Award-Winning ACT Reading Courses & Classes in Salem, CT

If you plan on taking the ACT soon, Varsity Tutors can help you prepare for its Reading section with an ACT Reading course. If you've ever spent time online looking up "ACT Reading help near me", then you may already know how effective it can be to work with an expert while preparing for an important exam. ACT Reading classes from Varsity Tutors give you control of your test preparation process. Your ACT Reading class can take place in a small group setting or through one-on-one ACT Reading class sessions. You can sign up for ACT Reading classes by getting in touch with us today. Or, if you'd like to learn more about how you may benefit from taking ACT Reading courses, then continue reading.

Why Take the ACT?

The ACT is a college admissions exam that is generally taken by high school students who are getting ready to apply to college. The test has four multiple-choice sections that cover the topics of English, Math, Reading, and Science. It also has a Writing section that is optional, so you won't need to complete it unless you decide to do so. However, many students do decide to respond to the ACT's Writing Prompt because it gives them an opportunity to showcase their writing skills to the colleges they'd like to attend.

At a broad level, the ACT Reading section was designed to assess your ability to understand complex passages and reason logically using evidence from these passages. Even if you already feel confident with your reading comprehension skill set, it can still be worthwhile to take an ACT Reading course to brush up on your abilities. Answering reading comprehension questions on an important test like the ACT is also much more challenging than simply understanding the material that you're reading in class or at home. Signing up for an ACT Reading class can help you develop the specific skills you need to feel confident while taking your exam. Instead of looking up "ACT Reading assistance near me", you can easily get started with an ACT Reading prep course by contacting Varsity Tutors today. This could be the addition to your study plan that you've been searching for.

Exam Requirements

When taking the ACT, there are few requirements that you need to be mindful of before signing up. For instance, even though the test is usually taken by high school students, you can be any age and still sign up to take the ACT. However, it's important to note that some colleges may not accept an applicant's score if they didn't earn it while in high school. This is rare, but you should check in with the schools you plan on applying to in order to make sure that you're score will count there.

The ACT does require test-takers to bring a valid photo ID to their test center on the day of their exam. This requirement can easily be satisfied by bringing along your driver's license if you have one, or by using your school ID card. You'll also need to bring your test ticket with you. Many proctors will let you complete the ACT without a test ticket but you may end up having a delay in receiving your final score if you forget yours at home.

You may also want to bring a few items with you to make your testing experience more comfortable. For example, bringing a watch is a good idea because it gives you the opportunity to keep track of the time yourself instead of relying on a test proctor to do so for you. You may also want to bring an approved calculator for the math section and extra number 2 pencils so you don't run into any issues if yours breaks while you're taking your exam. You could even bring a snack with you to keep yourself fueld when you get a break.

Breaking Down the ACT's Reading Section

As you get started with your ACT Reading preparation process, it's a good idea to spend some time upfront learning about the exam's format. Here's an overview of this part of your test:

ACT Reading Test Quick Facts

• Time Allowed: 35 Minutes
• # of Questions: 40
• Question Format: Multiple-Choice
• Directions
  • Read the provided passages
  • Answer questions about these passages. Read through the questions and answer choices carefully
  • Look back to the passages while working through the questions to find/verify your answers

This section of the ACT will be split into four distinct sections, which each feature questions about a different reading passage. You'll generally read about topics like the humanities, fiction, natural sciences, and social studies. There are a variety of different question types that you may encounter while taking the ACT Reading section. For instance, detail questions simply ask you to find and interpret details in a piece of writing. Main idea questions ask you to find the main idea of a piece of writing or a paragraph within a piece of writing. Comparative relationships questions will ask you to compare the similarities and contrast the differences between different writing selections. You may also find cause-effect relationships questions on this part of the exam. These simply ask you to interpret a causal relationship within a piece of writing.

In addition to the question types listed above, you may encounter things like generalizations questions, which ask you to draw generalizations from a writing passage. There are also vocabulary-in-context questions, which ask you to identify the meaning of words within the context of a piece of writing. You may also be asked sequence of events questions that assess how well you're able to determine the order of events in a writing passage. Finally, the last commonly used ACT Reading question type is a category called author's voice and method questions. These questions will ask you to identify an author's style and point of view as well as the main purpose of a piece of writing or its sub-parts.

