Guide To the December ACT

Are you taking the December ACT? Use this Guide To the December ACT to make the most of this Thanksgiving week.

Day 1

Use this day to verify your registration and to take a practice exam.

REGISTRATION

• Do you have your ticket for test day? Log in to MyACT to verify that you are indeed registered.
• Where are you taking the exam? If you’re unfamiliar with the testing center (it could be a school or college that you’ve never visited), then visit the location. Pay attention to the length of the trip, parking guidelines, and how long it takes to walk from the parking lot to the testing room.
• Do you qualify for accommodations such as extended time? Visit ACT’s Accommodations and English Learner Supports page to make sure that you’ve secured your accommodations.
• Order the test booklet as well as its answer key. Then, practice with this real ACT to prepare for the next exam. Order December’s Test Information Release.

PRACTICE EXAM

Set Goals

For each section, determine the number of questions that you will answer correctly:

• English: _______ /75
• Math: _______ /60
• Reading: _______ /40
• Science: _______ /40

Taking the ACT

Print this full-length practice ACT test. Bubble in your answers on the answer sheet (page 54) just as you would on the actual exam.

Take the exam in the following order:

1. English (45 minutes)
2. Math (60 minutes)
3. Reading (35 minutes)
4. Science (35 minutes)
5. Essay (40 minutes)

• Follow the timing instructions for the sections of the exam.
• Time yourself.
• Take one 5-minute break between each section.
• Do not use your calculator on your cell phone. You may use the calculators listed here.

Scoring Your ACT

Follow the instructions beginning on page 55.

Day 2

Use this day to review ACT Reading. Review the questions that you answered incorrectly, left blank, answered correctly but still don’t understand. In trying to determine why the correct answer is correct, follow these steps.

1. Read the question. Make sure that you understand what the question is asking. Feel free to use a dictionary to define unfamiliar words.
2. Cover up the multiple choices.
3. Find the answer in the passage and develop your own answer.
4. Match your answer to the multiple choices. The one that best matches is the correct answer.
5. If you’re stumped, GO BACK AND READ MORE!

Day 3

Use this day to review ACT English. Review the questions that you answered incorrectly, left blank, answered correctly but still don’t understand. Review the following concepts that are frequently tested on ACT English.

Concept #1: Too much information (TMI)

A writer inserts descriptive information between one of the following: a pair of commas, a pair of dashes, or a pair of parentheses. Find any of these pairs on the ACT and cover the TMI to identify the sentence’s subject and predicate.

Read the original sentence:

A former North Shore Senior High School football coach described Speed and Strength, an early summer camp, as non-negotiable.

Read the original sentence without TMI:

A former North Shore Senior High School football coach described Speed and Strength, an early summer camp, as non-negotiable.

🚩This red flag is the signal to identify the subject and predicate.

Subject: coach; Predicate: described

Concept #2: Semicolon

A semicolon on the ACT alerts the student to look for a complete sentence before the semicolon and a complete sentence after the semicolon. A complete sentence contains an subject and a predicate.

Example:

At East St. Louis High School, supplies were outdated; even the football goal post lacked a crossbar.

🚩This red flag is the signal to identify subjects and predicates before and after the semicolon.

Before the semicolon: Subject: supplies; Predicate: were outdated

After the semicolon: Subject: post; Predicate: lacked

Concept #3: Action words that end with -ing or -ed

🚩Here’s the blueprint for this red flag:

• An action word (that ends with -ing or -ed) at the beginning of a sentence
• A comma somewhere in the sentence

Make sure that the first noun after the comma is the person, place, or thing doing the action.

Example:

Blending flour and butter, Patrick is making a pie crust.

Notice that Patrick, the first noun after the comma, is doing the blending.

Concept #4: Transitional Words or Phrases

Learn how to use the following transitional words or phrases: therefore, thus, nevertheless, nonetheless, as a result, for example, similarly, still, moreover, consequently, however, furthermore.

Read the sentence before the transitional word or phrase. Read the sentence after the word or phrase. Then, determine the relationship between these two sentences. Use this resource to review this concept.

Day 4

Use this day to review ACT Math. Review the questions that you answered incorrectly, left blank, answered correctly but still don’t understand. Review the concepts that are commonly tested on ACT Math.

1. Math terminology
2. Linear functions
3. Quadratic functions

For #4 – #7, keep reading “Top 7 Concepts To Review For the Math Section.”

Day 5

Use this day to review ACT Science. Review the questions that you answered incorrectly, left blank, answered correctly but still don’t understand. Here’s my favorite strategy for ACT Science.

1. Read the entire passage first, checking for definitions and cause and effect relationships.
2. Examine the diagrams to determine the following: variables on the x- and y-axis and relationships between the variables. For example, do the variables move in the same or opposite direction or is there no relationship?

One last word…Take the SAT too!