Today’s ACT science question involves two steps: reading the provided text and reading charts. This is just slightly more complicated than the questions that ask us to read data out of charts.

In this experiment, a stick has been placed in the ground. The student who placed the stick then measures the stick’s shadow length and direction at various times over several days.

The question: When the Sun is at an altitude 45° above the horizon, a vertical object will cast a shadow with a length equal to the object’s height. Which of the following days included a measurement taken when the Sun was at an altitude of 45° ?

Unfortunately, none of the charts include the stick’s height, so we can’t immediately determine which day included a  shadow measurement equal to the stick’s height.

However, the introductory text tells us: the student placed a stick vertically into the ground so that 1 meter of its length was left above ground.

So, we need to find a day that includes a measurement of 1. Review of the data tables shows that this happens on Day 3 of experiment 2 – but that’s less important than knowing how to solve this problem. Step 1: find the height of the stick. Step 2: find a measurement that matches it.  While you won’t see this exact question on your ACT, keep it in mind when you are tackling your science section; some questions are simple single-step questions, and some will have multiple steps.  All the information you need to answer the question is given in the passage, so don’t give up!