Methods for ACT English Test
A systematic 3-step approach to maximize your score by focusing on what matters: answering questions correctly and efficiently.
Read Until You Have Enough Information to Identify the Issue
The instructions on the ACT will tell you to read the whole passage and then answer the questions about it, but remember: You get points for answering questions, not for reading passages.
To balance your time in favor of the questions:
- Read the passage just as far as necessary to answer each question.
- Answer them in turn as you go.
- Don't skip over sentences without questions—you'll need to understand the whole passage for summary questions at the end.
For some questions, you'll only need to read a sentence to find the issue being tested. Keep in mind, issues are not necessarily errors, because some sentences have no errors, and some English questions test your understanding of the passage as a whole.
Eliminate Choices That Do Not Address the Issue
Now that you've identified the issue that the question is testing, read through the answers to see which ones do not address the issue.
Really do cross them out in your book. This will help you keep track of which answers can't be right and will help you guess strategically if needed.
Once you've eliminated any choices that don't fix the issue, if you aren't ready to answer, move on to Step 3.
Plug in the Remaining Choices
Finally, try out the remaining choices by plugging them into the sentence or paragraph and seeing how they work. This may mean reading the questions without the underlined phrase to see if OMIT is the best choice.
The Golden Rule of ACT English
The best choice will always be:
When in doubt, just remember: Correct, Concise, and Relevant.
Ready to practice?
Put these methods to the test with our ACT practice questions.
Start Practicing Now