Mr. Arsenie, March 12 and 19, 2011Mr. Arsenie, March 12 and 19, 2011

ACT Prep- Science

After eating a donut, on the After eating a donut, on the blank sheet of paper I gave blank sheet of paper I gave you, answer the following :you, answer the following :

1. What do you hope to accomplish these two Saturdays by being here?

2. What does the ACT Science section test you on?

3. What is your favorite breakfast food?

4. What is the most disgusting food served at Schurz?

Why are we here?Why are we here?

Important to know what your being assessed on!!!

High stakes test for yourself and the school.Having an army of methods for attacking

each question will raise your grade!You obviously care about your test and

what it will do for you!

Objectives: by the time we Objectives: by the time we finish ACT prep…finish ACT prep…

You should know…– How the science test is broken down– The 3 types of questions– Several science test strategies

Agenda – March 12, 2011Agenda – March 12, 2011

Intro to ACT Science TESTVocabulary strategiesReview Strategies for taking testPractice with partner feedback/review and looking at

areas of improvementMore Practice Practice Practice (timed)- 2 tests

Next week: Online/Paper Timed Tests!!!

Notes:Notes:

Setup Cornell FormatTitle: “ACT Prep Day 1”If its yellow right it to the leftRed, write it on the rightAny other color, don’t write it

How much time?How much time?35 minutes40 questions w/ 7 passages

35 mins/40 questions = 52.5 sec per question

The Science Test is a test of your science reasoning skills.

All of the information you need to answer the questions correctly is provided in the passages

No specific content!

What is the TEST?What is the TEST?

What is on it?What is on it?

–The questions cover:• Biology• Earth & Space sciences• Chemistry• Physics

•All four areas of science are represented

•At least one passage and no more than two passage represent each content area

ONLY 3 types of questionsONLY 3 types of questions

15 questions - data representation18 questions – research summaries 7 questions – conflicting viewpoints

Only 3 general skillsOnly 3 general skills

20 questions - analysis13 questions – generalization 7 questions – understanding

THE QUESTIONS DO NOT GET HARDER AS YOU PROGRESS THROUGH THE TEST

AGAIN…AGAIN…

• The ACT Science test emphasizes scientific reasoning skills rather than recall of scientific content, mathematical skill, or reading ability

To be clear…To be clear…

Unlike the Math Test you will not be required to remember formulas definitions etc.

You are tested on your ability to examine information using text, chart, graphs and tables.

Simple strategies…Simple strategies…

Things to do: Read carefully, context clues are awesome! Underline words, identify vocabulary Make notes in your booklet Draw conclusions as you are reading- think! Make sure you understand the questionConnect with the test

VOCABULARY PRACTICE VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Do you know what prenatal means?What is I said… A pregnant woman,

must take prenatal vitamins starting with the second trimester of pregnancy all the way up to birth!

Now, do you know what prenatal means?

What does pre- mean? READ CONTEXT CLUES and break

down words to what you know!

DO…DO…

Draw lines or in some way indicate which charts/graphs/experiments go together

Refer, go back – don’t try to remember Look for patterns and trends in data Look for words that are italicized, bold,

underlined or capitalized – they will ask a question relating to this word

Main thing…Main thing…

Look at the answer choices before answering questions Unlike Math or English where you should try to determine the

answer before looking at the answer choices For Science, where you will be analyzing information

displayed in charts and graphs it is beneficial to narrow down the amount of information you need to study by looking at the answer choices

DO NOTDO NOT

Get bogged down in details Worry about understanding everything Confuse charts and graphs

If it says, “see figure 12” make sure

you are looking at the chart that is

labeled “figure 12”

Try to remember every detail

Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 33Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 33

Research Summary Passages:Remember how experiments workUsually there is a control group plus

experimental group or groupsIn well designed experiments, the only

difference between groups will be a variation of the factors being tested

Look for differences - variationsWhat do the results show?

Data Representation PassagesDetermine what is being representedWhat do the columns and rows representNote units of measurementLook for trends in the data

Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 36Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 36

Conflicting ViewpointsOne passage will be conflicting viewpointsA lot of reading – usually takes a little longerTry to determine each scientists point of viewWhat to they agree on? Disagree?UnderlineYou will not have to determine if a viewpoint is

correct instead you will be asked to identify similarities and differences among viewpoints

Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 42Open ACT Prep Books to Pg 42

TIMINGAgain – passages are not arranged in order of

difficultyThe most difficult passage for you may be the

easiest for someone elseTry to spend 5 minutes on each passageAbout 30 seconds per question

Don’t let any questions unansweredNo penalty for wrong answers – only

credit for correct answersGUESS if you don’t know the right

answers – 25% chance of getting the right answer

Last advice…Last advice…Don’t spend time agonizing over a questionsAvoid thinking long and hard about answer choicesIf you are stuck – make your best guess and move onDon’t panic if you can’t finish all passagesTry to do well on at least 5 passages

Running out of time…Running out of time…

If you have less than 3 minutes remaining for an entire passage

1. skip the pre-reading2. look for questions that refer to a specific

experiment/graph etc3. Refer to the cited location directly

MAKE SURE YOU TRY TO ANSWER EVERY QUESTION

Practice makes perfect…Practice makes perfect…