From 'Procrastinator's Guide to the ACT'
Performing question triage is one of the most important ways of controlling your test-taking experience. There are some questions on the ACT that most students could never answer correctly, no matter how much time or effort they spent on them. For example:
57. If sec2 x = 4, which of the following could be sin x?
A. 1.73205 B. 3.14159 C. 3 D. (3/2) E. Cannot be determined from the given information.
Clearly, even if you could manage to come up with an answer to this question, it would take some time. But would it be worth the time? We think not.
This question clearly illustrates our point: You should perform question triage on the ACT. The first time you look at each question, make a quick decision about how hard and time-consuming it looks. Then decide whether to answer it now or skip it and do it later. Here's how:
If the question looks comprehensible and of reasonable difficulty, do it right away. If the question looks tough and time-consuming, but ultimately "doable," skip it, circle the question number and come back to it later. If the question looks impossible, forget about it. Guess and move on.
For the English, Reading and Science sections, the best plan of attack is to do each passage as a block. Make a longish first pass through the questions (the "triage" pass), doing the easy ones, guessing on the impossible ones and skipping any that look like they might cause trouble. Then, make a second pass (the "cleanup" pass) and do those questions you think you can solve with some elbow grease. This will be easier if you've marked these questions in your test booklet. For Math, you use the same two-pass strategy, except that you move through the whole subject test twice.
Make sure you take pains to grid your answers in the right place. It's easy to misgrid when you're skipping around, so be careful. And of course: Be certain you have an answer gridded for every question by the time the test is over!
Kaplan's Two-Pass Plan Make two passes through each group of questions a triage pass and a cleanup pass.
It's easy to waste time on ACT questions by considering irrelevant issues. Just because an issue looks interesting or just because you're worried about something, doesn't make it important.
For example:
China was certainly one of the cradles of civilization. It's obvious that, China has a long history. As is the case with other ancient cultures, the early history of China is lost in mythology.
F. NO CHANGE G. It's obvious that China has a long history. H. Obviously; China has a long history. J. OMIT the underlined portion.
In this question, the test makers are counting on you to waste time worrying about punctuation. Does that comma belong? Can you use a semicolon here? These issues might be worrisome, but there's a much bigger issue here -- namely, does the sentence belong in the passage at all? No, it doesn't. If China has an ancient culture and was a cradle of civilization, it must have a long history, so the sentence really is "obvious." Redundancy is the relevant issue here, not punctuation. Choice J is correct.
In Reading and Science, always refer to the place in the passage where the answer to a question can be found (the question stem will often contain a line reference or a reference to a specific table, graph, or experiment to help you out). Your chosen answer should match the passage -- not in exact vocabulary or units of measurement, perhaps, but in meaning.
Checking back is especially important in Reading and Science, because the passages leave many people feeling adrift in a sea of details. Often, the wrong answers will be "misplaced details" -- details taken from different parts of the passage. These misplaced details don't answer the question properly but might sound good to you if you aren't careful. By checking back with the passage, you can avoid making such wrong choices.
There's another important lesson here: Don't pick an answer just because it contains "keywords" you remember from the passage. Many wrong answer choices are distortions; they use the right words but say the wrong things about them. Look for choices that contain the same ideas you find in the passage.
7. What is the value of 3x if 9x = 5y + 2 and y + 4 = 2y - 10? A. 5 B. 8 C. 14 D. 24 E. 72
To solve this problem, we need to find y first, even though the question asks about x (because x here is given only in terms of y). You could solve the second equation like this:
y + 4 = 2y - 10 given 4 = y - 10 by subtracting y from both sides 14 = y by adding 10 to both sides
But C, 14, isn't the right answer here, because the question doesn't ask for y -- it asks about x. We can use the value of y to find x, however, by plugging the calculated value of y into the first equation:
9x = 5y + 2 given 9x = 5(14) + 2 because y = 14 9x = 70 + 2 5 x 14 = 70 9x = 72
But E, 72, isn't the answer either, because the question doesn't ask for 9x. It doesn't ask for x either, so if you picked B, 8, you'd be wrong as well. Remember to refer to the question! The question asks for 3x. So we need to divide 9x by 3:
9x = 72 from above 3x = 24 dividing by 3
Thus, the answer is D.
Doing all the right work but then getting the wrong answer can be seriously depressing. So be sure to answer the right question.
What Was the Question?
Check the question stem again before choosing an answer.
But there's another way the ACT can hide answers. Many ACT questions have more than one possible right solution, though only one correct answer choice is given. Often, the ACT will hide that answer by offering one of the less obvious possible answers to a question. For example:
2. If 3x2 + 5 = 17, which of the following could be the value of x ?
A. -3 B. -2 C. 0 D. 1 E. 4
You quickly solve this very straightforward problem like so:
3x2 + 5 = 17 given 3x2 = 12 by subtracting 5 x2 = 4 dividing by 3 x = 2 taking square root of both sides
Having arrived at an answer, you confidently look for it among the choices. But 2 isn't a choice. The explanation? This question has two possible solutions, not just one. The square root of 4 can be either 2 or -2, so B is the answer.
Keep in mind that though there is only one right answer choice for each question, that right answer may not be the one that occurs to you first. A common mistake is to pick an answer that seems sort of like the answer you're looking for even when you know it's wrong. Don't settle for second best.
QUESTION TRIAGE
In a hospital emergency room, the triage nurse is the person who evaluates each patient and decides which ones get attention first and which ones should be treated later. You should do the same thing on the ACT.Performing question triage is one of the most important ways of controlling your test-taking experience. There are some questions on the ACT that most students could never answer correctly, no matter how much time or effort they spent on them. For example:
57. If sec2 x = 4, which of the following could be sin x?
A. 1.73205 B. 3.14159 C. 3 D. (3/2) E. Cannot be determined from the given information.
Clearly, even if you could manage to come up with an answer to this question, it would take some time. But would it be worth the time? We think not.
