Test Strategy

What you'll learn

• Complete one science passage with questions in 5-6 minutes
• Practice going directly to figures and tables before reading text
• Identify which science passage types are fastest for you and prioritize them
• Handle unfamiliar scientific topics calmly by focusing on data, not terminology

Key concepts

Science is now a separate optional section that does not affect your 1-36 composite. Take it only if a target college requires or recommends it, or to strengthen a STEM-weighted profile, so check your schools before investing study time. If you are taking it: the Science section is 40 questions in 40 minutes across 6 passages (about 6-7 questions per passage, roughly 6 minutes 40 seconds per passage). For Data Representation and Research Summaries passages, the fastest strategy is to go straight to the questions and pull answers from the figures. For Data Representation and Research Summary passages, the answers are almost always in the figures and tables. You rarely need the text. Conflicting Viewpoints passages are the exception: read the text carefully since there are no figures, and the figure-first skip-the-text strategy does NOT apply to them. Because the passages are not equally fast, pace in two tiers rather than uniformly: aim for about 5 minutes each on the data-driven passages so you can bank time for the single Conflicting Viewpoints passage, which is reading-heavy and may need roughly 8-9 minutes. Prioritize the passage types you're fastest at, and leave the hardest passage for last so time pressure does not cost you easy points.

Pro tips

• Train yourself to look at the data first: what's on each axis, what's the trend, what's the relationship?
• For Science, wrong answers often reference the correct figure but the wrong data point. Check labels carefully.
• If you decide to skip Science on test day, you can still practice it as it reinforces data literacy skills useful in Math and Reading.