Table Of Content™
CliffsTestPrep
™
ACT
6th Edition
by
Jerry Bobrow, Ph.D.
William A. Covino, Ph.D.
David A. Kay, M.S.
Harold Nathan, Ph.D.
Contributing Authors
Allan Casson, Ph.D.
Jean Eggenschwiler, M.A.
Karen Saenz, Ph.D.
Consultants
Peter Z Orton, Ph.D.
Don Gallaher, M.S.
Dale W. Johnson, M.A.
IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.
An International Data Group Company
Foster City, CA ◆ Chicago, IL ◆ Indianapolis, IN ◆ New York, NY
About the Author Publisher’s Acknowledgments
Dr. Jerry Bobrow, Ph.D., is a national authority in the field Editorial
of test preparation. As executive director of Bobrow Test
Project Editor: Christine Meloy Beck
Preparation Services, he has been administering the test
preparation programs at over 25 California institutions for Copy Editor: Rowena Rappaport
the past 27 years. Dr. Bobrow has authored over 30
Editorial Assistants: Melissa Bluhm, Laura Jefferson,
national best-selling test preparation books, and his books
Carol Strickland
and programs have assisted over two million test-takers.
Each year, Dr. Bobrow personally lectures to thousands
Production
of students on preparing for graduate, college, and teacher
Proofreader: Vickie Broyles, Christine Pingleton
credentialing exams.
IDG Books Indianapolis Production Department
TM TM
CliffsTestPrep ACT, 6th Edition
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ISBN: 0-7645-8613-0
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Author’s Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Michele Spence and Linnea Fredrickson, for their many
hours of editing the original manuscript, and Christy Beck, of IDG Books
Worldwide, for her assistance and careful attention to the production process. I
would also like to thank my office staff of Joy Mondragon, Cindy Hadash, Allison
Drucker, and Deena Mondragon for their assistance. Finally, I would like to thank
my wife, Susan; daughter, Jennifer (22); and sons, Adam (19) and Jonathan (15),
for their patience, moral support, and comic relief.
iii
Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Study Guide Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Using a Calculator on the Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction to the ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
General Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Questions Commonly Asked about the ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Four Successful Overall Approaches to Taking the ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
I. The “Plus-Minus” System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
II. The Elimination Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
III. The “Avoiding Misreads” Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
IV. The Multiple-Multiple-Choice Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
PART I: ANALYSIS OF EXAM AREAS
Introduction to the English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Ability Tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Basic Skills Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Usage/Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Rhetorical Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Analysis of Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Suggested Approach with Samples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Sample Passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Answers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Content Area Breakdown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Introduction to the Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Ability Tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Basic Skills Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Analysis of Directions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Suggested Approach with Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Content Area Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
For Additional Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Introduction to the Reading Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Ability Tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Basic Skills Necessary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Analysis of Directions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Suggested General Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Sample Passage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Three Final Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Content Area Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Introduction to the Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Ability Tested . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Basic Skills Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Directions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Analysis of Directions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
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CliffsTestPrep ACT, 6th Edition
Suggested Approach with Sample Passages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Data Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Sample Passage I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Sample Questions for Passage I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Other Points to Be Aware of for Data Representation Questions . . . . . 55
Research Summaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Sample Passage II. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Sample Questions for Passage II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Other Points to Be Aware of for Research Summaries Questions . . . . . 59
Conflicting Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Sample Passage III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Sample Questions for Passage III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Other Points to Be Aware of for Conflicting Viewpoints Questions . . . . 64
Content Area Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
PART II: FOUR FULL-LENGTH PRACTICE TESTS
Directions for All Practice Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Answer Sheets for Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Scoring Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Mathematics Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Scoring Your ACT Practice Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
For Your Own Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Practice Test 1 Analysis Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Analysis/Tally Sheet for Problems Missed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Complete Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 1 . . . . . 125
Answers to English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Answers to Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Answers to Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Answers to Science Reasoning Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Answer Sheets for Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Scoring Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
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Table of Contents
Scoring Your ACT Practice Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
For Your Own Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Practice Test 2 Analysis Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Analysis/Tally Sheet for Problems Missed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Complete Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 2. . . . . . 211
Answers to English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Answers to Mathematics Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Answers to Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Answers to Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Answer Sheets for Practice Test 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Practice Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
English Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Reading Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Scoring Practice Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Scoring Your ACT Practice Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
For Your Own Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
Practice Test 3 Analysis Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Analysis/Tally Sheet for Problems Missed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Complete Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 3. . . . . . 311
Answers to English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Answers to Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Answers to Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Answers to Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Answer Sheets for Practice Test 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
Practice Test 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Reading Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Science Reasoning Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Scoring Practice Test 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Mathematics Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Science Reasoning Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Scoring Your ACT Practice Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
For Your Own Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
Practice Test 4 Analysis Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Analysis/Tally Sheet for Problems Missed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
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CliffsTestPrep ACT, 6th Edition
Complete Answers and Explanations for Practice Test 4 . . . . . 409
Answers to English Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Answers to Mathematics Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Answers to Reading Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Answers to Science Reasoning Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Final Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
The Final Touches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
viii
Preface
Preface
Your ACT Assessment Program: ACT Tests, Interest Inventory, and Student
Profile are important to your future! They can help you (1) assess your interests
and skills, (2) plan your career, (3) get a scholarship, and (4) get into a college of
your choice. Because of this, you must use your study time effectively. You need
the most comprehensive test preparation guide that you can realistically complete
in a reasonable time. It must be concise, direct, easy to use, and thorough, giving
you all the assistance you need to do your best on the ACT Tests.
In keeping with the fine tradition of CliffsNotes, this guide was developed by lead-
ing experts in the field of test preparation as part of a series to specifically meet
these standards. The testing strategies, techniques, and materials have been re-
searched, tested, and evaluated and are presently used at test preparation programs
at many leading colleges and universities. This guide emphasizes the Bobrow Test
Preparation Services approach, which focuses on the six major areas:
■ Ability Tested
■ Basic Skills Necessary
■ Understanding Directions
■ Analysis of Directions
■ Suggested Approaches with Samples
■ Practice-Review-Analyze-Practice
Four complete simulation ACT exams are included with answers and in-depth
explanations. Each exam is followed by analysis charts to help you analyze your
results and evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.
This guide was written to give you the edge in doing your best by maximizing
your effort in a reasonable amount of time. It is meant to augment, not substitute
for, formal or informal learning throughout junior high and high school. If you
follow the Study Guide Checklist in this book and study regularly, you will get
the best preparation possible.
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