading section is to temporarily find immediate, correct answers. Note taking will help maintain information long enough to select an answer while allowing you to "release" it when it is no longer useful, therefore leaving more brain space for short term memory.

JUST FOR YOU...

To find the best personal reading strategy, try each of these suggestions at least twice before deciding its value.

4. Review the questions first in order to establish a purpose for reading.

5. Identify each question as direct ("As stated in the passage...") or inferential ("It can be inferred from the passage..."or "Based on the passage as a whole...")

6. Answer direct questions first. Since these answers are usually quotes from the text, using a word search approach will help locate where the needed information is and finding answers will provide a basic knowledge of what the passage is about.

7. If a question has a line reference, go directly there to read for an answer.

8. If referred to a paragraph, read it in isolation if the question asks what is written. If the question asks what would be missing if the paragraph were omitted, save it until you know more about the passage.

9. For vocabulary issues, try substituting the alternatives in the sentence when dealing with common words. If the vocabulary is technical or topic specific, look for a definition close to the first use of the terminology.

10. Inferential questions could benefit from an elimination strategy. Reject an answer that is too inclusive, e.g. "Tests are always hard." Avoid disparaging comments, like "This scientist's opinion is irrational." Eliminate answers that are unrelated to the topic.

11. If you are compelled to read the entire passage, try skimming or scanning.

12. To conduct a word search, try scanning by looking at text lines from Right to Left in order to preclude the distraction of creating meaning before isolating the relevant word.

13. When answering questions out of order, mark choices on the test booklet until all 10 answers for a single essay have been selected. Then transfer the picks to the scantron sheet and move on to the next passage.

PACING

14. Many exceptional readers feel no compunction toward speed. If timing is a persistent problem, try pacing exercises. Try to answer all 10 questions from a passage in 9 minutes. Direct questions may take less time to answer, leaving added seconds for inferential ones.


Keep in mind that no single strategy is right for everyone. In fact, you may want to use different approaches for different topics. Fiction, for example, may lend itself to creating mental pictures, while Social Science may seem like so much jibber jabber. Remember always that your objective is to find 10 correct answers, not to prepare for an upcoming essay exam.

To find actual ACT Reading samples, log on to

http://www.actstudent.org/

ACT MATH CHECKLIST

Oh, yeah. There's a LOT of Math to know for the ACT and it is easy to skip over some important rule or formula. Here's a checklist of the concepts mentioned in previous blogs. Use it to refresh your memory and insure that you've covered each concept sufficiently. As you take practice tests, highlight the math facts that caused errors and review those again.

BASICS
___ fractions
___ percents
___ percent change
___ word problems
___ ratios
___ average
___ area

ALGEBRA
___ factoring
___ distance formula
___ midpoint formula
___ rules of exponents
___ graphs
___ functions
___ conic equations
___ logs
___ sequence and series
___ probability
___ variation
___ systems of linear equations
___ matrices

GEOMETRY
___ special right triangles
___ SohCahToa
___ parallel lines and transversals
___ properties of quadrilaterals
___ circles
___ sum of interior angles of a polygon
___ volume
___ similar triangles
___ relation between lines, areas, and volumes

TRIGONOMETRY
___ Pythagorean Identities
___ The Unit Circle

There. That wasn't so bad, now was it? Stay tuned to this blog site for analysis of recent ACT test questions and any changes that we discover.