Why are you not scoring in the 30s on the ACT English section? Inexcusable! I declare that the Gods of Standardized Testing — Erudition and Neuroses — have given high school mortals a gift when it included the English section on the ACT. Yes, a gift. It is the first section, and it is the easiest section (and also arguably the most important in terms of college readiness skill). It is based on rules you can memorize, and it’s as predictable as a series on the CW. So brace yourselves for another exclamatory tirade from the Vehement Tutor (that’s me) as I remind you of timeless tips on the English section that never fail.
Tip #1: Cross off similar answers!
This is one of those scenarios that almost seems too good to be true. But, rest assured. It is true. If you see a semicolon and a period as answer choices, they are both wrong. That’s it. End of the story. What’s that? You want to know what happened in the middle of the story? Alright, here it goes. The period and the semicolon both separate two independent clauses. They have the exact same function, so the test makers are never going to ask you to choose one over the other. Guess what? A comma and a coordinating conjunction does the exact same thing, too! That means there are times when you can cross three out of the four answers just be looking at the answer choices.
How about “Therefore” and “In conclusion?” Does that sound similar to you? Oh, it does? Well, then… Cross it off!
Tip #2: Common Noun beats Pronoun
Think of this like Paper beats Rock. You’ll often see three out of the four answer choices feature various takes on a certain pronoun (him, he, it) and then a common noun (the boy). Always, always, always pick the common noun. If I’m wrong, I owe you a dollar. Trust me: I don’t like giving away dollars. The fact of the matter is that this question type is testing the ambiguous pronoun. It’s great if you know it, but sweet if you recognize it just by checking out the answer choices. Common Noun beats Pronoun equals You beat Test.
Tip #3: Shortest Answer Usually Wins
Please, for the love of clarity, gravitate toward the shorter answers. I’m not going to be giving away dollars this time, but 90 percent of the time the shortest answer wins. This is why OMIT THE UNDERLINED PORTION is such a popular answer. When it doesn’t work, it is obvious that there is a problem with the shorter answer when you read the sentence in its entirety. The reason why the shortest answer prevails over the other answers is that the other answers often contain a redundancy or cluttered nonsense. My advice is to test out the shortest answer. If you have a complete sentence when you try it, then bubble it in and move on.
Tip #4: Run to the Period first
Don’t think I’m contradicting my first tip. If there is a period in an answer choice and a semicolon in another, they are both wrong. However, if you only see a period, check this answer out first. Read the passage with the period and ask yourself, “Do I have two separate sentences?” If you do, bam! You’re done. Don’t mess with the period. It does what it does and it does it well.
Tip #5: Check out the Odd Man
If you see three answer choices with a plural verb (have, are, were) and one answer choice is singular (is), I bet the answer is “is.” At the very least, I would check that answer out first. Ask yourself, “What is the subject? Is it singular?” This makes life a lot easier when you enter the passage with a mission. That’s when you want to bring up all those subject-verb agreement rules from your mental rolodex. This is always easier to do when you’re already confident in an answer. So check out the odd man first. It’s often the answer.
With these five tips, you should be able to get 20 answers right on the exam with minimal effort. Using these tips, you will start to recognize patterns in how the test makers write the answer choices. Soon you’ll have more tips to add to the roster because you’ll see familiar patterns. None of these tips are meant to circumvent the rules you’ve been taught. Do not use them for evil! Instead, these tips allow you to employ those rules with a degree of mastery that comes from knowing what is being tested by merely looking at the answer choices.