Best Strategies to Tackle the ACT® Reading Paired Passages

We’ve discussed ways in which to prepare for the 3 types of Reading Passages on the SAT® back in August, but this week we’ll focus our attention on how to best prepare for the paired passages in the ACT® Reading section.

The ACT® considers the Reading paired passage to be an essential yardstick in measuring students’ ability to "use evidence to make connections between different texts that are related by topic” and we couldn’t agree more!

At a glance, test-takers see a total of four passages on the ACT® Reading section. These four passages each cover a diverse range of subjects: 

• Arts and Literature

• Prose Fiction

• Humanities

• Social Studies and Sciences

• Social Science

• Natural Sciences. 

Three of the four passages are relatively long texts (about a full page, typically 90-100 lines long). But, it’s the paired passage, which is composed of two fairly short texts (each text is about half a page, typically 40-50 lines long), that gets students feeling overwhelmed.

What to Expect

Paired passages tend to be intimidating to students. It’s a common misconception that paired passages and their related questions are more difficult. Au contraire! The paired passage is basically all bark and no bite. Test takers may think that it looks intimidating due to its irregular format, but it’s actually pretty predictable and very straightforward.

Let’s unpack the paired passage to help students understand what they can expect.

For starters, it’s important for students to recognize a paired passage when they come across one. A paired passage:

• contains two, clearly labeled sections: Passage A and Passage B; 

• has two texts that are typically equal in length;

• can cover any of the above-mentioned subject areas; and

• has 10 relative questions that follow.

Now that we’ve broken down what can be expected from the paired passage, let’s take a look at what can be expected from the subsequent paired-passage questions.

Just as the paired passage follows a relatively predictable format, so do the corresponding questions. There are:

• 10 questions total;

• 3-4 questions regarding Passage A;

• 3-4 questions pertaining to Passage B; and 

• 2-4 questions that ask about both passages simultaneously. 

Best Strategies for Paired Passages

In essence, paired passages are really not that much different than other reading passages, they just require a slightly different strategy to be able to effectively compare and contrast the two texts.

Here are some failsafe strategies to help your students conquer the ACT® Reading paired passages:

• Consider the title(s). Typically, the title will provide the first clue and often contains an upshot of the passage as a whole. Don’t overlook this key information! 

• Scan with purpose. The pace of the ACT® can be challenging (students are allowed 35 minutes to work on this section), providing just enough time to scan the texts rather than allowing students to carefully read the passages. With that in mind, coach your students to scan with purpose by looking for main ideas.

• Annotate each paragraph. Even with the time crunch, students should try to take notes on each paragraph. Nothing wordy, just a quick summary to record the main ideas. This practice will help students to keep the information from each of the two passages straight.

• Make predictions. Making and noting clear-cut theories will help students when it comes time to answer the questions that follow. They will be able to rely on those predictions in order to surmise which answer is the most correct, and more aptly eliminate the answers that do not match their predictions.

• Answer questions in sequence. This may not be a sure-fit for every student, depending on how they’re able to process the information that they’re reading/have just read. However, it is often most beneficial to teach students to answer paired-passage questions in sequence. This means that after they annotate each paragraph, they would then answer the questions that pertain to that specific passage.
  For example, after reading and notating Passage A, they would then answer all of the questions related to Passage A. Repeat with reading and notating Passage B, then answer all of the questions pertaining to Passage B. Last, they would answer the remaining multi-passage A/B questions.
  Answering the questions in sequence will render the dual texts manageable, helping students to feel more confident in tackling these passages.

• Practice! As always, practice makes all the difference. Our ACT® curriculum is chock-full of more than 800 practice problems, hundreds of skill-builder exercises, strategies upon ADVANCED strategies for every trip and trap the ACT® could possibly throw your students’ way. With the right guidance, preparation, and practice, your students won’t balk when they come across the ACT® Reading paired passages.

Contact us for more information on our ACT® curriculum or to schedule a demo to check out our 100% custom white-label test-prep software, workbooks, and personalized curricular tools!