Table Of Content2 0 1 6
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The Underground Guide
to Outsmarting the ACT
by Chris Arp and Veritas
Tutors and Test Prep
with Ava Chen, Jon Fish,
Devon Kerr, and Zack Swafford
Illustrations by Julian Callos
WORKMAN PUBLISHING, NEW YORK
Copyright © 2015 by Chris Arp and Veritas Tutors and Test Prep
Illustrations copyright © by Julian Callos
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced—
mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including
photocopying—without written permission of the publisher.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-7611-8449-2
Design by Orlando Adiao
Cover art by John Ritter
ACT is a registered tradmark of ACT, Inc., which does not sponsor or
endorse this product.
Workman books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk
for premiums and sales promotions as well as for fund-raising or educational
use. Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specification.
For details, contact the Special Sales Director at the address below, or send
an email to [email protected].
Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
225 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014-4381
workman.com
WORKMAN is a registered trademark of Workman Publishing Co., Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
First printing July 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Acknowledgments
This book would never have happened without the initiative and
continued support of Matt Bardin, who built Veritas Tutors and
Test Prep with true vision, and Margot Herrera at Workman
Publishing, for whom the title of senior editor does not begin to
suffice. Everyone at Workman has been fantastic, but special thanks
are due to Orlando Adiao for his design brilliance, Jessica Rozler
and Marta Jaremko for their incredible attention to detail, and
Heather Schwedel for, among many other things, her encyclopedic
knowledge of popular culture. Ava, Zack, Jon, and Devon, you
are battle-tested troopers, terrific editors and writers, great
mathematicians, and true comedians.
The book also owes a great deal to the experience and wisdom
of everyone at Veritas, but mason jars of gratitude are especially due
to Teddy Martin and Sam Levin for their overflowing math brains,
and to Will Chancellor for his overflowing everything brain. Many
shukrans to Steve Reiss for his math magic, and to Gail Ross for her
legal magic. Buckets of appreciation to Larry, Manek, Paul, Michael,
and everyone who helped create the Up Your Score series. Forty-
ounce Big Gulps of envy and respect to Julian Callos for his superb
illustrations. A German stein of appreciation to my sister, Rachel
Ramstad, both for her design advice and her unflagging emotional
support. And, as always, rooftop water towers of love to Helene
Miller, Bill Arp, Lila Gault, and all my lovely and handsome friends.
—CA
Thanks to Yi-Yi Tsai for being the foundation and support
behind all my endeavors. And to Bill McKenzie for introducing
me to Up Your Score: ACT and teaching me (nearly) everything
I know.
—AC
iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to Tim and Angela Fish for being the most
supportive parents a kid could ask for, and to Jake and David
Fish for being pretty good, as far as older brothers go. Also to
Jed Hilbert of Saint Xavier High School for his advice and
encouragement as my standardized test guru.
—JF
Thanks to Matt Swafford, Lisa Fitzpatrick, and Xander
Swafford for doing the things families do, only better. To Alan
Hermanns for irrefutably making my sense of humor what it
is today. And to Annabeth, Linus, and Greg, along with Misters
E and D. P. et al., for teaching me what I know and therefore
was able to apply to the ACT.
—ZS
Thanks to Mom and Dad for being the best darn tootin’
parents a kid could ask for; thanks to Mollie Kerr for not killing
me in my sleep; and thanks to Anne Silverman for all the love and
support and Wheat Thins. Also, to my friends, for putting up
with me singing along to my weird indie music, for watching the
TV shows I push on them, and for making my basement a place
that will live on in memory.
