You’re staring at a graph. There are three different types of dashed lines, a y-axis that seems to be measuring "molar volume," and a ticking clock that feels like a heartbeat in your ears. Most students hit the science section of the ACT and panic because they think they’ve forgotten everything from 10th-grade chemistry. Here’s the secret: the ACT Science section is a lie. It isn't a science test. It is a logic and data reading test wrapped in a lab coat. If you spend your time memorizing the periodic table, you're doing it wrong.
When you start digging into practice act science questions, you quickly realize that the actual "science" knowledge required is incredibly thin. We're talking maybe two or three questions out of 40 that require outside info, like knowing that pH below 7 is acidic or that kinetic energy is the energy of motion. The rest? It's just scavenger hunting.
The Scavenger Hunt Strategy for Practice ACT Science Questions
Stop reading the intro text. Seriously.
In almost every passage, the test makers dump three paragraphs of background info about fruit flies or sedimentary rock layers just to eat up your time. If you dive straight into the questions, you’ll find that the first few literally tell you where to look. They’ll say "According to Figure 1..." or "Based on Table 2..."
Go there immediately.
Don't look at anything else. If the question asks about the temperature at 50 seconds, find 50 on the horizontal axis, move your finger up to the line, and see where it hits the vertical axis. That’s it. You’ve just earned points without knowing a single thing about thermodynamics.
It feels counterintuitive. We are taught in school to read the chapter before answering the review questions. The ACT flips that. On this test, the text is often a distraction. You’re looking for trends. Does the line go up? Does it go down? Does it stay flat? Many practice act science questions are testing whether you can spot a direct or inverse relationship while under extreme pressure.
Conflicting Viewpoints: The "Reading" Passage in Disguise
There is always one passage that looks different. No graphs. No tables. Just two or three "Scientists" or "Students" arguing about something like why the dinosaurs went extinct or whether a specific planet can support life. This is the "Conflicting Viewpoints" passage.
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It’s basically a Reading Comp section.
The trick here is to look for the "pivot" words. Scientist 1 says the extinction was caused by an asteroid because of iridium layers. Scientist 2 says it was volcanic activity because of basalt flows. The questions will ask: "Which scientist would agree that dust in the atmosphere blocked the sun?" You have to map the evidence to the argument.
Honestly, it’s best to save this passage for last. It takes the most time to digest because you actually have to read it. If you’re rushing through practice act science questions to get a feel for the pacing, you’ll notice that these "wordy" passages are the ones that tank most people's scores.
Real Data vs. Test "Logic"
Let's look at a specific, illustrative example. Imagine a passage about "The Effect of Temperature on the Solubility of NaCl."
Question: Based on Figure 1, as the temperature of the water increases, the amount of NaCl that dissolves most likely:
A) Increases
B) Decreases
C) Remains the same
D) Varies with no pattern
If Figure 1 shows a line sloping upward from left to right, the answer is A. It doesn't matter if you remember anything about solubility rules from high school. The graph is the law.
I’ve seen students get questions wrong because they used their actual scientific knowledge instead of the data provided. Sometimes, the ACT uses "hypothetical" scenarios. They might give you a world where gravity works differently. If the graph says the ball fell slower, then the ball fell slower. Don't argue with the paper.
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The Pacing Problem Nobody Talks About
You have 35 minutes to answer 40 questions. That is less than a minute per question.
You cannot afford to be "thoughtful." You have to be a machine.
When you’re working through practice act science questions, use a timer. Not for the whole section—timer yourself for one passage. Give yourself five minutes. If you’re still staring at Figure 3 after five minutes, move on. The questions at the end of the test aren't necessarily harder than the ones at the beginning. They are all worth the same point.
Leaving five easy points on the table because you spent four minutes debating a "Scientist 2" argument is a tactical disaster.
The "Outside Knowledge" Boogeyman
People worry about the 5-10% of questions that require "prior knowledge." It’s a very short list of things you actually need to know.
- Biology: Photosynthesis (CO2 + Water + Light = Sugar + Oxygen), DNA basics, and the hierarchy of cells-to-systems.
- Chemistry: Freezing/Boiling points of water (0°C and 100°C), pH scale (0-14), and that opposites attract in charges.
- Physics: Potential vs. Kinetic energy and the basics of gravity.
That’s basically it. If a question mentions "mitochondria," the passage will almost always explain that it’s the powerhouse of the cell. You don't need to be a genius; you just need to not be intimidated by big words like "magnetosphere" or "metamorphic."
Why Your "Scientific Method" Knowledge is Vital
A good chunk of practice act science questions focus on experimental design. They’ll ask why a scientist kept the temperature the same in all three trials.
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The answer is almost always "to serve as a control" or "to ensure that only one variable was being tested."
Understand the difference between the independent variable (the one they change) and the dependent variable (the one that changes as a result). If you can identify these two things, you can navigate almost any "Research Summaries" passage.
Practical Steps for Your Next Practice Session
Don't just do a bunch of questions and check the answers. That’s passive. It doesn't help.
Instead, take a red pen and circle every "locator" in the questions. If a question says "In Study 2," circle it. If it says "at 10% concentration," circle it. This trains your brain to ignore the noise and hunt for the signal.
Next, look at the questions you got wrong. Did you miss them because you didn't understand the science? Probably not. You likely missed them because you looked at the wrong table, or you misread "increases" as "decreases."
Refining Your Approach:
- Identify the passage type immediately. Is it Data Representation (lots of graphs), Research Summary (multiple experiments), or Conflicting Viewpoints (all text)?
- Go straight to the questions. Treat the passage like a reference manual, not a textbook.
- Check the units. If the graph is in meters and the question asks about centimeters, they are trying to trip you up.
- Ignore the jargon. If the passage is about Acanthocytes, just think of them as "A-cells." Don't let the vocabulary slow your reading speed.
- Process of elimination is your best friend. Two of the answers are usually obviously wrong if you look at the trend of the data.
Focusing your energy on these mechanical skills will move your score more than reading a biology textbook ever could. The ACT Science section is a game of speed and observation. Play the game, don't take the "science" too seriously, and you’ll stop fearing the graphs.