Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

86 • R EADING

TEST MECHANICS Reading

OVERVIEW

The Reading Test consists of four sections, with either one passage or two shorter paired passages (approximately 700 words total), each followed by 10 items. You will read a passage and answer the items based upon what is stated or implied in the reading selection. You will be given one passage or set of paired passages from each of the following four categories: Prose Fiction, Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science. In most cases, the passage will be about a topic with which you are not familiar. The test-writers choose unusual topics so that the Reading Test will assess your reading skill and not your prior knowledge. The time limit for the 40 items on the Reading Test is 35 minutes. Given the time limit, you obviously need to work quickly. The exam, however, is not a test of “speed-reading.” Instead, the exam is a test of reading comprehension .

The Cambridge Edge Remember, you don’t need any prior knowledge of the reading passage topics to do well on the test. Reading passages test comprehension , not subject knowledge. ANATOMY

PASSAGE I SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from a government report about the history of alcohol abuse. The movement to prohibit alcohol began in the early years of the nineteenth century. Local societies formed in New York and Massachusetts to promote temperance in the use of alcohol. Many of these societies ™‡”‡ ƒˆϐ‹Ž‹ƒ–‡† ™‹–Š ”‘–‡•–ƒ– ‡˜ƒ‰‡Ž‹…ƒŽ denominations and met in local churches. As time passed, most temperance societies changed their goal to call for complete abstinence from all alcohol. DIRECTIONS: The passage below is followed by a set of items. Read the passage and choose the best answer for each item. You may refer to the passage as often as necessary to answer the items.

The directions make Reading items sound easy: read this and answer the items. As a result, the directions aren’t very helpful, and you can ignore them from now on. ȋ౷౷ NOTE: Given space restrictions, this passage is much shorter than those used on the ACT test.) Most of the passages include an introductory note telling you where the passage comes from. A note may provide some useful information, so you should read it. Typically, reading passages discuss an unfamiliar topic. Even if you know something about Prohibition, that information may or may not be helpful since you’ll only be asked about this particular passage. This passage is organized chronologically. Š‡ ϔ‹”•– ’ƒ”ƒ‰”ƒ’Š –ƒŽ• ƒ„‘—– –Š‡ Dz‡ƒ”Ž› years of the nineteenth century,” in other words, the early 1800s.

5

10