Language Arts, Reading & Writing
What can Alabama teachers do to help students on the ACT ?
Rita Ayers, i21Zone Specialist, Chalkable
Alabama and the ACT
Next April, the ACT will be given for the fourth consecutive year to all juniors in Alabama. Teachers and students across the state are addressing this challenge (with varying levels of enthusiasm). Here you will find some helpful tips and tricks, along with websites that contain practice tests and other materials.
Quick Facts
There are four sections on the test, with an optional fifth section. Alabama students will take all five sections. Included are tests on English, Math, Reading, and Science, with the fifth section on Writing. All five sections are timed and are given in the order listed above. High school English teachers get a triple whammy, as they are expected to be the main resource for three of the five sections! Never underestimate your importance!
English
- This section contains 75 questions based on five reading passages.
- There is a 45-minute time limit.
- Questions on the English test only have four answer choices.
- There are 40 usage/mechanics and 35 rhetorical skills questions.
- The English passages are short, and should be skimmed before reading the questions.
Sample English Section Questions
There are 25 questions provided here and students can use their own devices to answer them.
Planning for Success
Here is a worksheet that will help you develop strategies during vertical team meetings.
Reading
- There are forty questions, to be answered in 35 minutes.
- There are four answer choices for each question
- There are four passages: Prose fiction, social science, humanities, and natural science.
- The passages always appear in this order but do not have to be read or answered in this order.
- There are ten questions per passage. The questions adhere to a very strict ratio of referring to reasoning types.
- Referring questions have answers clearly stated in the passage. Reasoning requires more inference and comprehension of the overall passage.
- Time management is critical on this test!
Sample Reading Test Questions
There are twenty questions across several reading passages.
Planning Worksheet for Reading
Here is a digital copy of the Reading planning worksheet.
Reading Test FAQ's Student Handout
Use as needed to help you review for the reading portion of the exam.
English Practice
You can right-click and save this QR Code to jump straight to the English Practice Test. Print it and hang it outside your door for a bellringer.
Reading Practice
Your students can use this QR Code to go straight to the Reading Practice Test. Print one big one for your wall, let them scan it, and enjoy just a bit of quiet time while they read.
Writing - The New Essay
The writing portion has changed, effective September 2015. Click here to learn more!
Looking for New Writing Prompts?
Since the test changed last fall, teachers have been searching high and low for new writing prompts. Here are some from across the web.
Peterson's
Even though this website asks for you to sign up, you can grab all these writing prompts available in Word format for free.
Kohen
Here's another set of prompts, written by a teacher who grew weary of looking for the new prompts to be provided by ACT.
Princeton Review
While there is only one prompt to be found here, Princeton provides a step-by-step method for approaching the essay.
What Else Can You Do to Help Your Students Prepare?
The ACT is a competitive test and students should be aware of this going into it. Why not fuel their competitive juices by having some in-class competitions? Here are three web resources that work across all devices.
Kahoot!
A student favorite, this website allows students to participate interactively with questions and answers that appear on your screen. Students login at kahoot.it; teacher create free accounts at getkahoot.com.
Quizizz
If you've used Kahoot! and liked it, you'll love Quizizz. All questions appear directly on the student's device; entertaining memes come along with right (or wrong) answers. Make a free account at quizizz.com.
Socrative
Run a Space Race or simply use the regular quiz option to give students a daily dose of ACT-style questions. Both students and teachers use www.socrative.com.
Help Students Create Study Groups
Test Prep
Here is a quick English quiz with just ten questions (students can choose to answer as few as four) that will score and then give immediate feedback. Good bellringer activity.
Quizlet
Here's a big list of Quizlet flashcards for English review. Note that some of these are considerably better than others; you might want to use these in your regular course of study as well.
Quizlet Live
Quizlet Live is a new feature of the ever-popular Quizlet website. Students work in teams, collaborating before answering each question. Use your regular login and just hit "Live" on any study set that has at least 12 items.
McGraw-Hill's Online Practice Tests
There are two practice tests on each section of the test, along with an explanation of each question and answer after a completed test is submitted.
And Just In Case You Get REALLY Ambitious!
Here are four sample tests for English and Reading, along with an official ACT Answer document below. While you may not have class time to spend allowing your students to do all of these, perhaps you could time them just once so they have an idea if they will be able to finish or not. The first English test has teacher solutions as well.
- English Practice Test 1
- English Practice Test 1 Teacher Solutions
- English Practice Test 2
- English Practice Test 3
- Reading Practice Test 1
- Reading Practice Test 2
- Reading Practice Test 3
- Reading Practice Test 4
Speak with the Social Studies teacher to see if he/she may plan to cover any of these reading tests so that you don't use the same ones.
Free Quiz App
Common Core Quest gives students access to hundreds of practice quizzes aligned to Common Core standards in math and language arts. The link is for the Android App.
Feedback
Before and after taking a quiz students can watch short video lessons that address the skills needed to master the standards contained in the quizzes.
App Download
This QR Code will take you straight to the iTunes store or Google Play, depending on what type of device you have. You can install the app from there.
Have Questions Later?
Please email me if you would like for me to share my Kahoots, Quizizzes, or Socrative quizzes with you. For Kahoots, you must include your Kahoot user id.
You can also leave a comment below if you have trouble opening any links, find something inappropriate or inaccurate, or just need a shoulder to cry on...
Rita Ayers
i21Zone Specialist
You can also leave a comment below if you have trouble opening any links, find something inappropriate or inaccurate, or just need a shoulder to cry on...
Rita Ayers
i21Zone Specialist
Email: rita@ayersusa.com
Location: Fairhope, AL, United States