The ACT

1. The ACT What you need to know By Talent Search

2. The ACT • The Test • The Dates • How to sign up • The cost • How to prepare for it • Tips • Additional Resources

3. The Test • The ACT is a national standardized test • Many colleges require it • May take it more than once • Two test options • Regular (Multiple-choice tests in English, math, reading, and science) • Plus Writing (Same as above with additional 30 minute writing test) (Most schools in Midwest DO NOT require the Writing)

4. 2012-2013 Test Dates *

5. Registeringfor the ACT • Online version • Go to www.actstudent.org/regist/elecreg.html • Must pay with MasterCard or Visa • Online is faster • Very convenient

6. Registering for the ACT • Paper version • Obtain copy from HS counselor or call (319) 337-1270 to request one • Slower than online version • Allows you to: • Request test accommodations • Request test date change • Pay with fee waiver • Request a test center change

7. The Cost Basic Registration $35.00 Optional Fees Late Fee $22.00 Optional Writing test $15.50 5th and 6th college choices $11.00 each Test date change $21.00

8. The Fee Waiver • A limited number of fee waivers are available to juniors and seniors • Once funds have been exhausted, request will be denied • These waivers may be used twice per person • Waivers may only be used for the Basic Registration • No late Fee charges • Only up to 4 colleges

9. FeeWaiverEligibility Must meet all 3 of following requirements. • Economic need (meet at least 1) • Student’s family receives public assistance • Student is a ward of the state • Student resides in a foster home • Student participates in the free or reduced lunch program at school • Student participates in federally funded TRIO program • Total family income in chart on next page

10. Number in Family 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2012 Total Income Before Taxes $16,755 $22,695 $28,635 $34,575 $40,515 $46,455 $52,395 (plus $5,940 for additional members) Family Income Chart

11. Fee Waiver Eligibility • Grade Level • Fee waivers are only available to students currently enrolled in a high school as a junior or senior • Two-times use • Fee waiver may be used twice during either the student’s junior or senior year

12. Fee Waiver • To obtain a fee waiver, please see your high school counselor • If using fee waiver, you must submit your registration online.

13. Checklist for Taking the ACT After you have Registered • Prepare for the test • Get a copy of “preparing for the ACT” from hs counselor or download from www.actstudent.org • Read both sides of your admission ticket • Make sure you have acceptable photo ID

14. Checklist for Taking the ACT On the Test Date Arrive before 8:00 am You will not be admitted late Have appropriate supplies

15. Things to Bring • Test center Admission ticket • Acceptable photo ID • Sharpened soft lead #2 pencils with good erasers (no mechanical pencils or ink pens) • A watch to pace your self • A permitted calculator • Almost any 4-function, scientific, or graphing calculator • No Calculators with computer algebra systems

16. Things NOT to Bring • Food or Drinks, including water • Books, Dictionaries, notes, scratch paper • Highlighters, colored pens or pencils • Pagers, timers, beepers, cell phones, IPods, CD or tape players, PDA, headphones, or camera • Reading materials • Tobacco in any form

17. ACTDescription English 75 Questions 45 Minutes Mathematics 60 Questions 60 Minutes Reading 40 Questions 35 Minutes Science 40 Questions 35 Minutes Optional Writing Test 1 Prompt 30 Minutes

18. Tips for Taking the ACT • Carefully read the instructions on the cover of the test booklet. • Read the directions of each section carefully. • Read each question carefully. • Pace yourself – Don’t spend too much time on any one section or question. • Use a soft lead No. 2 pencil with good eraser; not mechanical pencil or pen. • Answer easy questions first, then go back and answer harder questions. • On difficult questions, eliminate as many incorrect answers, then make an educated guess among those remaining. • Answer every question. Not penalized for incorrect answers. • Review your work. If you finish early, go back and check your work. • Mark your answers neatly. If you erase, erase completely and cleanly. • Do not mark or alter any ovals on test after time has been called.

19. Test Day Tips • Get plenty of rest the night before the test • Dress comfortably. Some test centers are warmer or cooler on weekends. Dress in layers. • Check your admission ticket for your test options and location. • If you are not sure of the test center’s location, drive to it ahead of time. • Plan to arrive by the time indicated on your admission ticket. • Make sure you have acceptable identification. • Be ready to start after everyone has checked in.

