The ACT Companion

Strategy chapters

Read these first. They explain what the test measures, how it is built, and the routine to use on every question.

1. 01About the strategy chapters
2. 02What ACT English & ACT Reading measure
3. 03Format at a glance
4. 04ACT English question types & skill areas
5. 05ACT Reading question types & skill areas
6. 06ACT English core strategy
7. 07ACT Reading core strategy
8. 08Common mistakes
9. 09Practice priorities
10. 10Test-day habits
11. 11What to do next

Lessons

Each lesson teaches one transferable skill: instruction, a worked model, a practice set, and an answer key that explains the trap behind each wrong answer.

ACT English lessons8 lessons

Free

Lesson 1

How to read an ACT English question

Build a routine you can use on any ACT English item: read around the underline, read the choices vertically, and name the decision the item is testing before you choose.

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2

Lesson 2

Sentence boundaries and complete sentences

Learn to identify complete sentences and choose legal sentence boundaries.

3

Lesson 3

Commas, semicolons, colons, and dashes

Choose punctuation by structure. Every comma, semicolon, colon, and dash on ACT English follows a rule.

4

Lesson 4

Verbs, agreement, pronouns, and apostrophes

Choose verbs, pronouns, and apostrophes by finding the word that controls the decision. A verb is controlled by its subject and time frame. A pronoun is controlled by its antecedent.

5

Lesson 5

Modifiers, parallelism, and comparisons

Choose modifiers, parallel items, and comparison structures so they match what they describe or pair with. A modifier must modify the right noun. Items in a list or paired construction must share the same grammatical form.

6

Lesson 6

Concision, clarity, and word choice

Choose the answer that removes unnecessary words without removing meaning the sentence needs. Concision items reward clarity, not length.

7

Lesson 7

Transitions, organization, and sentence placement

Choose the answer that fits the logic of the paragraph. A transition must match the actual relationship between the sentences it joins. A new or moved sentence must belong where the paragraph's logic puts it.

8

Lesson 8

Mixed review and decision identification

Mixed sets that look like the real section. Identify the decision type first — boundaries, punctuation, verbs, pronouns, modifiers, concision, transitions, placement, purpose — then apply the rule.

ACT Reading lessons8 lessons

Free

Lesson 1

The three-question passage map

Build the reading routine you will use on every ACT Reading passage. Before you look at the questions, you read for three things: the central idea, how the writer supports it, and how the passage is organized.

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2

Lesson 2

Paragraph function and passage structure

Read for what each paragraph does in the passage, not only for what it says. A paragraph's topic is the subject matter on the page; a paragraph's function is the job it is doing in the passage as a whole.

3

Lesson 3

Evidence and inference

Anchor every inference in specific lines of the passage. An inference is not a guess. It is a claim the passage supports without always saying it in the exact words of the answer choice.

4

Lesson 4

Author's argument and point of view

Distinguish what the author of a passage argues from what the author concedes, and distinguish the position the writer takes from the perspective the writing is built from.

5

Lesson 5

Detail, EXCEPT-NOT, and line-reference questions

Build the habit of checking each answer choice against the passage before you select one. Detail, EXCEPT/NOT, and line-reference items reward the reader who goes back to the text every time.

6

Lesson 6

Comparison and relationship questions

Map both sides of a relationship before you choose. ACT Reading compares two people, ideas, time periods, or approaches, and traces cause and effect across a passage.

7

Lesson 7

Words and phrases in context

Build the habit of letting context decide what a word or phrase means. ACT Reading often asks you what a familiar word means in a specific sentence, or what a figurative phrase is meant to suggest.

8

Lesson 8

Mixed review and decision identification

Build the habit of identifying the question type before you answer. Lesson 8 is the closing ACT Reading lesson.

Practice tests

The Mini Diagnostic for a baseline, then every full practice test — each followed by its answer key with a full explanation for every question. Take them under time; the Scores page of the Test Prep Learning Log has a row ready for each one.

• ACT Mini DiagnosticA short baseline in one sitting, with its own answer key — take it before Lesson 1
• ACT Practice Test 1English · 50 questions · 35 min — Reading · 36 questions · 40 min
• ACT Practice Test 2English · 50 questions · 35 min — Reading · 36 questions · 40 min
• ACT Practice Test 3English · 50 questions · 35 min — Reading · 36 questions · 40 min

Built-in review tools

Add the Hub: work every lesson online

Answer inside the lesson and it grades you on the spot, with the trap behind every wrong choice explained — and each miss lands in the Test Prep Learning Log by itself, tagged to the skill it tests. Every lesson in the Companion runs this way. A one-time add-on; it also opens the lessons for the other two tests.

ExampleSample data — each student sees their own.

How to get it

Choose one and the link arrives by email. Adding the Hub to a Companion is a $20 box at checkout; on its own it is a separate purchase. The Companion is also included with eligible 1:1 support — get in touch to talk it through.