Test Strategy

• Do a think-aloud sprint of 8 to 10 English items, shown one at a time on screen
• For each item, first say what changes across the four choices, then name the question type and the first move within about 10 seconds, without fully solving
• Learn the one-line cue for any type you mislabel
• Check your pacing against your own plan: 34 or more, all 50 questions by about 30 minutes; 31 to 33, question 10 every 7 minutes; 30 or below, an order and one guessing letter
• Then take the full timed English section in the practice area and debrief it yourself: score it, name one habit that worked, and review only the misses

English facts: 50 questions in 35 minutes, about 42 seconds per question, four answer choices. Pace yourself against your own plan from your target score: a target of 34 or more finishes all 50 by about 30 minutes to leave time to check, and on the timed section in the practice area should aim to finish about 5 minutes early; a target of 31 to 33 uses the standard checkpoints (question 10 by 7 minutes, 20 by 14, 30 by 21, 40 by 28, 50 by 35); a target of 30 or below picks an order, spends time where points are winnable, and fills any unreached questions with one letter chosen in advance. After the timed section: score it, name one habit that worked, and review only the misses. Step zero on every item: before reading for sense, look down the four choices and say what changes (a punctuation mark, a verb form, a pronoun, the length); that names the rule being tested. Type cues and first moves: underlined verb, find the subject and check agreement and tense. Underlined pronoun, find the antecedent. Punctuation between clauses, test whether each side is an independent clause. Transition word, name the relationship between the two sentences (contrast, addition, cause and effect). Choices that differ mainly in length, check for redundancy and try the shortest one that keeps the meaning. 'DELETE the underlined portion,' read the sentence without it. Add or delete a sentence, ask whether it is on topic and supports the paragraph's point. Whole-passage question ('Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to'), say what the essay mostly does, then test the reason. 'Which sequence of sentences', find the sentence that must be first and the pair that must stay together. 'Most grammatically acceptable', fix grammar and punctuation only; a named quality such as 'least redundant' or 'maintains the essay's tone', test only that quality. Grammar items should take well under 42 seconds so that rhetoric items can take longer. Process of elimination: if two choices say the same thing, both are wrong; eliminate choices that introduce a new error; NO CHANGE is right often enough that you should neither default to it nor avoid it.

• Name the question type before you read the choices. Recognition is faster than comparing four options word by word.
• If you are stuck for more than 45 seconds, make your best guess, mark it, and move on.
• If two answer choices mean the same thing in different words, eliminate both. The ACT never has two correct answers.
• Do not assume NO CHANGE is correct just because the original sounds fine. Actively check for errors.