20. English Tips • Be aware of the writing style used in each passage. • Consider the elements of writing that are included in each underlined part of the passage. Some questions will ask you to base your decision on some specific element of writing, such as the tone or emphasis the text should convey. • Be aware of questions with no underlined portions-that means you will be asked some questions about the entire passage. • Examine each answer choice and determine how it differs from the others. Many of the questions will involve more than one aspect of writing. • Read and consider all of the answer choices before answering. • Determine the best answer. • Reread the sentence, using your selected answer.

21. Content Covered • Usage/Mechanics • Sentence Structure (16%) • Test your understanding of relationships between and among clauses, placement of modifiers, and shifts in construction. • Grammar and Usage (16%) • Test your understanding of agreement between subject and verb, between pronoun and antecedent, and between modifiers and word modified; verb formation; pronoun case; formation of comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs; and idiomatic usage. • Punctuation (13%) • These questions test your knowledge of the conventions of internal and end-of-sentence punctuation.

22. Content Covered • Rhetorical Skills • Strategy (16%) • This tests how well you develop a given topic by choosing expressions appropriate to an essay’s audience and purpose; judging the effect of adding, revising, or deleting supporting material; and judging the relevancy of statements in context. • Organization (15%) • This tests how well you organize ideas and choose effective opening, transitional, and closing sentences. • Style (16%) • This tests how well you choose precise and appropriate words and images, maintain the level of style and tone in an essay, manage sentence elements for rhetorical effectiveness, and avoid ambiguous pronoun references, wordiness, and redundancy.

23. Math Tips • Read each question carefully to make sure you understand the type of answer required. • If you use a calculator, be sure it is working on test day and has reliable batteries. Use your calculator wisely. • Solve the problem. • Locate your solution among the answer choices. • Make sure your answer the question asked. • Make sure your answer is reasonable. • Check your work. • Pace yourself-60 questions in 60 minutes = 1 minute per question

24. Tips for Using a Calculator • Know which kinds of calculators ACT allows. • http://www.actstudent.org/faq/answers/calculator.html • You are not required to use a calculator. • All the problems can be solved without a calculator. • If you regularly use a calculator in your math work, use one you’re familiar with. • Using a more powerful, but unfamiliar calculator is not likely to give you an advantage over using the kind you normally use.

25. Math General info • Questions set for math skills of beginning 12th grader • Emphasized content areas prerequisites to successful performance in entry-level college math courses • Requires reasoning skills to solve practical problems • Four Score Areas • Total score base on all 60 questions • Sub-score in Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra (24 questions) • Sub-score in Intermediate Algebra/Coordinate Geometry (18 questions) • Sub-score in Plane Geometry/Trigonometry (18 questions)

26. Content Covered • Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra • Pre-Algebra (23%) • These questions are based on basic operations using whole numbers, decimals, fractions, and integers; place value; square roots and approximations; the concepts of exponents; scientific equations; factors; ratios; proportion, and percent; linear equations in one variation; absolute value and ordering numbers by value; elementary counting techniques and simple probability; data collection, representation, and interpretation; and understanding simple descriptive statistics. • Elementary Algebra (17%) • These questions are based on properties of exponents and square roots, evaluation of algebraic expressions through substitution, using variables to express functional relationships, understanding algebraic operations, and solution of quadratic equations by factoring.

27. Intermediate Algebra/Coordinate Geometry • Intermediate Algebra (15%) • These questions are based on an understanding of the quadratic formula, rational and radical expressions, absolute value equations and inequalities, sequences and patterns, systems of equations, quadratic inequalities, functions, modeling matrices, roots of polynomials, and complex numbers. • Coordinate Geometry (15%) • These questions are based on graphing and the relations between equations and graphs, including points, lines, polynomial, circles, and other curves; graphing inequalities; slope; parallel and perpendicular lines; distance; midpoints; and conics.

28. Plane Geometry/Trigonometry • Plane Geometry (23%) • These questions are based on the properties and relations of plane figures, including angles and relations among perpendicular and parallel lines; properties of circles, triangles, rectangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids; transformations; the concept of proof and proof techniques; volume; and applications of geometry to three dimensions. • Trigonometry (7%) • These questions are based on understanding trigonometric relations in right triangles; values and properties of trigonometric functions, graphing trigonometric functions; modeling using trigonometric functions; use of trigonometric identities; and solving trigonometric equations.

