ACT PREPARATION: SCIENCE REASONING

•  General testing skills:

•  READ CAREFULLY

•  underline important information

•  pay attention it information in parentheses ( )

•  as you read, summarize to yourself

•  reread parts as necessary

•  Draw a picture in your test book to help visualize the problem

•  Read each question and determine what is being asked

•  Skip less familiar passages which may take longer and do them last…do try to complete all the questions in a section you have started before going on.

•  Science Reasoning: you should be familiar with the following:

•  Hypothesis: statement that explains or predicts what will happen.

•  Independent variable-variable that the study is testing….the “thing” you change.

•  Dependent variable-variable that changes as a result of what you did…the effects you are testing for.

•  Control-does not get the treatment of the independent variable…shows the results are due to what you changed and would not have happened anyway.

•  Constants-parts of the experiment hat are held constant so you know the results are due to the independent variable.

•  Types of Test Questions:

•  Data Representation (3 of the 7 passages)

You will interpret the data table or diagram and draw conclusions

•  determine if….

•  predict…

•  could….

•  which can be correct

Strategies:

* don't get bogged down in a hard question…they often ask easy questions about hard diagrams

* key questions they might ask about graphs include info on titles/labels/units and how to compare variables

•  Research Summaries (3 of the 7 passages)

You will be asked about how the experiment was done and if the methods/conclusions are valid.

•  if this had been done differently….

•  can you draw this conclusion

•  would it be more accurate to….

•  which part involves an assumption

•  what supports this conclusion

•  this information was necessary because…

Strategies:

* try to determine the object/purpose of the study

* determine which variables changed and what was measured (check units)

* look for trends in data

•  Conflicting Viewpoints (1 of the 7)

You will compare and contrast 2 view points and the validity of each.

•  According to…..

•  Which is supported by……

•  Which is not consistent with……

•  If this happens then which is supported…

Strategies:

•  summarize the first viewpoint before reading the second

•  as you read the second note which aspects are like/ not like the first

•  neither viewpoint will be “right”

•  look for data or assumptions that support each

•  read carefully…if it says “according to view 1”; only consider view one

•  Other Skills

•  Determining relationships between variables

* positive or direct= as one does up the other goes up OR as one goes down the other goes down

* negative or inverse= as one goes up the other goes down OR as one goes down the other goes up

•  Reading Data

*interpolate: “read between the lines” You may have info about values at 10 and twenty but the question asks for 15.