Lisa Zimmer Hatch - 1,001 ACT Practice Problems For Dummies

1,001 ACT Practice Questions For Dummies

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Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016950158

ISBN 978-1-119-27543-5 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-27544-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-27545-9 (ebk)

1. Table of Contents

Welcome to 1,001 ACT Practice Questions For Dummies. Dont take the book title personally. We certainly arent suggesting youre a dummy. In fact, were celebrating your overwhelmingly sage foresight in purchasing this valuable text! Putting in the time and dedication to practice for the ACT is a very wise decision indeed.

Along with your GPA and the rigor of your high school curriculum, your ACT score is a very important factor in getting into college and getting money to pay for your education. Improving your score by just a couple of points can mean gaining thousands of dollars in scholarships and financial aid. With that in mind, dont waste any time. Get practicing already!

One of the best ways to maximize your exam performance (and elevate the quality of your free time, of course) is to continually expose yourself to questions that mimic the ones youll encounter on the ACT. The practice problems in this book are divided into five chapters that correspond to the five sections on the test: English, math, reading, science, and the optional writing. Weve constructed the questions to closely resemble the actual test in both format and level of difficulty so you know what to expect when you plop yourself down in front of the proctor on test day.

If you miss a question or just make a good guess, be sure to examine the answer explanations for tips on how to master your approach next time. Heck! Check out the explanations for those questions you answer correctly. Often, we reveal not only how to answer the problem but how to answer it most efficiently.

Be proactive. This book contains hundreds of questions, so after youve taken a bunch of tests and evaluated your performance, review the questions you miss and form your own explanations for why the credited answer is better than yours. Then check our explanations for confirmation. Apply your discoveries to more practice problems.

You can benefit from this book all by itself, but its even better when you pair it with the in-depth reviews and strategies available in latest edition of ACT For Dummies (Wiley). Either way, this book helps you solidify your approach and confidence in all subject areas.

The first half of this workbook contains the practice English, math, reading, science, and writing questions. You find the answers and explanations in the second half of the book.

When you open your test booklet on exam day, the first test you see is the English. Five scintillating passages await. Each presents around 15 questions for a total of 75 questions. To maintain the pace required by the ACT, plan to spend no more than 9 minutes answering the questions for one passage. The English questions may be classified in one of two main categories: grammar and usage and rhetorical skills (a fancy way of saying knowing what makes for good writing):

• Grammar and usage: Included grammar concepts are punctuation, proper pronoun use, parts of speech, subject and verb agreement, verb tense, parallel structure, possessive forms, and the correct positioning of describing elements. The ACT tests your knowledge of hard and fast rules. Controversial grammar issues, such as whether you place a comma before the and at the end of the series, wont be tested.
• Rhetorical skills: In addition to grammar and usage, the ACT also determines what you know about the practices of good writing. Questions regarding rhetorical skills test your awareness of the need to eliminate redundant and irrelevant information, choose precise words and phrasings, include specific detail rather than general statements, make smooth transitions between ideas, and organize sentences and paragraphs logically.