Many students preparing for the ACT Reading section dread its Prose Fiction passage. Looming large at the beginning of the section, it can be an intimidating way to start the ACT’s second half and can throw test-takers off their games for the remainder of the morning. Whereas the Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science passages tend to conform to the norms of mass media non-fiction (think National Geographic or Scientific American), the Prose Fiction is less straightforward. Eschewing simple dates, statistics, and scientific fact, it is a test of one’s ability to quickly absorb a complex, human story told in a creative, literary manner. And it can be hard.
However, test-preppers take solace: the ACT is fairly predictable in its interests. Here are three things the ACT loves to ask about the Prose Fiction passage you just read:
CHARACTERS
The most important elements of Prose Fiction passages on the ACT are their characters. The ACT loves to ask about relationships between characters (Are they family members? Are they classmates? Are they friends?), and about the quality of these relationships (What do these characters feel for one other? Admiration? Resentment? Love?). Pay close attention to names, genders, and basic relationship indicators (e.g. “mother,” “grandfather,” etc.), and always read the short explanatory blurb located above the passage, as it sometimes contains a useful description of important characters in the story.
CHRONOLOGY
In any normal story about people, the people do things, and they do them in a particular order. For Prose Fiction passages, the ACT will often ask about the chronological order in which major plot points occur. In particular, they like to test students’ ability to detect major shifts in time. Flashbacks and flashforwards are common in Prose Fiction passages and if there is one, you better believe the ACT is going to ask about it. Pay close attention to shifts in verb tense, shifts in physical location, and shifts in characters’ personalities, all of which tend to accompany shifts in time.
CREATIVE LANGUAGE
The ACT intentionally chooses Prose Fiction passages that use language in imaginative, and sometimes unusual, ways. Look out for common words used in uncommon ways, pay attention to words that are particularly evocative or emotional (e.g. “putrid,” “sacred,” etc.), and be closely attuned to figurative language, which is common in these passages: hyperboles, similes, metaphors, personification, and so on. The ACT test-makers are very reliable people: if there is an exceptionally creative use of language in the passage, they are probably going to ask you about it.
Of course, knowing what questions are likely coming will not always help you get them correct, but it can give you the confidence needed to approach the Prose Fiction passage with a clear mind, which is the best kind of mind to have.