—DK
Contents
Introduction: A Brief History of This Book ................ 1
Let’s Begin at the Beginning ........................... 2
But Then Something Great Happened.................. 4
Years Later.......................................... 5
A Few More Years Later .............................. 8
Devon: A Formal Introduction......................... 8
Chapter 1: Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About the ACT (But Were Afraid to Ask).............. 9
Before We Dive In, Any Questions?.................... 10
SAT or ACT? ...................................... 12
How High Should I Reach? .......................... 15
The True Story of the ACT-bot ......................18
A Series of Pep Talks................................ 21
The Score on Scoring................................ 24
Practice, Practice, Practice! ........................... 28
The Digital Future .................................. 30
Chapter 2: Keeping Your Cool: Anxiety and the ACT ...... 31
The Darkness: A Maelstrom of Fear ................... 32
The Light: Studying Without Stress................... 37
First, Make a Plan................................... 37
Be Here Now....................................... 42
Still Stressed? Good! ................................ 44
Chapter 3: How to Be Smart: Key Strategies for the ACT .. 45
Building Your Endurance............................. 46
Speed ............................................. 48
The Grand Strategy: Skipping and Coming Back........ 49
vi CONTENTS
Guessing and Eliminating Wrong Answer Choices....... 54
In Summary........................................ 55
Chapter 4: The English Test: Like That Annoying Uncle Who
Corrects Everything You Say......................... 57
The Nutz and Boltz of Proper English ................. 58
Six Punctuation Rules ............................... 61
Can This Sentence Be Gooder? Grammar and Usage..... 77
Sentence Structure—Use Your Ears ................... 85
The Big Picture: Rhetorical Skills ..................... 94
Moving Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Chapter 5: The Mathematics Test: The Easiest Section—
If You Know Everything About Math ................107
Math: Is It Impossible?..............................108
What’s on the Mathematics Section of the ACT?.......108
Some Quick Thoughts on Strategy ...................109
Basic Arithmetic ...................................110
Advanced Arithmetic...............................133
Stop!.............................................155
Algebra...........................................156
Advanced Algebra..................................172
Break Time!.......................................181
Geometry.........................................181
Coordinate Geometry ..............................202
Three Scary Words: Logarithms, Trigonometry,
and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216
Hooray! ..........................................230
Chapter 6: The Reading Test: Because “The Movie-Watching
Test” Would Have Been Too Much Fun ..............231
You Know How to Read ............................232
A Few Thoughts on “Test Reading”...................234
Lean-Forward Reading .............................235
CONTENTS vii
The Five Habits of Lean-Forward Reading ............236
Patience, Young Grasshopper: Training to Become
a Master Reader................................240
Finally, the Real Deal: Tips for the Reading Section . . . . .243
So Many Different Types of Passages .................247
Finally, a Trick: The General Strategy.................253
The Torturer’s Tools: Know the Question Types........259
A Few Key Tone Words.............................263
Become the Monster: How to Create
a Reading Question .............................265
One Last Thing: Dual Passages ......................269
Moving Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
Chapter 7: The Science Reasoning Test: In Which
Reasoning Is Tested Far More Than Science ..........271
What the Science Reasoning Section Says It Tests......273
What the Science Reasoning Section Really Tests.......273
Overall Strategy: Go, Go, Go!!! ......................275
Data Representation................................277
Research Summaries ...............................283
A Scientific Drama.................................284
Conflicting Viewpoints .............................293
It’s Party Time, Science Style.........................299
Chapter 8: The Writing Test: What’s One More Section
Among Friends?...................................301
How Optional Is Optional? .........................302
How the Test Works (and How It Doesn’t) ............302
Patented Five-Step Guide ...........................304
But What If I Can’t Write Five Paragraphs
in 30 Minutes? .................................319
Let’s Get Fancy: Advanced Moves ....................320
How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? ..................322
viii CONTENTS
Chapter 9: Countdown to Test Day: The Final 24 Hours ..325
The 18th Hole.....................................326
I ♥ Failure ........................................327
Okay, nice pep talk, but it’s the night before the test.
Now what? ....................................329
I didn’t sleep last night and I feel like garbage...........330
I’m too nervous to eat...............................331
I gotta be honest: Despite all the encouragement, I’m still
feeling pretty stressed............................333
But, but, but . . . what am I going to wear?!? ............334
What about personal grooming? .....................335
My proctor seems a bit clueless, and I’m worried he’s
going to mess this up ............................335
What about these bubbles? What do I do with them? ...336
I think the two kids behind me are cheating;
is that . . . can I do that?..........................336
I’ve heard that these tests can be biased; is that true? ....337
Alright, I finished the test; now how should I feel? ......337
I’m freaking out. I feel like I messed up. Should I
cancel my score? ................................337
So . . . it’s over; I can have fun until college? ............338
So, are we done here? ...............................341
Who Are These People, Anyway?....................343
I N T R O D U C T I O N
A Brief
History of
This Book
