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ACT Reading Content

(35 Minutes – 40 Questions)

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Our program ensures mastery of reading skills assessed on the ACT Reading Test:  Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. 

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The test questions ask you to derive meaning from several texts by (1) referring to what is explicitly stated and (2) reasoning to determine implicit meanings. Specifically, questions will ask you to use referring and reasoning skills to determine main ideas; locate and interpret significant details; understand sequences of events; make comparisons; comprehend cause-effect relationships; determine the meaning of context-dependent words, phrases, and statements; draw generalizations; and analyze the author’s or narrator’s voice and method.

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The test comprises four sections, three of which contain one long prose passage and one, which contains two shorter prose passages. The passages are representative of the levels and kinds of text commonly encountered in first-year college curricula.

 

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Key Ideas and Details (55–60%) | 22 – 24 Questions

Read texts closely to determine central ideas and themes. Summarize information and ideas accurately. Read closely to understand relationships and draw logical inferences and conclusions including understanding sequential, comparative, and cause-effect relationships.

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Craft and Structure (25–30%) | 10 - 12 Questions

Determine word and phrase meanings, analyze an author’s word choice rhetorically, analyze text structure, understand authorial purpose and perspective, and analyze characters’ points of view. Students will interpret authorial decisions rhetorically and differentiate between various perspectives and sources of information.

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Integration of Knowledge and Ideas (13–18%) | 5- 7 Questions

Understand authors’ claims, differentiate between facts and opinions, and use evidence to make connections between different texts that are related by topic. Some questions will require students to analyze how authors construct arguments, evaluating reasoning and evidence from various sources