© Inspirica 2019

1

ACT ENGLISH TEST

SECTION OVERVIEW

75 questions, 5 passages, 45 minutes

Passages are in either 1st or 3rd person,

never switch perspectives, and are

always poorly written.

Questions are split evenly between

basic grammar errors, which typically

have no question text (answer

questions), and writing strategy/style

issues, which typically do (question

questions).

PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Time your work on a passage-by-

passage basis. If your timing is over 10

minutes per passage, note by how much

and aim to complete the next section 30

seconds per passage faster. If you’re

under 8 minutes per passage, focus on

slowing yourself down in order to

minimize small mistakes. Practice,

practice, practice.

Once your timing is within the 8-9

minutes per passage range, switch your

focus to accuracy as you continue your

timed drills. Your accuracy should

continue to improve slowly but steadily

so long as you continue to practice and

go over your mistakes.

Always review your missed questions

carefully to understand both why your

answer is wrong and why the correct

answer is right.

KEY STRATEGIES

Read and compare the answer choices: When

a problem has no question text, read the answer

choices carefully to determine what’s changing

from choice to choice. That will tell you which

grammar concept(s) the question is testing and

therefore how you should approach it.

Remember: Only one answer will be grammatically

correct, so process of elimination (POE) is always

the best approach.

Read the questions: If a problem does have

question text, it’s there for a reason; read it! The

test is telling you exactly what it’s looking for in the

correct answer. Once you’ve determined what the

question wants you to do, use that as your filter to

analyze the choices.

Remember: The ACT is a very bad writer. You’re

not looking for a good answer, and you’re not

looking for an answer that would impress your

teachers; you’re only looking for the correct

answer to the question the test is asking.

Read the passages: Do NOT skip from underline

to underline. There will be questions that ask

about the content of the passages: transition

sentence questions, writer’s “purpose” or

“intent” questions, and others. The only way that

you’ll be able to answer those effectively and

efficiently is if you understand the main idea of

each paragraph and of the passage.

Remember: If you need a quick summary of the

passage, look to the title for help. It always

correctly conveys the author’s intent.

© Inspirica 2019

2

KEY ACT ENGLISH CONCEPTS AND CONTENT

1. Commas:

a. If you would NOT pause while reading aloud, the comma is wrong.

b. If you can replace the comma with a period, the comma is wrong.

c. If the comma is in front of a prepositional phrase, the comma is wrong.

2. Double Dashes: Identical to parentheses or double commas; used to denote an

interruption that is grammatically disconnected from the rest of the sentence.

3. Semicolons: If you cannot replace the semicolon with a period, then it is wrong.

4. Colons: What comes before must be a complete sentence; what comes after must be

a list of one or more items/examples or a new thought that explains / elaborates on

what comes before.

5. Apostrophes: These indicate possession or ownership of the thing immediately

following.

a. dog’s toy = one dog owns one toy

b. dogs’ toy = many dogs share one toy

c. dogs’ toys = many dogs share many toys.

d. dogs’s toys = not a real grammatical construction

e. It’s versus its: Possessive pronouns never get apostrophes. If a pronoun has

an apostrophe, read its apostrophe as if it’s a contraction (see what I did

there?).

6. Redundancy: Eliminate answers that repeat themselves or restate information already

provided in other parts of the passage. Simpler is always better.

7. Concision: Shorter answers are better, but not automatically best!

8. Word Choice: The right answer works in context; the wrong answers do not.

9. “Question questions”

a. Yes/No Questions: Use the title of the passage to remind you of the author’s

intent when answering these questions.

b. NOT/EXCEPT/LEAST Questions: Slow down; the correct choice will be the

one that would usually be wrong.

c. Moving Sentences/Paragraphs Questions: Look within the text being moved for

the clue that indicates the correct position. Pay attention to transitions.

© Inspirica 2019

3

ACT MATH TEST

SECTION OVERVIEW

60 questions, 60 minutes; questions get

progressively more difficult as you work

Questions are divided roughly evenly

between algebra & basic geometry/

trigonometry.

Difficulty is measured based on the

percentage of students expected to miss

a question; it is possible that a “hard”

question will feel easy to you or that an

“easy” question will feel hard.

PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Practice each of the three sub-sections

separately, working to improve accuracy

and develop a reliable internal clock. Be

sure that you practice using the watch

and calculator that you’ll use on test day.

If your pacing is too slow, note by how

much and aim to complete that

subsection 1 minute faster in your next

practice session. Repeat as necessary.

If increasing your speed significantly

decreases your accuracy, return to your

previous speed and focus your timing

efforts on other subsections.

