ACT Reading Strategy: Read Fast, Answer Smart

American Diploma › ACT English and Reading — Complete Course

What the ACT Reading section looks like

The enhanced ACT Reading section gives you 36 questions in 40 minutes. 27 of the questions are scored: they come from 3 scored passages with 9 questions each. The other 9 questions are not scored, but you cannot rely on spotting them, so treat every passage as if it counts. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so never leave a question blank.

The questions are reported in three categories. You will study each one on its own page in this course.

Typical question stems (in our own words) look like this: "The main purpose of the passage is to:", "According to the passage, …", "Based on paragraph 3, it can most reasonably be inferred that …", "As it is used in line 12, the word "x" most nearly means:", "The third paragraph mainly functions to:". Many ACT Reading stems end with a colon, so the correct choice completes the sentence.

Step 1: The time plan

36 questions in 40 minutes means four sets of 9 questions in about 10 minutes per set. That is the whole plan. Write the target times at the top of your scrap paper (or keep them in your head) and check the clock after each passage.

• Reading: 3–4 minutes for a 650–750-word passage. This is a fast, active read, not a slow study.
• Questions: about 6 minutes, which is about 40 seconds per question. Some take 15 seconds, some take 70.
• If you are behind: never "finish" a passage by spending 15 minutes on it. Guess on the slowest question, move on, and come back if you have time.
• Last two minutes: fill in an answer for every question you have not reached. A guess can score; a blank cannot.

Step 2: Active reading — the 3-word map

Most students lose time because they read the passage once slowly, then read it again for every question. The fix is to read once, quickly, with a purpose: after each paragraph, write (or think) its main idea in about three words. This gives you a map. When a question asks about "the claim about tickets", your map tells you it is in paragraph 3, and you go straight there.

1. Read the blurb first. The short introduction above the passage tells you the type (literary narrative, social science, humanities, natural science) and often the topic. Ten seconds, free information.
2. Read the first paragraph and the last paragraph a little more carefully. They usually hold the main idea and the author's final position.
3. In the middle paragraphs, read the first one or two sentences carefully and move faster through the examples. You can come back to details later; you only need to know where they are.
4. After each paragraph, write a 3-word label, e.g. [2] empty time stretches, [3] uncertainty → tickets, [4] fairness → one line.
5. Notice the signal words that turn the argument: however, but, yet, critics, in fact, finally. Circle them mentally. Questions love the sentence that comes after "however".
6. At the end, say the main idea in one sentence before you look at question 1.

Here is what a 3-word map of the practice passage on this page could look like. Do not read it yet if you want to try the passage cold.

Step 3: Question order — answer the easy ones first

Inside a passage you can answer the 9 questions in any order. A smart order saves time:

1. First: line- or paragraph-reference questions ("In paragraph 3…", "As it is used in line 8…"). They tell you exactly where to look, so they are fast.
2. Second: other detail questions that name a clear key word ("tickets", "amusement parks"). Use your map to find the paragraph.
3. Last: big-picture questions (main idea, main purpose, author's overall attitude). By the time you reach them, you have answered eight questions about the passage, so you understand it better than you did after one reading.

On the ACT, the first question of a set is often a big-picture question. That does not mean you must answer it first. Skip it, answer the reference questions, then return to it.

Step 4: Line-reference vs big-picture questions

Step 5: Elimination — find the one word that kills a choice

Three of the four choices are wrong, and each was written with a reason to be wrong. Learn the trap names; when you can name the trap, you can cross the choice out with confidence.

Worked examples

Read this short excerpt (it is shorter than a real ACT passage, so we can focus on the method). Then study how each question is solved and why each wrong choice fails.

