Increase Your Score In 3 Minutes A Day: ACT Reading

By Randall McCutcheon and James Schaffer

Accessible, concise guides for quicker, more effective studying

These new additions to the Increase Your Score series present key principles and practical strategies for the ACT Writing Test (new for 2005) and the ACT Reading Test, explained in manageable, bite-size sections ideal for the panicked student. Combining humor with academic authority, these succinct guides:

• Feature essential strategies for effective essay writing or tackling reading comprehension passages under the pressure of time
• Provide sample essays or reading passages and questions, accompanied by helpful annotated comments and examiner marks
• Are ideal for students who procrastinate or who can study only in short doses
• Include cartoons (Zits, Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes) to reinforce the light, student-friendly tone

• Language: English
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Release date: Jul 6, 2005
• ISBN: 9780071829946

Book preview

Also in this series

Increase Your Score in 3 Minutes a Day: ACT Essay,

McCutcheon and Schaffer

Increase Your Score in 3 Minutes a Day: SAT Critical Reading,

McCutcheon and Schaffer

Increase Your Score in 3 Minutes a Day: SAT Essay,

McCutcheon and Schaffer

Copyright © 2005 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-182994-6

MHID:       0-07-182994-6

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Interior design by Cheryl McLean

Interior illustrations:

Pages xiv and 62 © Sidney Harris. Reprinted with permission.

Pages 7 and 41 © 2003 Hilary B. Price. Reprinted with special permission of King Features Syndicate.

Pages 22 and 36 © 2003 ZITS Partnership. Reprinted with special permission of King Features Syndicate.

Page 27 © 1997 ZITS Partnership. Reprinted with special permission of King Features Syndicate.

Page 46 Calvin and Hobbes © 1990 Watterson. Reprinted by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

Page 69 © The New Yorker Collection 1996 Tom Cheney from cartoonbank.com. All rights reserved.

Page 86 by David Ernest Lyon

Literary credits can be found on page 136, which is to be considered an extension of this copyright page.

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For my grandmother.

—Randall McCutcheon

To Mary Lynn, for her unwavering love

and support, and to Suzanne, Sarah, and

Stephen, who make it all worthwhile.

—James Schaffer

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Making This Book Work for You

Principles of Reading

1. Rev That Engine, Parnelli!

2. Know When and What to Skip

3. Crystal Ball Grazing

4. Writing Between the Lines

5. X-Ray Vision

6. Something Worth Arguing About

7. Summarily Dismissed

8. Be Chalant

9. The Power of Pivot

10. Wordlubbers, Beware

11. Get a Clue, Holmes

12. Coming to Terms

13. The Harder It Comes

14. Reading Fiction

15. Come to Your Senses

Test Strategies

1. Be the Test Maker

2. Ah, the Humanity (etc.)

3. Mo, Hairy, and Curly Context

4. The Questions Are the Answers

5. Context Messaging

6. The Night Before the Night Before

7. Translate Questions into English

8. Understand Overstatements

9. Read as a Writer

10. Be a Medi-Tater Tot

Practice Passages

Preparing for the Practice Passages

Fiction

Natural Sciences

Humanities

Social Sciences

Preface

If you pick up a paper only to glance at the comics, chances are that you are more smart aleck than smart. But you are not alone. Researcher William Albert says, You can walk through whole neighborhoods of houses in this country that do not contain books or magazines—unless you count catalogs.

More and more people who can read, don’t. These people who don’t read are known as aliterates. In the Washington Post article The No-Book: Skim It and Weep, aliteracy is described as an invisible liquid, seeping through our culture, nigh on impossible to pinpoint or defend against.

So how pervasive is aliteracy? Kylene Beers, a professor of reading at the University of Houston, says, About 100 percent of first-graders walk in on the first day and are interested in this thing called reading. Eighty percent of graduating seniors tell us they will never voluntarily pick up a book again.

Big mistake. You need to read as much as possible. It’s not about time. It’s about choices. Do you check out what’s happening at the mall or check out a book? Play Sim City or read A Tale of Two Cities? You must decide each time.

Your first good choice today is to read this book. If you follow the advice contained in these pages, you will increase your score on the Reading section of the ACT. But there is a greater purpose here. This book will help you rediscover the joy of reading. And that, dear reader, is no laughing matter.

—Randall J. McCutcheon

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the following:

Jane Durso

David Lyon

Dee Schaffer

Tom Schaffer

Antonia Welsh

Introduction

From the Greek philosophy of a filled storehouse to the statue in the film Animal House, we have been reminded that Knowledge Is Good. Consider this sage advice in Al Franken’s book Oh, the Things I Know!:

It doesn’t matter what you learn, just that you remain committed to learning. Make a solemn pledge to learn at least one new thing a week. This week I’m learning the names of the Great Lakes. Next week I’m learning Italian. But that’s next week.

Then again, maybe you don’t have time to learn Italian next week. Or much else. This book offers you an efficient way to master reading skills. Pronto.

Please note that the following kinds of questions may be asked about the Reading passages:

• Vocabulary in Context questions. By studying words in context, you must be able to determine their meanings.

• Literal Comprehension questions. Your understanding of specific information directly stated in the passage will be assessed.

• Extended Reading questions. These questions are