AccelePrep for the ACT Test 2nd Edition Student Text

206 • S URGE TO S UCCESS ! S CIENCE T EST P REP

Items corresponding to Data Representation passages typically address three areas of concern: understanding the nature of the data, recognizing trends, and drawing conclusions.

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF DATA

Understanding a Data Representation passage (and some Research Summary passages) requires understanding the nature of the experiment, how it should be set up or studied, or how the data are arranged. Before any further analysis can be performed, it is necessary to understand what is presented in tables or graphs. In a table, for example, to understand the data, simply read the column headings—these will be the variables in the experiments. Then, check the rows to see what variables were changed in each trial. The passage below deals with the nature of the animal species taedi periculum ƒ† Š‘™ –Š‡ ”‡•—Ž–• ‘ˆ ƒ ”‡Žƒ–‡† •–—†› ƒ”‡ ƒ””ƒ‰‡†Ǥ Š‡ ϐ‹”•– thing to notice about this Data Representation passage is that it describes the effect of two variables (temperature and food) on the sexual maturity of the female of the species. If you need to answer a question about the effect of food, refer to the “age” column and compare Experiments 1, ʹǡ ƒ† ͵ǡ ‘”…‘’ƒ”‡ š’‡”‹‡–• Ͷǡ ͷǡ ƒ† ͸Ǥ  ‡ƒ…Š of those groups, temperature remains constant so that a change in age can only be related (as far as is indicated) to a change in amount of food intake. If you need to answer a question about the effect of temperature, compare rows in which the only changing factor is temperature. A scientist investigated the variables that affect the age at which a female of the animal species Taedi periculum ϐ‹”•– ‰‹˜‡• „‹”–ŠǤ ‘‡ ‘ˆ –Š‡ results of this study are summarized in the table below.

Examples:

AGE WHEN FIRST GAVE BIRTH (months)

AVERAGE FOOD INTAKE (grams)

TEMPERATURE (°C)

1 2 ͵ 4 ͷ 6

ʹͷ ʹͷ ʹͷ ͵ͷ ͵ͷ ͵ͷ

ͳͷ ͵Ͳ Ͷͷ ͳͷ ͵Ͳ Ͷͷ

7 6 4 ͷ ͵

EXPERIMENT

͵ 3. Which of the pairs of experiments listed below would be useful for •–—†›‹‰ –Š‡ ‡ˆˆ‡…– ‘ˆ –‡’‡”ƒ–—”‡ ‘ –Š‡ ƒ‰‡ ‘ˆ ϐ‹”•– „‹”–Šǫ

A. 1 and 2 Ǥ ͳ ƒ† ͷ C. 1 and 4 D. 2 and 6