[1] In many neighbourhoods, a new kind of refrigerator has appeared on the pavement. Known as a community fridge, it belongs to no one in particular: anyone may leave food in it, and anyone may take food out. Supporters describe the fridges as a simple answer to two problems at once, the food that shops and households throw away and the families who cannot afford enough to eat. [2] The idea is not without difficulties. Someone must clean the fridge, check that the food is still safe, and pay for the electricity. In several cities, fridges that began with great enthusiasm were quietly removed within a year because no volunteer group had agreed to look after them. The fridges that last, it seems, are those adopted by an existing organization, such as a mosque, a school or a local café, whose members already meet every day. [3] What the fridges offer, then, is less a technical solution than a social one. The machine itself is ordinary; what makes it work is a group of neighbours willing to share responsibility for it.

Worked example 1 — a paragraph-reference question

Question: According to paragraph 2, community fridges are most likely to last when they are:

• A) placed in neighbourhoods with many shops.
• B) filled with food from large supermarkets.
• C) looked after by an organization whose members meet regularly.
• D) paid for by the city government.

Answer: C. Paragraph 2 ends: "The fridges that last … are those adopted by an existing organization … whose members already meet every day." Answer in your own words first ("when a group looks after them"), and C matches.

• A is wrong — Off-topic: shops are mentioned only in paragraph 1, as a source of wasted food, not as a reason fridges last (wrong place).
• B is wrong — Outside knowledge: the passage never says where the food comes from in the lasting fridges.
• D is wrong — Electricity costs are mentioned as a difficulty, but the passage never says the government pays (not in the text).

Worked example 2 — a big-picture question

Question: The main idea of the excerpt is that community fridges:

• A) succeed or fail mainly because of whether people take shared responsibility for them.
• B) are a technical invention that has solved the problem of food waste.
• C) were removed from most cities within a year of being installed.
• D) should be replaced by food banks run by professional staff.

Answer: A. Paragraph 3 states the conclusion: the fridges are "less a technical solution than a social one". Paragraph 2 supports it with the volunteer problem. A covers the whole excerpt.

• B is wrong — Reversed: the author says they are less a technical solution than a social one, and nothing says the problem is "solved" (too extreme).
• C is wrong — Too extreme and too narrow: "several" fridges were removed, not "most", and that is one detail, not the main idea.
• D is wrong — Outside the passage: food banks and professional staff are never mentioned.

Worked example 3 — an inference question

Question: Based on the excerpt, it can most reasonably be inferred that the fridges removed "within a year" (paragraph 2) failed mainly because:

• A) people in those neighbourhoods did not need free food.
• B) the fridges were of poor technical quality.
• C) the food left in them was usually unsafe.
• D) no group took on the work of maintaining them.

Answer: D. The sentence itself gives the reason: they were removed "because no volunteer group had agreed to look after them." D is a one-step inference; the passage practically states it.

• A is wrong — Not supported: the passage says the fridges serve families who cannot afford food; nothing suggests those neighbourhoods lacked need.
• B is wrong — Reversed: paragraph 3 says "the machine itself is ordinary"; the problem was people, not the machine.
• C is wrong — Too extreme ("usually") and never stated; checking food safety is listed as a task, not as the cause of failure.

Practice

Now try a full-length passage (about 700 words, social science) with 9 questions, as on the real test. It is untimed so you can practise the method, but note how long it takes you: your goal on test day is about 10 minutes. Read the passage once with a 3-word map, answer the reference questions first, and save question 1 for last.

All pages in this course

Start here

• The Enhanced ACT: Complete Overview
• How to Attack ACT English

English: Conventions of Standard English

• ACT Punctuation
• ACT Grammar and Usage
• Sentence Structure

English: Production of Writing and Knowledge of Language

• Concision and Redundancy
• Relevance: Add, Delete and Writer's Goal
• Organisation: Order and Transitions
• Word Choice and Tone

Reading

• ACT Reading Strategy: Read Fast, Answer Smart
• Key Ideas and Details
• Craft and Structure
• Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

Practice tests

• ACT English — Practice Test 1
• ACT English — Practice Test 2
• ACT Reading — Practice Test 1
• ACT Reading — Practice Test 2