McGraw-Hill’sACT This page intentionally left blank McGraw-Hill’sACT Steven W. Dulan and the faculty of Advantage Education McGraw-Hill New York Chicago SanFrancisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data- base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 0-07-151107-5 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-149386-7. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. 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DOI: 10.1036/0071493867 For more information about this title, click here CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix About the Author xi Introduction: Using This Book xiii How to Use the Practice Tests xiii A Note on Scoring the Practice Tests xiv PART I GETTING STARTED 1 Chapter 1 Understanding the ACT 3 What Is the ACT? 3 Structure of the ACT? 3 Who Writes the ACT? 5 Registering for the ACT 5 Why Do ACT Exams Exist? 5 ACT Scores 5 Bias on the ACT 6 Disabilities and the ACT 6 Testing Irregularities 7 SAT Differences and Similarities 7 PART II ACT DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT 9 ACT Diagnostic Assessment Test 11 Answer Key 65 Scoring Guide 69 Answers and Explanations 73 PART III STRATEGIES AND REVIEW 95 Chapter 2 Strategies to Get Your Best Score 97 The Psychology of Testing 97 Strategic Thinking 99 Relax to Succeed 99 Getting Ready to Take the Test 102 Taking the Test 103 Guessing on the Test 105 After the Test 105 Chapter 3 ACT English Test: Strategies and Concept Review 107 General Strategies and Techniques 107 Usage and Mechanics 109 Rhetorical Skills 122 ACT English Skills Exercises 125 vi CONTENTS ACT English Exercises: Answers and Explanations 134 Practice Questions 142 Answers and Explanations 147 Commonly Misused Words 149 Chapter 4 ACT Mathematics Test: Strategies and Concept Review 155 General Strategies and Techniques 155 Mathematics Concept Review 160 ACT Mathematics Skills Exercises 176 Answers and Explanations 188 Practice Questions 208 Answers and Explanations 213 Chapter 5 ACT Reading Test: Strategies and Concept Review 217 Timing 217 General Strategies and Techniques 218 Question Types 222 Strategies for Specific Question Types 223 ACT Reading Skills Exercises 224 Answers and Explanations 234 Practice Questions 238 Answers and Explanations 242 Chapter 6 ACT Science Reasoning Test: Strategies and Concept Review 245 General Strategies and Techniques 245 The Scientific Method 246 ACT Science Reasoning Test Exercises 248 Answers and Explanations 253 Practice Questions 255 Answers and Explanations 259 Chapter 7 ACT Writing Test: Strategies and Review 261 How to Prepare 262 The Essay Prompt 262 Essay Writing Techniques 263 Common Mistakes 265 Essay Scoring 268 Simplified Essay Scoring Rubric 269 Sample Student Responses 270 ACT Writing Skills Exercises 275 Improving Paragraphs 276 Answers and Explanations 280 PART IV FOUR PRACTICE TESTS 283 ACT Practice Test 1 287 Answer Key 337 Scoring Guide 341 Answers and Explanations 345 CONTENTS vii ACT Practice Test 2 367 Answer Key 417 Scoring Guide 421 Answers and Explanations 425 Act Practice Test 3 447 Answer Key 495 Scoring Guide 499 Answers and Explanations 503 ACT Practice Test 4 525 Answer Key 575 Scoring Guide 579 Answers and Explanations 583 PART V APPENDIXES 605 Appendix 1 What’s Next? 607 Choosing the Best College or University for You 607 Applying to College 610 Suggested High School Courses 612 Appendix 2 ACT Vocabulary List 615 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the faculty and staff of Advantage Education. You are not only the smartest, but also the best. Special thanks to Aishah Ali, Pamela Chamberlain, Jennifer Gensterblum, MattMathison,RyanParticka,AndrewSanford,SashaSavinov,KyleSweeney, and Amanda Thompson. All of you put in extra effort to make this book a success. Mostimportantly,Iwouldliketoacknowledgethesinglebiggestcontributor to this work: my wife, colleague, co-author, editor, typist, employee, boss, and friend: Amy Dulan. None of this would have been possible without your hard work and dedication. Thanks for stickin’ with me. Copyright © 2007 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.