The ACT Reading section contains different categories of questions to evaluate the abilities of the students to comprehend core concepts, detect nuances, and decipher intent.
You'll be expected to evaluate and examine hidden meaning as well as keep a keen eye on what's openly expressed. However, there isn't much room for interpretation—even ostensibly subjective questions will always have indisputably accurate answers. Some types of ACT reading questions include:
Main Idea/Overall Picture: These questions focus on the passage's core topic or theme. It is your responsibility to select the response that best conveys the general overview of the content you just read.
Specifics/Detailed Picture: These questions will frequently refer to a particular line in the passage and ask you to explain the context.
Contextual Vocabulary: These questions will direct you to a particular word or phrase and ask you to elaborate on what it means or how it operates in context. These inquiries frequently point to a familiar word or phrase that is being utilized uncommonly.
Performance and growth: In these questions, you must describe the impact of a phrase, sentence, or paragraph within the framework of a course of the text. Performance questions typically involve lesser chunks of text.
Assumption of Ideas: These are questions about assumptions. implications of a single sentence, paragraph, or entire piece.
Comparative Questions: Interpreting similarities and differences in viewpoints, if any.
Cause and Effect Questions: Analyze cause-and-effect relationships
You are tested based on three major concepts in the ACT exam. You need to be able to structure your answers in such a way that is best suited to the framework of the following concepts. The important concepts are as follows:
Key Concepts and Specifics: Here you need to establish core ideas and topics by accurately articulating, drawing conclusions and inferences, and comprehending chronological, parallel, and cause-effect linkages.
Details about the Structuring of the Passage: Determining the meanings of words and phrases, examining authors' verbiage and sentence construction, comprehending writers' goals and perspectives, as well as characters' perspectives, and distinguishing between diverse viewpoints.
Merging Concepts and Ideas: Assessing the writers' statements, discerning between facts and views, while using arguments to connect disparate texts.
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You are required to have certain skills to have a clear idea about the concepts and that helps in forming a better structure for your answers. Let’s discuss these skills in detail:
Skills Required for ACT Reading
You are tested on various concepts in the ACT reading sections. To understand and respond to questions regarding different texts and concepts, you must have certain skills. The ACT requires you to use reference and reasoning skills to answer the questions.
Some of the skills and tips for reading section of act are:
- Recognize key concepts.
- Uncover and interpret details inside a passage.
- Recognize cause-and-effect relationships.
- Interpret the order of events and the stream of thoughts.
- Compare and contrast.
- Examine the style and intent of the writer or storyteller.
- Understand the context-specific meaning of words, phrases, and statements.
If you can master the above-mentioned skills, the ACT reading component will be your piece of cake.
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