Always review your missed questions

carefully to understand both why your

answer is wrong and why the correct

answer is right.

KEY STRATEGIES

Prioritize your time: This section is organized by

degree of difficulty. That doesn’t necessarily mean that

#44 is always harder than #43, but it does mean that

#60 is much more difficult than #1. Use the Rule of

Thirds (below) to manage your time. Every student has

an ideal balance of speed and accuracy, and a

significant part of mastering this section is finding

yours.

Remember: The structure of the test is part of the

challenge of the test.

Draw diagrams: If you look at a problem and don’t

know how to begin, draw a diagram. Most geometry

and many algebra questions describe situations that

can be drawn. If a geometry question doesn’t come

with a picture, draw one; if the question provides a

diagram, read the text carefully to determine what was

deliberately left off. Annotate the diagram with every

detail from the question, then look for any additional

lines that can be drawn or labels that can be added

based on the information provided.

Remember: Basic geometry formulas aren’t provided,

so you will need to memorize them ahead of time.

Optimize calculator usage: Look for opportunities

to use your calculator intelligently, such as graphing

equations to find the point of intersection or to visually

solve for maxima/minima. Be aware, however, that it is

possible to use your calculator too much. You can’t

easily check work done only on a calculator, so keep a

record of your work in your test book; there are also

some basic operations that are faster to do by hand or

harder to do on a calculator. Finding that balance is a

key part of success in this section.

Remember: Do your calculations in your calculator but

do your work on your page.

© Inspirica 2019

4

KEY TECHNIQUE

THE RULE OF THIRDS

Think of the test as if it were organized into

three sub-sections:

Questions 1-20 (Easy) – 15 minutes

Work quickly but carefully, answering every

question in order and guarding against

careless errors by checking your work and

rereading the questions.

Danger: Careless errors

Questions 21-40 (Medium) – 20 minutes

Work a bit more slowly, guessing on any

questions that you do not understand or

cannot solve.

Danger: Working too slowly

Questions 41-60 (Hard) – 25 minutes

Make two passes. During the first pass,

answer any questions that you can complete

quickly; if extensive reading is required for a

question, skip it. During the second pass,

go back to #41 and answer as many

remaining questions as possible in the time

left. Use the last minute to guess on any that

you didn’t get to or couldn’t do.

Danger: Running out of time before

guessing

Note: The approach outlined above is best

for testers aiming to move from the mid-20s

to the low-30s. If you are starting lower,

devote more time to the first subsection and

expect to guess on some problems in the

second subsection. If you are starting

higher, you must be nearly perfect through

the first two subsections while completing

every question.

KEY ALGEBRA TECHNIQUES

Variable Plug-ins: When the same variables appear

in the question and the answers, it is usually easiest to

make up your own numbers and plug them in.

• Write down all of the variables that appear in the

answers.

• Choose a different number to plug in for each

variable, being careful to comply with any

constraints given in the problem (e.g. “x is a

positive integer”). Write the corresponding

number next to each variable in your list. Avoid 0,

1, and any numbers that appear in the question.

• Plug your numbers into the question and solve.

Circle your answer; this is your target.

• Plug your numbers into all five answer choices. If

only one choice matches your target, you’re

finished; if your work produces more than one

match, repeat with new numbers, testing only

answers that survived the first test. Remember:

change your numbers substantively. Going from 2

to 4 likely won’t make a difference; going from 2 to

-5 or 0, however, is much more likely to eliminate

any remaining incorrect answer choices.

• Be smart: use 100 in percentage problems and

small primes in non-percentage problems.

Answer Plug-ins: The test doesn't care how you

arrive at your answers, so working backwards is often

the best approach. If the answer choices are simply a

list of numbers, you’ll likely be able to plug those into

the question one by one to see which one works. This

isn’t math class, so it doesn’t matter what your math

teacher would say; the test awards points for correct

answers, not processes, so plug in to win!

Quadratic Equations: The test will rarely give you a

quadratic in the form that is most helpful to you. If it

presents the equation in factored form, expand it, and

vice versa.

© Inspirica 2019

5

KEY MATH CONCEPTS AND CONTENT

1. Plane Geometry

a. Read the text and label the ENTIRE diagram before answering the question.

b. Use special right triangles or the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for missing

information on right triangles.

c. Circles: When you see a circle, write R-D-C-A and fill in the appropriate

information: radius, diameter, circumference, area. In most cases, this will be

enough to solve the problem.

d. Still stumped? Add a line of known length to create a triangle or an additional

radius. If all else fails, rotate the diagram.

2. Coordinate Geometry

a. Lines: Find the slope and/or label all points of intersection on the diagram.

b. Parabolas: Graph the equation on your calculator and use process-of-elimination

based on the result. This shortcut won’t work in math class, but it will work here!

