Passage types

It’s essential that you can identify what kind of passage you’re reading. Each passage type has specific features to notice. If you know what to look for, you’ll find answers faster and save time.

It’s also important to remember the following:

1. There are four reading passages on the test.
2. These four reading passages will come in the same order every time.

We briefly discussed passage types previously. In this chapter, we’ll go into more depth so you can recognize them quickly on test day.

Literary narrative

The first passage of the ACT Reading section is called a literary narrative passage. It may appear under a few different labels at the top of the page (e.g., prose fiction, fiction), but the same strategies apply.

A literary narrative is a short, often fictional story centered around characters. It focuses on the perceptions, observations, feelings, and thoughts of characters. These are the details you should mark as relevant information, as discussed in the Annotating chapter.

With a literary narrative, you’ll often see questions that ask what’s going on in a character’s head.

Here’s an example of that kind of question.

So, it’s vital to notice the perceptions, observations, feelings, and thoughts of the characters.

What relevant information should you look for in a literary narrative passage?

Social science

The second passage you’ll see is always the social science passage.

A social science passage is a nonfiction text describing a historical person, event, or place. It’s similar to reading a history book excerpt. That means the relevant information to note is what makes it part of history.

More specifically, you want to take note of the following:

1. The character’s background
2. The character’s accomplishments
3. The character’s values and beliefs

Even though the list above uses the word “character,” the passage may focus on an event or place instead of a person. In that case, you’d still look for the same categories of information (background, accomplishments/impact, and values/beliefs).

Take a look at this example of a social science passage question.

The question above asks about the notable accomplishments of the subject - one of the key things to track in a social science passage.

Question: The social science passage is nonfiction. True or false?

Humanities

The third passage you’ll see is always the humanities passage. This passage type is a blend of the first two:

• It’s a nonfiction text, like the social science passage.
• It may also read like a story and focus on a person’s thoughts and feelings, like a literary narrative.

So how do you decide what to focus on?

The key is that a humanities passage will usually behave either like a literary narrative or like a social science passage - and you need to determine which one.

Here’s a simple way to do that:

1. First, ask yourself if the passage is in first person (using language like “I” or “me”) or in third person (meaning the author is not a character in the text).
2. If the passage is in first person, then treat it like you would a literary narrative. Humanities passages in first person typically focus on philosophical observations or lessons the characters learn.
3. If the passage is in third person, then treat it like you would a social science passage.

So, what things should you annotate as relevant information if the humanities passage is in third person?

What things should you take note of if the humanities passage is in first person?

Natural science

The fourth and final passage in the reading section is the natural science passage. This passage covers scientific topics like biology, chemistry, or physics. You don’t need outside science knowledge to do well here - the passage will give you the information you need to answer the questions.

The natural science passage is similar to the social science passage in its purpose: it informs you about real-world topics. So, just as you note “what makes history” in a social science passage, you want to note what is important to science in a natural science passage.

What does that mean in practice?

Focus on big-picture ideas. For example, key theories about why the Milky Way has such a definitive warp might be worth annotating if the passage develops them across multiple paragraphs. In contrast, small details mentioned once and never used again (like the fact that the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy is about 50,000 light-years from the galactic center of the Milky Way) are less likely to matter.

Other key things to look out for:

1. Clearing up scientific misconceptions
2. What the author is trying to prove in the last paragraph

Even if the natural science passage seems like paragraph after paragraph of scientific facts, the author is building toward a point.

Often, the author introduces a scientific misconception near the beginning or middle of the passage and then corrects it near the end - using the final paragraphs to prove a larger idea. Those overarching ideas are the ones to annotate as relevant information.

Here’s an example of a question that asks about these overarching ideas.

So to recap, what things are important to mark as relevant information from a natural science passage?

Paired passages

One of the above passages may also appear as a paired passage. It looks something like this:

You’ll see a “Passage A” and a “Passage B,” and your job is to work with two texts and their shared question set.

Paired passages follow a predictable question pattern. They will:

1. First, ask questions about Passage A (for this particular passage above, that includes questions 1-3)
2. Second, ask questions about Passage B (questions 4-7 on the passage above)
3. Third, ask questions comparing both passages (8-10 on the passage above)

On some paired passage sets, there may be more questions about Passage A than Passage B (or vice versa). The key point is that the questions will still appear in order.

That order matters because it should shape how you approach the paired passage. Here’s what we recommend:

1. Read Passage A
2. Answer the questions for Passage A
3. Read Passage B
4. Answer the questions for Passage B
5. Answer the questions that ask about both passages

If you had to guess, why do you think we suggest reading only Passage A before starting to answer the questions?

You now know the different passage types you’ll encounter on the ACT Reading section. The ACT can be challenging, but parts of it are very predictable. If you remember the passage order and what each type tends to test, you’ll know what to focus on as you read.

Key points

There are four passage types that will show up on the ACT Reading section. You will see them in this order every time:

1. Literary narrative
2. Social science
3. Humanities
4. Natural science

For each, you should take note of different things to help you answer the questions:

• Literary narrative: the perceptions, observations, feelings, and thoughts of characters
• Social science: the character’s background, accomplishments, values/beliefs, and things that make history
• Humanities: this could either behave like a literary narrative or a social science passage; it should be annotated accordingly.
• Natural science: what is scientifically important, clearing up scientific misconceptions, what the author is trying to prove in the last paragraph