The BEST ACT® Reading Strategies and Tricks that Helped Me Improve 15 Points 📚

5 Academy
27 Apr 202312:56
EducationalLearning
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TLDRThe video script focuses on strategies for tackling the reading section of the ACT exam, emphasizing the importance of understanding passages efficiently within the time constraints. The speaker introduces a technique called 'passage glancing,' which is a more in-depth skimming method to grasp the main ideas and locate key details without getting bogged down in every detail. The video outlines three critical elements to look for in ACT reading passages: relationships, emotions, and events. It also categorizes the passages into four types—prose fiction, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences—and suggests different focuses for each. Finally, the script discusses common question types, including main ideas, details, vocabulary, and author's intent, providing tips on how to approach each. The video concludes with an invitation to subscribe for updates and access to free ACT practice tools.

Takeaways
  • 📚 **Time Management**: Spend less time reading the passage and more time answering questions, as the latter directly impacts your score.
  • 👀 **Passage Glancing**: Use a quick reading technique to grasp the basic gist of the passage and identify the main ideas without getting bogged down in details.
  • 🔍 **Identify Key Elements**: Focus on relationships, events, and emotions within the passage as they are often the basis for questions.
  • 📈 **Improve Score**: By understanding the passage's structure and main points, you can improve your ACT reading score significantly.
  • ⏳ **Strategic Reading**: Allocate around two to three minutes to read the passage, which allows more time for answering questions.
  • 📖 **Passage Types**: Recognize different passage types (Prose Fiction, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences) and tailor your approach accordingly.
  • 🧩 **Track Relationships and Events**: In Humanities and Prose Fiction, track personal relationships and emotions, while in Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, focus on broader relationships and events.
  • 📝 **Annotation Practice**: Make annotations while reading to note down key relationships, emotions, and events to help with question answering.
  • ❓ **Question Types**: Be familiar with the four common question types: main ideas, details, vocabulary in context, and author's intent.
  • 🔑 **Context is King**: For vocabulary questions, the correct answer is the one that fits the context of the passage, not just the definition of the word.
  • 🎯 **Author's Intent**: Understand why the author includes certain information and the emotions or effects they aim to convey to answer author's intent questions effectively.
Q & A

  • What is the main focus of the video regarding the ACT reading section?

    -The video focuses on strategies to improve understanding and scores in the ACT reading section, emphasizing passage glancing, identifying relationships, events, and emotions, and understanding different passage types and common question types.

  • What is the 'passage glancing' strategy mentioned in the video?

    -Passage glancing is a technique similar to skimming where you quickly read through the passage to get the basic gist and understand the main idea of each paragraph without absorbing every detail.

  • Why is it not recommended to focus on every detail in the passage during the ACT reading section?

    -Focusing on every detail is not recommended because not every detail will be asked about in the questions. It is more efficient to get the basic understanding and know where to look back in the passage when needed.

  • What are the three main things to look for in an ACT reading passage?

    -The three main things to look for in an ACT reading passage are relationships, events, and emotions.

  • How does the strategy for reading Humanities and Prose Fiction passages differ from Social Sciences and Natural Sciences passages?

    -For Humanities and Prose Fiction, the focus is on relationships and emotions due to the personal and human aspects of the narratives. For Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, the focus shifts to relationships in a broader sense (e.g., between events or concepts) and events, as these passages often describe processes or historical narratives.

  • What is the significance of understanding the chronological order of events in a scientific or historical narrative?

    -Understanding the chronological order of events is crucial for grasping the development of ideas, processes, or historical contexts, which is often a focus of questions in the Social Sciences and Natural Sciences passages.

  • How much time is recommended to read a passage in the ACT reading section?

    -The video suggests using two to three minutes to read a passage, allowing more time for answering questions.

  • What are the four common question types discussed in the video?

    -The four common question types are main ideas questions, details questions, vocabulary in context questions, and author's intent questions.

  • How can one effectively answer vocabulary questions in the ACT reading section without prior knowledge of the words?

    -One can answer vocabulary questions effectively by using the context in which the word is used in the passage to determine the correct meaning from the provided definitions.

  • What is the importance of understanding the author's intent when answering questions about a passage?

    -Understanding the author's intent is important because it helps in answering questions about why the author says certain things, the emotions they are trying to convey, and the effects they are aiming to create in the reader.

  • What advice is given for managing time during the ACT reading section?

    -The advice given is to spend less time reading the passage and more time answering questions, as the points are awarded for correct answers, not for the time spent reading.

  • How can one prepare for the ACT reading section using the strategies discussed in the video?

    -One can prepare by practicing passage glancing, focusing on relationships, events, and emotions, understanding different passage types, and familiarizing themselves with common question types.

Outlines
00:00
📚 Mastering the ACT Reading Section

The video focuses on strategies to improve the ACT reading section performance. It emphasizes the importance of understanding passages quickly and efficiently, as well as the significance of relationships, events, and emotions within the text. The speaker shares a personal strategy called 'passage glancing,' which is a more in-depth skimming technique to grasp the main ideas and locate details for reference during question answering. The video also outlines how to approach different passage types and common question types, providing a comprehensive approach to tackling the ACT reading section within the time constraints.

