5 Things to Know for the ACT Reading Section

📚Section Overview

The ACT reading section is the third section of the exam. In this section, you'll read passages of different lengths and answer multiple-choice questions that prompt you to consider the purpose of an author's writing, analyze rhetoric, and draw conclusions and inferences based on what you've read. Some passages may also include graphs or other visual aids which questions will reference, encouraging you to demonstrate your ability to integrate different forms of information presented to you into your analyses.

☝️Top Tips

1. The ACT reading section consists of 40 multiple-choice questions which you will have 35 minutes to answer

• • ⏲️ The timing is tight—less than one minute per question—so pacing is essential.- - ⌚ Bring a watch and keep track of your time. Try to have around half of the questions answered by the 15-minute mark. Practicing this pacing before the exam on practice tests can help you get more comfortable with the tight time constraints.- - ⁉️ If you get stuck on a particular question or passage, move on to the next question or passage. This will make sure you don't spend all your time on the hardest questions and miss out on easier points!

1. Read each passage in its entirety

• • 📖 This section consists of multiple passages with a set of questions for each. Make sure to read each piece completely before starting on the questions. This allows you to get a feel for the passage as a whole, so you are better equipped to analyze it.- - 💭 Ask yourself while you read: what is the author trying to convey in this piece? What is the tone? Is this piece fiction or non-fiction?- - 🤔 Sometimes, there are a pair of passages with questions that compare and contract the pieces. While reading, pay extra attention to the similarities and differences between the pieces, so you're ready for the comparison questions!

1. Refer to the passage when answering questions

• • 🔎 While answering the questions, refer back to the passage to refresh your memory with the details of what you've read. This is especially important when the question refers to a particular paragraph or section of the piece.- - 👀 Make sure to read a little before and after the section referenced in the question so you can better place it into the context of the piece as a whole. This makes it easier to answer specific questions about the purpose of a section or its placement within the piece.

1. Read questions and answers thoroughly

• • 🗝️ Look out for keywords like EXCEPT, LEAST, NOT, best, or implies in the questions. These buzzwords help indicate what you are looking for in your answer!
• • 📑 Read and consider all the answer options before choosing one. There may be questions where multiple answers could be correct. When this happens, it may help to re-read the question to see if one answer fits better than the others in context.

1. Answer everything!

• • ✏️ With tight timing and tricky, nuanced questions, it's likely that you won't have time to perfectly answer every question—and that's okay! — make your best-informed decision. If you're really running short on time, it's okay to guess! A wrong answer won't penalize you, but an unanswered question definitely won't score any points. Keeping these tips in mind will make you better equipped to tackle the reading section of the ACT with confidence. Keep them in mind while studying, and they'll help you form useful testing habits for exam day! 🥳

P.S.

Don't forget to check out these other guides here on Fiveable that will provide you with more information about the ACT Reading section.

• • Fiveable's ACT Reading Section Overview: What's On It?
• • ACT Reading: Integration of Knowledge & Ideas
• • ACT Reading: Craft & Structure
• • ACT Reading: Key Ideas & Details