Why Science Doesn't Matter on the ACT Science Test
The Princeton Review
Hi, everyone.
I’m Rob Franek, Editor-in-Chief at The Princeton Review.
If you’ve signed up to take the ACT, you may have a good idea about how to prep for
the English, Reading, Math, and Writing sections.
But what about the Science test?
Do you need to start learning stoichiometry?
Practice with Punnett Squares?
Valiantly calculate velocity?
The answer to all three of those questions, my friends, is a resounding NO.
I’m going to tell you how much science you’ll be tested on in the ACT Science test so you
can make an informed decision: almost no science.
I know, that sounds really counterintuitive.
But the folks at ACT aren’t testing your knowledge of science itself.
They’re testing your ability to do scientific thinking.
They want to see whether you can interpret and evaluate data—it doesn’t particularly
matter which data, for the purposes of the test.
So now that we’ve covered what the Science Test isn’t, let’s talk about what it is:
It’s a 35-minute exam on which you’ll be asked to answer 40 multiple-choice questions.
You’ll be given scientific information in passage form.
And those passages will come in 3 different categories:
Charts and graphs (officially called “data representation”)
Experiments (otherwise known as research summaries) - and
What we like to call “fighting scientists” (otherwise known as “conflicting viewpoints”)
For the charts and graphs, you’ll get 2 passages with 6 questions apiece.
And they’ll always come with things like bar graphs, tables, and the like.
Can you look at a chart and understand what information it conveys?
If you can, you’re going to be aces!
For the research summaries, you’ll get 3 passages with 7 questions each.
They’ll usually, but not always, come with figures.
For these, you’ll need to make connections between different sets of results and maybe
do a little bit of reading.
You can totally handle that.
And last but not least, those fighting scientists: for conflicting viewpoints, you’ll get just
1 passage with 7 questions.
It may come with figures, but it probably won’t.
This type of question is similar to the ones you’ll do on the Reading section, in that
it’ll require you to synthesize and compare different or inconsistent points of view.
So not only is it not really science; it is a lot like critical reading.
You can do that, too.
Let’s talk ACT Science strategy—as you always do, you should take the test according
to your own Personal Order of Difficulty.
You’ll have lots of passages to evaluate, and less than a minute per question, not including
time to digest the information you’ll be given in the passages.
So time is of the essence here, my friends.
You don’t want to waste 10 minutes working on one passage when, in the same period of
time, you could lock up the points from 2 others.
So do a brief run through the passages and look for your “Now” passages, your “Later”
passages, and your “Never” passages—the “Never” passages are the ones you’ll
just guess on.
“Now” passages are ones that you can do quickly and easily.
How do you know what a “Now” passage looks like?
First of all, you’re going to practice!
(I’ll get to that in a moment.)
But promising signs to look for are: small graphs and tables
easy-to-spot consistent trends numbers in the figures - and
short answers
These are all solid indicators of passage you're likely to be able to tackle efficiently.
Once you’ve decided to do a passage, don’t read the text if there are figures.
Time is of the essence, folks.
Instead, take a moment to look over the figures and determine what information you’re being
given.
Then jump into the questions and read only if you need to in order to answer a question.
Speaking of the questions, wherever you can, use Process of Elimination to make sure your
guesses are as strong as they can be.
That strategy will help you especially as you tackle the “Later” questions—the
ones that are doable, but a smidge harder or more involved than the “Now” questions.
I started off by saying that there isn’t any science on this exam.
And that’s true—but you’ll also find it hard to do well if you’ve never taken
a science class.
That’s because the best way to practice scientific thinking is by doing science itself!
So you will need science experience, even if the precise nature of your experience isn’t
so important.
You will also not need—or be allowed to use—a calculator.
Don’t let all the math-y charts and graphs get inside your head!
You aren’t allowed to use a calculator because you don’t need one.
There is no “science” to study because the figures you encounter could pertain to
topics as wide-ranging as medicine, earth science, chemistry, or beyond.
Remember that your experiences in all of your science classes have given you transferable
skills—so transfer what you learned in freshman bio to interpreting a chemistry table on the
ACT you take in your junior year.
Your skills are always with you—have confidence in that.
Now, I promised we’d talk more about practice, and practicing is an activity I cannot recommend
highly enough.
If you want to see how you’ll fare on the ACT science test, we offer a free ACT practice
test on our website, PrincetonReview.com.
You can sign up online and get a detailed score report that gives you insights into
where to focus your prep.
Remember that a strong ACT score can help not just in admissions (even at test-optional
schools), but also for earning merit-based financial aid and even academic placements.
So if you’re taking the ACT, you’ll want to put your best foot forward.
Subscribe to our channel for all the latest exam updates, plus twice-weekly SAT and ACT
prep livestreams.
Thanks so much for watching.
See you here next time.