This question clearly illustrates our point: You should perform question triage on the ACT. The first time you look at each question, make a quick decision about how hard and time-consuming it looks. Then decide whether to answer it now or skip it and do it later. Here's how:
If the question looks comprehensible and of reasonable difficulty, do it right away. If the question looks tough and time-consuming, but ultimately "doable," skip it, circle the question number and come back to it later. If the question looks impossible, forget about it. Guess and move on.
For the English, Reading and Science sections, the best plan of attack is to do each passage as a block. Make a longish first pass through the questions (the "triage" pass), doing the easy ones, guessing on the impossible ones and skipping any that look like they might cause trouble. Then, make a second pass (the "cleanup" pass) and do those questions you think you can solve with some elbow grease. This will be easier if you've marked these questions in your test booklet. For Math, you use the same two-pass strategy, except that you move through the whole subject test twice.
Make sure you take pains to grid your answers in the right place. It's easy to misgrid when you're skipping around, so be careful. And of course: Be certain you have an answer gridded for every question by the time the test is over!
Kaplan's Two-Pass Plan Make two passes through each group of questions a triage pass and a cleanup pass.
IGNORE IRRELEVANT ISSUES
It's easy to waste time on ACT questions by considering irrelevant issues. Just because an issue looks interesting or just because you're worried about something, doesn't make it important.
For example:
China was certainly one of the cradles of civilization. It's obvious that, China has a long history. As is the case with other ancient cultures, the early history of China is lost in mythology.
F. NO CHANGE G. It's obvious that China has a long history. H. Obviously; China has a long history. J. OMIT the underlined portion.
In this question, the test makers are counting on you to waste time worrying about punctuation. Does that comma belong? Can you use a semicolon here? These issues might be worrisome, but there's a much bigger issue here -- namely, does the sentence belong in the passage at all? No, it doesn't. If China has an ancient culture and was a cradle of civilization, it must have a long history, so the sentence really is "obvious." Redundancy is the relevant issue here, not punctuation. Choice J is correct.
CHECK BACK
Remember, all of the information you need is in the test itself. You shouldn't be afraid to refer to it.In Reading and Science, always refer to the place in the passage where the answer to a question can be found (the question stem will often contain a line reference or a reference to a specific table, graph, or experiment to help you out). Your chosen answer should match the passage -- not in exact vocabulary or units of measurement, perhaps, but in meaning.
Checking back is especially important in Reading and Science, because the passages leave many people feeling adrift in a sea of details. Often, the wrong answers will be "misplaced details" -- details taken from different parts of the passage. These misplaced details don't answer the question properly but might sound good to you if you aren't careful. By checking back with the passage, you can avoid making such wrong choices.
There's another important lesson here: Don't pick an answer just because it contains "keywords" you remember from the passage. Many wrong answer choices are distortions; they use the right words but say the wrong things about them. Look for choices that contain the same ideas you find in the passage.
ANSWER THE RIGHT QUESTION
This strategy is a natural extension of the last. As we said, the ACT test makers often include among the wrong answers to a question the correct answer to a different question. Under time pressure, it's easy for you to fall for one of these red herrings, thinking that you know what's being asked for when you really don't. For example:7. What is the value of 3x if 9x = 5y + 2 and y + 4 = 2y - 10? A. 5 B. 8 C. 14 D. 24 E. 72
To solve this problem, we need to find y first, even though the question asks about x (because x here is given only in terms of y). You could solve the second equation like this:
y + 4 = 2y - 10 given 4 = y - 10 by subtracting y from both sides 14 = y by adding 10 to both sides
But C, 14, isn't the right answer here, because the question doesn't ask for y -- it asks about x. We can use the value of y to find x, however, by plugging the calculated value of y into the first equation:
9x = 5y + 2 given 9x = 5(14) + 2 because y = 14 9x = 70 + 2 5 x 14 = 70 9x = 72
But E, 72, isn't the answer either, because the question doesn't ask for 9x. It doesn't ask for x either, so if you picked B, 8, you'd be wrong as well. Remember to refer to the question! The question asks for 3x. So we need to divide 9x by 3:
9x = 72 from above 3x = 24 dividing by 3
Thus, the answer is D.
Doing all the right work but then getting the wrong answer can be seriously depressing. So be sure to answer the right question.
What Was the Question?
Check the question stem again before choosing an answer.
LOOK FOR THE HIDDEN ANSWER
On many ACT questions, the right answer is hidden in one way or another. It might be hidden by being written in a way that you aren't likely to expect. For example, you might work out a problem and get .5 as your answer, but then find that .5 isn't among the answer choices. Then you notice that one choice reads "1/2."But there's another way the ACT can hide answers. Many ACT questions have more than one possible right solution, though only one correct answer choice is given. Often, the ACT will hide that answer by offering one of the less obvious possible answers to a question. For example:
2. If 3x2 + 5 = 17, which of the following could be the value of x ?
A. -3 B. -2 C. 0 D. 1 E. 4
You quickly solve this very straightforward problem like so:
3x2 + 5 = 17 given 3x2 = 12 by subtracting 5 x2 = 4 dividing by 3 x = 2 taking square root of both sides
Having arrived at an answer, you confidently look for it among the choices. But 2 isn't a choice. The explanation? This question has two possible solutions, not just one. The square root of 4 can be either 2 or -2, so B is the answer.
Keep in mind that though there is only one right answer choice for each question, that right answer may not be the one that occurs to you first. A common mistake is to pick an answer that seems sort of like the answer you're looking for even when you know it's wrong. Don't settle for second best.