3. Formulas

a. Triangles:

i. 180 degrees

ii. Area = ½bh

iii. Pythagorean Theorem: a2 + b2 = c2

b. Circles:

i. 360 degrees

ii. Circumference = 2πr = πd

iii. Area = πr2

iv. Equation in a coordinate plane: (x - h)2 + (y - k)2 = r2

4. Trigonometry

a. SOHCAHTOA:

i. sin θ = 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜⁄ = 1 cscθ⁄

ii. cos θ = 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜 ℎ𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜⁄ = 1 secθ⁄

iii. tan θ = 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑜𝑜𝑦𝑦𝑜𝑜⁄ = 1 cotθ⁄ = sinθ cosθ⁄

b. Pythagorean Identity: sin2 θ + cos2 θ = 1

5. General Math

a. Ratios, Percentages, and Probabilities:

i. All ratios are either part-to-part or part-to-whole, and on this test the whole

is always the sum of the parts.

ii. Probabilities are just part-to-whole ratios: the part you want compared to

the sum of the parts.

b. Averages: Know mean, median, and mode; never average averages.

c. Roots: Before doing anything else, simplify.

d. Imaginary Numbers:

i. 𝑜𝑜1 = 𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜2 = -1; 𝑜𝑜3 = -𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜4 = 1; 𝑜𝑜5 = 𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜6 = -1; 𝑜𝑜7 = -𝑜𝑜; 𝑜𝑜8 = 1…

ii. Never substitute √−1 in for 𝑜𝑜!

© Inspirica 2019

6

ACT READING TEST

SECTION OVERVIEW

Time crunch: 4 passage sets with 10

questions each; 35 minutes. This

section will test your ability to work

quickly and calmly.

Four out-of-context excerpts taken from

previously published works:

Literary Narrative: Modern fiction with

questions focused on character

motivations and interactions

Social Sciences: A detail-heavy

excerpt from a passage on economics,

history, government, psychology, or

sociology

Humanities: An excerpt on art,

culture, ethics, or language; often a

writer writing about writing

Natural Science: An excerpt on

astronomy, ecology, medicine, natural

history, or physics

Two methods of organization:

Single passage: 700-800 words spread

across 90-100 lines of text

Paired passages: Two shorter

passages on a shared topic,

combining for 700+ words

KEY STRATEGIES

Be question-centric, not passage-centric: Unless

you are a very quick reader, you will not have time to

read the entire passage and answer the questions in

order; the section is explicitly designed to make that a

nearly impossible task. Instead, use the Two-Pass

Method (below) to sequence questions from

narrowest to broadest, then answer them in that order.

This will prevent you from doing unnecessary reading

and will allow you to build an understanding of the

passage by answering the narrower questions before

tackling those that require a more comprehensive

understanding of the material.

Remember: Always approach the test in the order that

makes the most sense for YOU.

Be literal and read for context: Because this section

moves so quickly, most of the questions are very

superficial. If you can point to support for an answer

choice in the text, then that’s the correct answer. Do be

conscious, however, of the fact that when a question

gives you line numbers, they alone are rarely enough

to find the answer. The best choice often relies on how

those lines fit into the surrounding paragraph, so be

sure to read for context.

Remember: Read like a robot. If an answer choice

seems too obvious to be right, it’s probably right!

Pay attention to the theme of the passage: The

ACT has built a shortcut into many of the non-fiction

passages to ensure that the section can be completed

within the allotted time: theme. As you complete your

first pass, construct a one-sentence summary of the

passage in your head by pretending to describe it to

someone else. In most passages, the correct answers

to several questions will be very slight variations on

that theme. When stuck, ask yourself: “which of these

choices lines up the best with my summary?”

© Inspirica 2019

7

PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Time your work on a passage-by-passage

basis. If you’re over 9 minutes per passage,

aim to complete the next passage 30

seconds faster. Repeat as necessary. Once

you get your timing under 10 minutes per

passage, focus on building accuracy.

Track which passage types are your

strongest and which are your weakest so

that you can appropriately sequence your

work in this section.

Consider completing the paired passage

last, treating it as two mini-passages, each

of which can be completed in half the time

of a full passage.

Always review your mistakes carefully to

understand both why your answer is wrong

and why the correct answer is right.

PAIRED PASSAGE METHOD

Begin by labeling the margins with question

numbers as explained in the Two-Pass

Method (right), then work your way through

Passage A.

Next, complete a round of POE on all

questions that ask about both passages,

eliminating answers that must be wrong

based on what you know about A only.

