Learn to quickly identify main ideas, author's tone, and evidence-based answers.
What is the best strategy for approaching ACT Reading passages?
Preview questions to identify key terms, then read actively looking for those terms and main ideas.
When asked about the main idea, you should focus on:
The main idea often appears in the introduction and conclusion, and is supported throughout the passage.
How should you handle vocabulary-in-context questions?
Context clues in the surrounding sentences determine the word's meaning in that specific passage.
What indicates an author's opinion or bias?
Words like "unfortunately," "remarkably," "should," or comparative/superlative forms often reveal bias.
For paired passages, what's the first step?
Understand each passage's argument independently before analyzing their relationship.