Clearly, there are a lot of things that you'll need to understand how to do before you sit down to take this section of the ACT. To get practice with each of these question types, you may want to consider taking practice exams or answering sample questions. However, these resources may not have much value if you do them without analyzing your responses. Taking a private ACT Reading prep course gives you the chance to get an expert's feedback on any practice problems you do. An ACT Reading prep course can, therefore, improve the efficiency of your learning process.

Below, you'll see an example of the types of questions you'll be asked on this exam:

ACT Reading Sample Question

• The following question is about a full sample written passage that is provided to the student:
  
  
  • The point of view from which the passage is told can best be described as that of:
    
    
    • a man looking back on the best years of his life as director of a community center in a strife-ridden neighborhood.
    • a narrator describing his experiences as they happen, starting with childhood and continuing through his adult years as an advocate for troubled children.
    • an unidentified narrator describing a man who devoted his life to neighborhood children years after his own difficult childhood.
    • an admiring relative of a man whose generosity with children was widely respected in the neighborhood where he turned around a declining community center.

For this question, the bolded statement is correct. Although you didn't have to reading passage to refer to for this question, you can get a sense of how difficult these questions can be to answer from simply viewing the different answer options that are available to choose from. Often, when taking difficult standardized exams like the ACT, you'll find that multiple answer options you're allowed to choose from sound like they could be correct. This is why it's so important to have a strong test preparation in place as you begin studying for your exam. A good instructor can show you how to tell the difference between answers that sound like they might be right and answers that are actually right.

Varsity Tutors Can Help You Prepare

Your ACT Reading prep course may take place in a group setting or individually depending on your preferences. If you decide to work with a group, you'll join your ACT Reading course instructor and a small group of classmates in a live virtual classroom. You'll be able to interact with your ACT Reading class instructor and the other students in your class just like you would be able to in a traditional ACT Reading class. Your ACT Reading prep class will also give you the option of spending some one-on-one time with your ACT Reading course instructor if you ever need extra help.

You may also be interested in ACT Reading prep courses that take place in a one-on-one setting. This option may be best for you if you place a premium on getting personalized feedback from your ACT Reading course instructor throughout each of your study sessions. ACT Reading prep classes keep the focus on your academic needs so you can get the guidance you need without having to go over material that you may already understand. Private ACT Reading classes are also often very flexible. So you can sign up to take ACT Reading courses without having to worry about how they'll impact your schedule. The level of individualization you can get through your ACT Reading courses is hard to match in other academic environments.

Your ACT Reading course can also help you develop better general test-taking skills that you can utilize on the ACT's other sections as well as on future exams. For instance, have you ever struggled with test anxiety? If so, the instructor leading your ACT Reading prep courses can show you tips to reduce test day anxiety. Your ACT Reading prep class teacher can also show you ways to improve your time management while taking exams. This point underlies the fact that the ACT Reading class you ultimately decide on pursuing will be flexible enough to accommodate your learning needs no matter what they are.

Who Takes the ACT?

The ACT is taken by over 1.6 million students each year. It is extremely popular because of the impact it can have on the college admissions process. For instance, "ACT Reading help near me" is a popular search term precisely because of how widely taken the ACT is. Each multiple-choice section on the test is scored on a scale ranging from 1 to 36, while the Writing section has its own scoring scale. The scores a student earns in each section are then combined to create an overall score. The average combined ACT score is typically around 20.8 but may vary depending on the year.

Are you interested in attending a prestigious university? If so, you may need to earn a higher combined score in order to do so. For example, students who get accepted into top tier universities like Harvard and Yale often have average ACT scores in the 32 - 35 point range. Getting a score like this will require a strong test preparation process, which you can find through ACT Reading prep courses. This is another reason why taking an ACT Reading prep class may be the right fit for your test preparation needs.

Getting Started

Performing well on the ACT could pay dividends in a variety of ways. It could help you get into the colleges you're most interested in attending. It could also help you qualify for more scholarship funds. However, the ACT Reading section may be challenging to prepare for without any guidance.

If you think you would benefit from taking ACT Reading prep classes, then you don't need to spend any additional time online searching for "ACT Reading help near me". Instead, get in touch with us today to get started with the right ACT Reading prep classes for your specific needs. Varsity Tutors can help you develop your own ideal study plan with an in-depth ACT Reading class or with one-on-one ACT Reading tutoring. We'd love to use our experience in the test preparation industry to help you get more out of your study sessions. We hope to hear from you soon and look forward to working with you.