Now forget that A exists and move through

Passage B, answering questions as your

margin notes require.

Finally, return to the “both” questions and

complete a second round of POE based on

Passage B.

KEY TECHNIQUE

TWO-PASS METHOD

Spend 60-90 seconds labeling the margins of the

passage with question numbers.

• For questions with line or paragraph numbers,

write the question number in the margin next to

those lines.

• For questions that reference specific proper

names, dates, or jargon, scan the passage for 15

seconds to locate the relevant term(s) and label the

margin. If you cannot find the key word(s) in that

time, move on to the next question.

Make two passes through the questions.

• PASS ONE: Answer questions with margin labels

first, working from the beginning of the passage to

the end.

o Always read the first paragraph, then head

directly to your first question.

o Read the question in full. If the line references

or terms are in a short paragraph, read the

entire paragraph. If they’re in a longer

paragraph, read five lines before and five lines

after the references.

o Eliminate all answers not directly supported by

the text, then select the best that remains.

• PASS TWO: Work through remaining questions

that did not produce margin labels.

o First, complete any questions that had specific

references that you could not locate at the start.

o Next, complete questions asking about the

entire passage.

o Finally, complete any Except/Least/Not

questions. These can sometimes be time-

consuming, so monitor your pacing and guess

if necessary.

Remember: Wrong answers are often partially right, so

read the entirety of every answer choice.

© Inspirica 2019

8

ACT SCIENCE TEST

SECTION OVERVIEW

Time crunch: 6-7 passages sharing a

total of 40 questions that must be

completed in 35 minutes

Three passage types, all out-of-context

excerpts taken from previously

published papers or textbooks:

Data Representation (DR): Tables,

charts, and graphs with little reading –

typically only a short introductory

paragraph. Each test features two or

three passages of this type.

Research Summaries (RS): Short

introductory paragraph(s) providing a

very brief overview of an area of

research, followed by two or three

short summaries of related

experiments, often with one or more

data representations for each. Each

test features two or three passages of

this type.

Conflicting Viewpoints (CV): Several

introductory paragraphs detailing a

scientific phenomenon/concept,

followed by two to four short

summaries of competing answers or

explanations about some aspect of

that phenomenon/concept. Each test

only features one passage of this type.

KEY STRATEGIES

Only read when you must: This section has the

most difficult timing of the entire ACT. You can save

valuable time by cutting out unnecessary reading and

focusing only on the information that you need to

understand. On the non-CV passages, ignore the

passage text and go straight to the questions, reading

the graphs/charts and the relevant portions of the text

only when the questions direct you to do so.

Remember: This is not a science test; it is a test of your

ability to read and interpret scientific material. You

don’t need to understand the concepts, just the data.

Plan, prioritize, execute: Use the process of

answering easy questions to propel your

understanding to the next level for the harder

questions. Answer the questions that ask about

specific charts/graphs/tables first, even if that means

skipping around, then return for the ones that require

you to read the passage or make inferences from data.

Remember: Know the anatomy of the passages. For

example, if a question in an RS passage asks about a

specific experiment, look first at the paragraph

underneath the heading for that experiment; likewise,

if a question asks about a general scientific concept,

look first at the introductory paragraph.

Stay calm and carry on: You’re here to convert time

into points. Allot a time limit per passage and keep an

eye on the clock. If you find yourself spending too

much time on any one passage, finish the question

you’re working on, guess on any that remain, and move

to the next passage to collect more points there.

Remember: Though most questions require no prior

knowledge, three to four questions on each test will

require you to know things that are not provided in the

passage. If you skim the passage for a key term from a

question and don’t see it, it probably isn’t there.

© Inspirica 2019

9

PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Timing strategies have recently been

complicated by a shift from a consistent

seven passages per section to a variable six

or seven passages per section; you will

therefore need to be flexible in your

approach.

If the section has seven passages, aim for 10

minutes per two passages to compensate

for differences in length and difficulty

between individual passages. If the section

has six passages, aim for 12 minutes per two

passages.

Remember that the CV passage tends to

take the most time, and as such it’s often a

good idea to either save it for last or

complete it first, depending on your

individual strengths and weaknesses.

Track which passage types are your

strongest and which are your weakest. If

your pacing requires you to skip a portion of

the section, make certain that you skip either

the passage types or question topics that

your practice shows are most problematic

for you.

Always review your mistakes carefully to

understand both why your answer is wrong

and why the correct answer is right.

KEY TECHNIQUE

CONFLICTING VIEWPOINTS

Ignore the passage at the start and instead jump

immediately into the questions. Spend roughly 30

seconds sorting them into categories based on which

perspective they ask about. For instance, if the

passage presents hypotheses from Scientist 1 and

Scientist 2, questions can ask about only Scientist 1,

only Scientist 2, both, or neither.

