How to get 35 in ACT reading

How to Achieve a score of 35 in ACT Reading

In past years, we have helped many students achieve high scores of 35 in the total ACT score and 35 in the Reading section.

Here are the main challenges in ACT Reading and the strategies we have developed:

1) ACT Reading is the fastest-paced exam in the world, and it is difficult to read every sentence carefully. Globally, 99% of ACT test-takers (including native English speakers in the United States) cannot finish the Reading section, and the average ACT score has remained around 20-22. Most domestic students also struggle to break through the bottleneck of 26-27. However, many of our coached students have achieved scores of 30+ in Reading, and every year we have students scoring 34-35 in Reading. The key to mastering ACT Reading is to be adept at identifying key points, which means being able to predict which sentences in the passage might be tested without even looking at the questions. Memorize these key sentences and keywords, and prioritize selecting the original words or synonyms when answering questions. We have helped many students achieve high scores of 34-35 in Reading, proving the effectiveness of this method. By using this approach, students can complete the ACT Reading section on time and achieve high scores. Conversely, using traditional methods such as summarizing the entire passage, translating sentences, and then translating the options makes it difficult to excel in ACT Reading and even complete the section.

2) The key to improving ACT Reading speed is to predict key point sentences while reading the passage! The majority of ACT questions test comprehension of specific sentences, followed by rephrasing those sentences using synonymous phrases. Even if a test-taker understands all other sentences in a paragraph, they may still struggle to answer questions if they haven't found the corresponding key point sentence. Therefore, predicting key point sentences is crucial. Key point sentences are generally unique and often involve negative contrast, such as "not...but..." This is the biggest focus point. Other key point sentence patterns include sentences following transition words, comparison sentences, cause-and-effect sentences, inverted sentences, parallel sentences, relative clauses, rhetorical sentences, opinion sentences, and quotation sentences. These patterns are conclusions we have drawn from analyzing and summarizing key point sentences in all past ACT Reading questions. Mastering these patterns not only helps students excel in the ACT but also improves their overall reading speed, which is beneficial for future academic pursuits. Learning ACT effectively enhances students' information analysis skills.

3) Summarizing the meaning of the entire passage is not a good method for reading. Some vocabulary and grammar in the ACT can be challenging. Test-takers may think they understand a paragraph or sentence, but they may not actually comprehend it, resulting in incorrect answer choices based on their own interpretation. Our method is to identify keywords within key point sentences and quickly select answers based on the original words or synonyms. This allows test-takers to answer questions correctly even when encountering unfamiliar words. Understanding every word in key point sentences may be difficult, but recognizing the keywords is achievable. Furthermore, most of the key words tested in ACT questions are not too difficult (excluding some words in humanities and novels, which should be learned in advance). Therefore, using keywords makes it easier to answer questions correctly. Additionally, during ACT problem-solving, not every word in the options needs to directly match the original text. We propose the 2/3 rule and 1/2 rule, which means if 2/3 of the significant words in an option correspond to the original text, it can be selected. Sometimes, even a 1/2 correspondence is sufficient. This is a critical decision-making principle - information does not need to be extremely comprehensive. In the military, there is a well-known principle called the 40%-70% rule, which states that the optimal time for making decisions is when one has obtained 40%-70% of the necessary information. Making decisions with less than 40% of the information is premature, while waiting until more than 70% of the information is obtained is too late. The judgment of the decision-maker is also crucial. This military decision-making approach is similar to our proposed 1/2 to 2/3 rule. Therefore, we believe that the process of learning ACT is a process of improving decision-making skills.