The last portion of the ACT test is English competition test. You will read about five passages which are full of errors in punctuation, grammar, sentence structure and usage (these lines are indicated by being underlined). Then you are given choices of what is the correct format of the underline portion. There are also questions that are designed for your rhetorical skills such as organization and style (these items are indicated by a box in the paragraph). You have 40 minutes and 75 questions to answer which can be a lot unless you use the zap tips that I am going to provide you below.
Tip #1: Watch out for redundancy, if it can be said in a single word than two words should not be used. Redundancy is quite common in the test because it is a common problem among teenagers. An example of this is “must certainly have” were “have” and “certainly” are redundant.
Tip #2: Watch out for sentence fragments and check to make sure there is no fragment if a period is in the underline portion or in the answer choice. The ACT test will never have the correct answer to be a sentence fragment.
Tip #3: Always choose the shorter option if you can’t decide between two or three answers. ACT’s are designed to have multiple choices that sound good but do not stand out. Length choices are usually wrong because they are award and wordy.
Tip #4: Pay careful attention to the context were a question appears, you cant always read the underline portions. You may assume that everything that is not underline is correct but an incorrect response may be incorrect because it doesn’t work in the paragraph in which it appears. So it is important to read the preceding sentences.
Tip #5: Sometimes the correct answer to a question is no change at all. So do not overlook the NO CHANGE option because it can be right. According to ZAP it will be correct about 20 percent of the time.
Tip #6: On many questions you can get rid of answers be ear. If you don’t immediately know an answer, verbalize the answers in your mind. If the choice sounds weird than it is probably wrong. For example “I seen” versus “I saw”.
Tip #7: Study and compare the choices to avoid creating new errors as you correct the original one. Often good-looking answers will have a change in punctuation or usage that makes the choice incorrect. If you don’t double check your answers it can cause problems. So after you think you see the correct answer check the other options first before marking it.
Tip #8: For all underline items, re read the sentence after you plug in your choice. This is so you avoid making stupid mistakes but make sure to do it quickly so you don’t run out of time.
Tip #9: According to ZAP there are two ways to attack a little box problem. First determine where in the passage your find the answer. They are either about the nearby sentence or paragraph or on the entire passage. Then re-read or move on depending the type of question. If it’s just a sentence or paragraph re read it and answer but if it’s the entire passage just answer the question and don’t reread. If you use these steps on the box problems then you will be able to move quickly through the test.
These are the tips that I was given by ZAP in order to effectively use my time wisely during the test. I really think these tips help me the most and I hope they help you just as much. The most important thing to remember is to watch your time and don’t leave anything blank.
(Tips provided by
"ZAPS Learning Company - Test Preparation Workshops." ZAPS Learning Company. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. http://www.zaps.com/.)
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