Return to the passage and do a “heavy skim” (think 2%

milk) of the introductory paragraphs. You’re not trying

to memorize and comprehend every single detail, but

you should be able to describe the central concept or

phenomenon under consideration by the time you

finish skimming. Once you’ve finished reading the

introduction, stop and don’t go any further.

Go to your questions and answer any that ask about

neither perspective, returning to consult the passage

as needed. Next, read through the paragraph(s) that

describe the first hypothesis, then answer any

questions that ask about only the first hypothesis.

Continue in this manner until all questions asking

about only a single hypothesis have been completed.

Finally, use the cumulative understanding of the

passage that you have developed in your work to

answer the questions that ask about multiple

hypotheses. These questions should ideally be the

quickest and easiest to answer, as you’ve now had a

chance to process the passage in detail by answering

all of the other questions first. In nearly every case,

these comparative questions will focus on the primary

claim made by each of the scientists and will not

require you to do any analysis of your own.

© Inspirica 2019

10

ACT ESSAY

SECTION OVERVIEW

40 minutes to write an argumentative

essay on a topic chosen by the test

writers

You may choose any position: partial,

agreement, full agreement, or

disagreement.

You need not agree with yourself. Your

goal is to construct a coherent

argument, not a correct one.

Your examples and evidence need not

be real. Make up news stories, scientific

studies, and other forms of evidence as

you write, the more specific the better.

PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Remember that the Writing score does

not affect your ACT composite score at

all, and many colleges no longer require

that you submit a Writing score as part

of your application. As such, the essay

should be a MUCH lower priority during

your preparation process than any other

part of the test.

Complete details on the Writing test,

including grading criteria and sample

essays, can be found on the ACT

website by using the following URL:

https://inspirica.live/ACTEssay

KEY STRATEGIES

Spend 7-8 minutes organizing your thoughts:

• Organize the three perspectives offered into

pro and con categories.

• Identify the specific claim made in each,

summarizing it in a short phrase.

o Ex: “efficiency good”

o Ex: “loss of humanity bad”

o Ex: “exciting new possibilities good”

• Write several pieces of evidence to support

both the pro and con perspectives.

o Ex: “Mobile phones make businesses

more efficient, improve standards of

living.”

o Ex: “Social media is easy to hide behind,

encourages loss of humanity.”

o Ex: “Internet creates exciting new

possibilities for interconnection.”

• Construct a thesis that explicitly rejects one

side in favor of the other.

o Ex: “Although the use of computers

does often allow people to mistreat one

another, it nevertheless increases

standards of living and creates exciting

new possibilities for interaction.”

© Inspirica 2019

11

KEY ESSAY STRATEGIES, CONTINUED

Spend 30 minutes writing:

• Intro: Summarize the debate in 3-4 sentences, then offer your thesis. Be simple, direct, and

concise.

• Body 1:

o Offer a 2-3 sentence explanation of the “although” half of the thesis, detailing how it

does have some merit. Don’t worry — you will reject this later in the essay!

o Explicitly connect it to the perspectives offered by the test writers using detailed but

made-up examples.

Ex: Scientific study detailing how people are more likely to be rude to one

another on Facebook than in person, leading to loss of humanity

Ex: Buzzfeed article about online bullying, leading to loss of humanity

o End with a statement that rejects this argument and transitions into your own

position.

• Body 2:

o Offer a 3-4 sentence explanation of the second half of your thesis statement.

o Explicitly connect it to the relevant perspectives using detailed, made-up examples:

Ex: Economist story about rural poor using mobile phone to grow business

Ex: NYT article about revolutionaries using social media to build movement

that toppled a tyrant

o End with a statement that reiterates and summarizes your position.

• Conclusion: Briefly restate the debate and re-offer your thesis. Add nothing new. Be as

clear and concise as possible.

Spend 2-3 minutes skimming your essay and making minor corrections:

• Never Erase: If you need to make corrections, draw a single line through the mistake and

write your correction above it. Your essay will be scanned using a high-speed scanner, a

process that often renders large-scale erasures unreadable to the graders.

• Never Repeat: You need only mention each of the three perspectives once in the essay, and

you get no additional credit for referring to them multiple times.

• Never Waver: If you do not write as if you believe what you are writing, then your graders

will not believe your argument either.

• Never Worry: No one other than the graders will ever see your essay, so it does not matter

if you agree with yourself. Moreover, the essay is graded as a rough draft, so it is far more

important for it to be complete than it is for it to be perfect.