29. Reading Tips • Pace yourself- 40 questions in 35 minutes • If you spend 2-3 minutes reading each passage, you’ll have 35 seconds to answer each question • Read the passage carefully. • Read and consider all of the answer choices before you choose the one that best responds to the question. • Refer to the passage when answering the question.

30. Reading General Information • This test measures your reading comprehension in 2 ways • Derive meaning by referring to what is explicitly stated (1) and implicitly stated (2) • Specific areas • Determining main idea • Locate and interpret significant details • Understanding the sequences of events, make comparisons • Make comparisons • Comprehend cause-effect relationships • Determine the meaning of context-dependent words, phrases, and statements • Draw generalizations • Analyze the author’s or narrator’s voice and method

31. Reading Scoring Information • Three Scoring Areas Reported • First - Based on all 40 questions • Second – Sub-score in Social Studies/Science (20 questions) • Third – Sub-score in Arts/Literature (20 questions) • Prose fiction and humanities passages

32. Content Covered • These reading selections are based on 4 types of selections • Social Studies (25%) • Passages are based on content areas of anthropology, archaeology, biography, business, economics, education, geography, history, political science, psychology, and sociology • Natural Sciences (25%) • Passages are based on content areas of anatomy, astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, ecology, geology, medicine, meteorology, microbiology, natural history, physiology, physics, technology, and zoology

33. Reading Content Covered • Prose Fiction (25%) • Passages are based on intact short stories or excerpts from short stories or novels • Humanities (25%) • Passages are based on personal essays and memoirs and in the content areas of architecture, art, dance, ethics, film, language, literary criticism, music, philosophy, radio, television, and theater

34. Science Tips • Pace yourself – if you spend 2 minutes reading the passage, you have 30 seconds for each question • Read the passage carefully. • Read and consider all of the answer choices before you choose the one that best responds to the question. • Note different viewpoints in passages. • NOT Allowed to use calculator on this section

35. Science General Information • Questions will measure the interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving skills required in natural sciences. • This test presents 7 sets of scientific information followed by a number of multiple-choice questions. • Information is conveyed in 1 of 3 formats • Data Representation (Graphs, tables, and other schematic forms) • Research summaries (descriptions of several related experiments) • Conflicting viewpoints (expressions of several related hypotheses or views that are inconsistent with one another)

36. Science information • Questions require you to recognize and understand the basic features of, and concepts related to, the provided information; to examine critically the relationship between the information provided and conclusions drawn or hypotheses developed; and to generalize from given information to gain new information, draw conclusions, or make predictions. • One score is totaled based off of all 40 questions.

37. Content Covered • Content includes: biology, chemistry, physics, and the Earth and Space Sciences (for example, geology, astronomy, and meteorology.) • Advanced knowledge is not required. • Test emphasizes scientific reasoning skills over recall of scientific content, skill in math, or reading ability. • Information is conveyed in 1 of 3 formats: • Data Representation (38%) • Presents graphic and tabular material similar to that found in a scientific journal • Questions measure skills such as graph reading, interpretation of scatter plots, and interpretation of information presented in tables

38. Science Content • Research Summaries (45%) • Format provides descriptions of one or more related experiments • Questions focus on design of experiments and interpretation of experimental results • Conflicting Viewpoints (17%) • Format presents expressions of several hypotheses or view that, being based on differing premises or on incomplete data, are inconsistent with one another. • Questions focus on understanding, analysis, and comparison of alternative viewpoints or hypotheses.

39. Writing Test Tips • DON’T take it unless you know your college looks at it. Most in area DO NOT look at it. Waste of time and money • 30 minutes to write about something they tell you • Pace yourself • Pre-Write • Gather your thoughts and make a plan on how and what you are going to write about • End with strong conclusion that summarizes or reinforces your position • Review your essay

40. Additional resources • http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/index.html • Take Practice Test in booklet. • Do it like your are going to do it on test day. • This will help you feel better informed for the real test day. • GOOD LUCK – You’ll do great.