ACT Science Practice
The Science section really isn’t about science. It’s simply about reading charts and graphs at an incredibly fast pace. If a student does not understand HOW to approach the science section of the test, they will run out of time.
Since the Science section truly is a skill to be learned instead of facts to memorize, practice and processing speed will come into play. ACT Science practice is actually about speed and focus, and much less about science than most students fear.
Take a look.
There are four or five questions on every ACT science test
that will require you to know some kind of outside information.
Some are from your science classes. Some are common sense.
If you didn’t know this going into the test, what would you be losing while you were searching for these answers? TIME!
Since we only have five or six minutes to do each Science passage, we certainly don’t have time to lose.
The great news is that many of these outside information questions repeat.
Here are some of the ACT’s favorite outside information questions!
Have you seen one of these outside information questions on the Science portion of the ACT?
If a liquid has a ph less than 7, is it an acid or a base?
(Acid ✔ )
What is the charge of an electron?
(Negative ✔)
Does a plant cell or an animal cell have a cell wall?
(Plant ✔)
What breaks down food and lipids to supply cells with much needed energy?
(ATP ✔)
What is the powerhouse of the cell?
(Mitochondria ✔)
Be familiar with a Punnett Square. ✔
Be familiar with the 7 levels of taxonomic classification
(Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species ✔)
What does NOT have a backbone–vertebrate or invertebrate?
(Invertebrate ✔)
Are warm-blooded creatures endotherms or ectotherms?
(Endotherms ✔)
What plant has two cotyledons after germination–monocot or dicot?
(Dicot ✔)
Which is energy in motion–potential or kinetic?
(Kinetic ✔)
What’s the order of the planets from the sun?
(My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles.✔
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune ✔)
Practice makes better.
Better test scores mean access to better opportunities and more choices for you when it comes to college. Access to merit-based scholarships gives you more opportunities and can broaden your options. Practice will never make perfect — but better scores give students better options.
