ACT Science Test

Description: This course is designed to help students with the ACT Science test.

Objective: Become familiar with what's on the Science test, strategies, and more.

The ACT science test presents you with seven sets of information on the natural sciences, followed by multiple-choice questions on each information section. It tests how well you can interpret, analyze, evaluate, reason, and solve problems based on scientific information. The questions are designed to determine your ability to understand the basic concepts and meanings of the information. You have 35 minutes to answer 40 questions. You may not use a calculator.

The idea of the science section is to test your scientific reasoning ability, rather than specific scientific knowledge or your reading or math skills. The information sections present the scientific data in three different formats. The data representation sections comprise 38 percent of the test. These questions test your skills in analyzing information in graphs, tables, and other similar formats as they might appear in scientific journals or texts. The research summaries—45 percent of the test—give you descriptions of several related experiments. The questions examine your ability to understand experiment design and interpret experiment results. The conflicting viewpoints sections make up 17 percent of the test. These questions present alternate, inconsistent viewpoints on a topic and test your ability to understand, analyze, and compare differing hypotheses.

Some tips will help you perform well on the ACT science test:

• Pace yourself. You have 35 minutes to answer 40 questions. If you spend about 30 seconds on each question, you’ll have plenty of time left at the end to review your answers and go back to the more difficult questions.

• Read the scientific information carefully before reading the questions. Make notes as needed in the test booklet or on scratch paper.

• In the opposing viewpoints sections, make notes as you read each alternate viewpoint. This makes comparing them easier when you have to answer the questions that present you with differing hypothesis and want you to distinguish between them.