<p>Hi guys, I just did the red book practice test 1, and I struggled in the reading test due to the time constraint, and the difficulty of the content of the passage. The main problem, I think, is my slow reading and comprehension of the passages. I felt overwhelmed by the number of words in the passages and questions.</p>
<p>I got a raw score of 26/40 in the reading test, which equates to 24 scale score.</p>
<p>I have had no problem with the other sections, getting a 34 in English, 35 in Math, and 35 in Science. </p>
<p>Please provide me with some advice on how to tackle the reading test. I have read the Princeton Review and ACT 36 but both provide different tips and both did not work for me.</p>
<p>I read the first paragraph and last. Then when i want specific information like "It can most reasonably inferred that ____ wanted to____ because he?
I look at all the topic sentences to see where something related would be.
If it’s not there I look at all concluding sentences.
Also, you have to be willing to just ‘let it fly.’ A lot of the questions can be answered with common sense, or at least a lot of the MC answers can be eliminated. You can’t try to be a perfectionist and find everything, because unless you read rapidly, you’ll run out of time.</p>
<p>My biggest advice: Don’t try to be perfect.</p>
<p>Thanks, but how do you answer questions that requires you to find information in the body paragraphs when you just read the first and last paragraph?</p>
<p>I have indeed “let it fly”. I even skipped an entire passage immediately and move on to the next after realising it was too difficult to comprehend. So spending too much time on a question or passage isn’t a problem here.</p>
<p>The same happened to my son. He ended up with a 32 composite (same numbers than you) but was not able to improve his reading score. For my daughter I bought Barron’s ACT English, Reading and Writing workbook. Everyone that practice with it said that they saw improvement in their score. Give it a shot. I wish I knew about it for my son…</p>
<p>Like I said, you look at topic and concluding sentences after you read the Q. That should 90% of the time lead you to what ever is inside the paragraphs. You could also skim the topics while you go a long doing the intro/conc to get a better feel.</p>