Download Survivng the ACT Science Reasoning Test

Surviving the ACT Science
Reasoning Section
Facts
• 40 questions in 35 minutes
– less than a minute per question
– includes the time you have to “read”
7 passages
•
•
•
•
•
3 Data Representation Passages
3 Research Summary Passages
1 Conflicting Viewpoint Passage
Scoring is on 1-36 scale
24 is the Benchmark Score
more
details to
come
% MCHS Students Reaching 24
Year
%
2008
10%
2009
12%
2010
16%
2011
20%
2012
13%
2013
20%
2014 GOAL
25%
What is NOT on the Test?
• Science Content Recall
What is on the Test?
• Graphs, charts, tables and diagrams
• Science experiments
• Differing viewpoints
Exercise
• Draw a line from the topics in the
middle to the appropriate column on
the left or right.
Required for the ACT
Not Required for the ACT
•know every element on
the periodic table
•understand the scientific
method
•memorize the steps of
photosynthesis
•recognize a pattern on a
graph
Skim the Passage
• 20-30 seconds glancing through the
information
• Determine format
– 3 formats
– Data Representation
– Research Summary
– Conflicting Viewpoints
– you will be given tools soon to distinguish
between each format
Focus on Trends and Patterns
• Graphical Data (graphs and tables)
• Most questions focus on trends and
patterns instead of specific
data/numbers
Exercise
• Identify the trend or pattern in the
following:
Focus on Controls and Variables
Control: factor that is kept unchanged,
or constant, during an experiment
Variable: factor that is changed, or
manipulated, during an experiment
*In scientific experiments, it is important to keep all
factors constant (controlled) but one.
Exercise
Homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime.
His friend Barney tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green
slime. Homer decides to check this this out by spraying half of the
shower with coconut juice. He sprays the other half of the shower
with water. After 3 days of "treatment" there is no change in the
appearance of the green slime on either side of the shower.
What is the control? What is the variable?
Focus on Differences
• Focus on differences rather than similarities when
reading CONFLICTING viewpoints passages. This
word conflicting is a clue that the hypotheses the
passage describe will differ in various ways.
• The passages won’t explicitly indicate the
differences.
They will NOT say… “the main difference between
theory X and theory Y is that…”
It will be up to you to compare and contrast.
Exercise
Compare and contrast the following viewpoints:
Scientist 1
One of the main causes of
global warming is wind farms.
Large windfarms can increase
local night time temperatures
by fanning warmer air onto the
ground, new research has
revealed. The study used
satellite data to show that the
building of huge wind farms in
west Texas over the last
decade has warmed the nights
by up to 0.72⁰C
Scientist 2
One of the first things scientists
learned is that there are several
greenhouse gases responsible
for warming, and humans emit
them in a variety of ways. Most
come from the combustion of
fossil fuels in cars, factories and
electricity production. The gas
responsible for the most
warming is carbon dioxide, also
called CO2.
Mark it Up!
• Don’t be reluctant to take a pencil to the
passage.
• Circle key features of tables and graphs.
• If the graph or table shows a trend or pattern,
make a brief note of it beside the data.
• In Research Summary passages, make notes
that identify the controls and variables in each
experiment.
• In Conflicting Viewpoint passages, make a note
about the key differences between hypotheses.
Exercise
How could we
“mark up” this
passage?
Don’t Drown in Details!
• Every passage is made of up two things: main ideas
and details. The details may include individual data
points on graphs, specific numbers on a table or
chart, and reading or values obtained in
experiments described.
• Of the 5-7 questions for each passage, only a few will
focus on specific details and you can always look
them up as needed.
Exercise
Identify the main ideas in the passage and tables below:
A scientist investigated the factors that affect seed mass in
the plant species Desmodium poniculatum. Some results of
this study are summarized in the two tables below.
Daylight
hours
Other
variable
Average seed mass
(in mg) of plants
raised at:
23ºC
29ºC
14
—
7.10
5.63
14
Leaves
removed
7.15
6.11
14
Reduced
water
4.81
5.81
8
—
6.12
—
A. Number of seeds
per fruit
Average seed mass
(mg)
1
2
3
4
5
6.62
6.28
5.97
6.00
5.59
B. Position of seed in
fruit*
Average seed mass
(mg)
1 (closest to stem)
2
3
4
5 (farthest from
stem)
5.98
6.06
5.96
5.82
5.27
*Seeds closest to the stem mature first and
are released first.
Blah Blah Blah..
• Don’t get bogged down with scientific jargon.
• Unless you are Sheldon Cooper, more than likely you
will not understand every term, abbreviation,
symbol, and phrase found in the science reasoning
section.
• All the information you need to answer the
questions is included in the passage, and it’s safe to
ignore the unfamiliar terms.
Exercise
How much do you know about airplane wing design?
Passage II
Airplane wings must be designed
Wing
Lift
Drag
Efficiency
Design
(neutrons)
(neutrons)
aerodynamically (with consideration to the
airflow over the body of the plane) to ensure
1
3
0.15
20:1
efficient flight. Aerodynamic design considers
2
8
0.2
40:1
lift and drag.
10
1
10:1
Lift is the force acting upward on the plane. It is 3
generated because the top of a wing is curved, 4
18
2
9:1
while the bottom is flat. The air moving over the
top of the wings must move faster than the air
moving over the bottom. This results in a lower
A passenger plane is able to carry
pressure area above the wing.
a fixed weight, including
passengers and fuel. Which wing
Drag is the air resistance generated by the plane.
design would be best for such a
This is a force acting in opposition to the planes
plane?
forward movement. The most efficient planes
A. 1
are those with the highest lift to drag ratio.
B. 2
Researchers testing new wing designs conducted
C. 3
a series of experiments to measure their
D. 4
efficiency.
Wrong-Answer PLOYS
BE CAUTIOUS. Look for wrong-answer choices:
• contrary to the passage or stated backward
• mentioned in the passage, but does not respond to
the question
• speculation or unsupported inference
• partly supported, but partly unsupported
Exercise
Scientist 1
One of the main causes of global
warming is wind farms. Large windfarms
can increase local night time
temperatures by fanning warmer air onto
the ground, new research has revealed.
The study used satellite data to show that
the building of huge wind farms in west
Texas over the last decade has warmed
the nights by up to 0.72⁰C
Scientist 2
One of the first things scientists
learned is that there are several
greenhouse gases responsible for
warming, and humans emit them in a
variety of ways. Most come from the
combustion of fossil fuels in cars,
factories and electricity production.
The gas responsible for the most
warming is carbon dioxide, also called
CO2.
Which of the following represents a difference in opinion between the two scientists?
A. Scientist 1 believes that global warming is happening.
B. Scientist 2 believes that the only solution to global warming is for humans to stop
driving cars.
C. Scientist 2 believes that although several greenhouse gases contribute to global
warming, CO2 is the most responsible.
D. Scientist 1 believes that the benefit from wind farms outweighs the problem of global
warming.
Don’t make the Science
Reasoning portion of the
ACT tougher than it
really is.
There really are questions that will seem “easy”…and
that’s ok! Be confident in your answers and resist
the urge to second-guess yourself or invent
complications that do not exist.