05:02
🔍 Passage Glancing and Content Focus

This paragraph delves into the specifics of the 'passage glancing' technique, explaining that it's about getting a basic understanding of the text rather than memorizing every detail. The emphasis is on identifying relationships, emotions, and events within the passages. The speaker categorizes the passages into two groups: Humanities and Prose Fiction, which focus on personal relationships and emotions, and Social Sciences and Natural Sciences, which require attention to broader relationships and events. The paragraph provides examples of how to apply these strategies to different types of passages, including a literary narrative and a scientific passage, to enhance comprehension and preparation for the questions.

10:03
🤓 Approaching Different Passage Types and Question Types

The final paragraph discusses the four types of questions commonly found in the ACT reading section: main ideas, details, vocabulary, and author's intent. The speaker provides guidance on how to effectively answer these questions by leveraging the understanding gained from passage glancing. It is highlighted that for vocabulary questions, context is key, and for author's intent questions, understanding the significance and emotions behind the author's words is crucial. The video concludes with an offer of free ACT practice tools and an encouragement to subscribe for future updates and strategies.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡ACT Reading Section
The ACT Reading Section is a part of the ACT test that assesses a student's ability to read and comprehend various texts. In the video, it is the main focus as the speaker discusses strategies to improve scores in this section. The importance is highlighted by the speaker's aim to help students enhance their understanding of passages and improve their reading scores by 15 points.
💡Passage Glancing
Passage Glancing is a technique mentioned in the video for quickly reading and understanding the main ideas of a text without getting bogged down in details. It involves looking at all the words and getting the basic gist of the passage and what each paragraph is about. This strategy is crucial for managing the time constraints of the ACT Reading Section, as it allows students to allocate more time to answering questions.
💡Relationships
In the context of the video, Relationships refer to the interactions between characters or entities within a text, which is a key element to focus on when reading passages, particularly in prose fiction and humanities passages. Understanding these relationships helps in answering questions about character dynamics and how they evolve over the course of the narrative.
💡Emotions
Emotions are feelings expressed by characters or implied by the narrator in a text. Identifying and noting these emotions is important as they can influence the tone and perspective of a passage. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the need to recognize emotions as they are often a point of focus in questions related to literary narratives and humanities passages.
💡Events
Events are the occurrences or happenings within a narrative or informational text. In the ACT Reading Section, recognizing the sequence and significance of events is vital, especially in scientific and historical narratives. The speaker in the video advises students to take note of events to better understand the development of a passage and to answer questions about them effectively.
💡Humanities Passage
A Humanities Passage is a type of reading material found in the ACT that typically deals with cultural, social, or historical themes. The video discusses how to approach these passages by focusing on relationships and emotions, as they often contain narratives and first-person accounts that are rich in emotional and relational content.
💡Social Sciences Passage
Social Sciences Passages, along with Natural Sciences Passages, are categorized under 'Sciences' in the video. These passages cover topics related to social or natural studies and often require a focus on understanding relationships between concepts and events, as well as the chronological order of developments or historical facts.
💡Main Ideas Question
Main Ideas Questions are a type of question in the ACT Reading Section that ask for the general intent, purpose, or main idea of a passage. These questions are straightforward and can be answered by having a basic understanding of the passage's overall message. The video emphasizes the importance of grasping the main idea for successfully tackling this question type.
💡Details Question
Details Questions require students to locate and understand specific information within a passage. The video suggests that the Passage Glancing technique is particularly useful for this, as it provides a framework for knowing where to look for details when answering such questions without spending too much time on initial reading.
💡Vocabulary in Context
Vocabulary in Context refers to the meaning of a word based on how it is used in a specific passage. The video explains that for vocabulary questions on the ACT, students do not need to know the words beforehand but should instead rely on the context provided within the passage to determine the correct meaning.
💡Author's Intent Questions
Author's Intent Questions ask why the author has included certain information or what effect they are trying to achieve. The video advises that understanding the author's intent involves recognizing the significance of what is being referred to and the emotions or effects the author is trying to convey, which is closely tied to the passage glancing strategy.
Highlights

The ACT reading section offers significant potential for improvement, with many students struggling to understand passages.

The presenter will share main strategies for attacking and understanding ACT reading passages to improve scores.

The video will cover strategies for reading passages quickly and understanding the main ideas, passage types, and common question types.

Students are advised to spend no more than two to three minutes reading each passage to save time for answering questions.

The presenter introduces 'passage glancing', a technique for quickly understanding the gist of a passage without getting bogged down in details.

Three main things to look for in ACT reading passages are relationships, events, and emotions.

Different passage types (prose fiction, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) require different focuses during passage glancing.

In prose fiction and humanities passages, focus on personal relationships and emotions, while in social and natural sciences, look for relationships between concepts and events.

The presenter provides an example of a literary narrative passage and how to annotate for relationships and emotions.

For social and natural sciences passages, understanding the chronological order and cause-effect relationships of events is crucial.

There are four common question types on the ACT reading section: main ideas, details, vocabulary in context, and author's intent.

Main ideas questions are straightforward, asking for the author's intent or the purpose of the passage.

Details questions require referring back to the passage to find specific information.

Vocabulary questions are based on context, with multiple-choice answers providing the correct definition within the passage's context.

Author's intent questions involve understanding why the author says certain things and the emotions or effects they aim to create.

Free ACT practice tools, including six practice exams, are available on the presenter's website.

Subscribing to the channel ensures viewers are notified of new ACT strategy, prep, or review videos.

Transcripts

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ACT PrepReading StrategiesTime ManagementPassage GlancingMain IdeasDetail QuestionsVocabularyAuthor's IntentLiterary NarrativeScience PassagesTest Taking Tips