Today’s ACT question of the day is a question from the science passage about a stick and its shadow. We need to determine what would happen to the shadow lengths of the stick if only 0.5m of the stick was exposed.
Category Archives: Science
ACT Question of the Day Explained – March 9, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT question of the day comes from the science passage about the stick. We are asked to draw a conclusion based on Shadow A of experiment 1 (data below). Shadow A was measured one hour after sunrise.
| Table 1 | ||||||
| Shadow | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | |||
| Length (m) |
Shadow direction |
Length (m) |
Shadow direction |
Length (m) |
Shadow direction |
|
| A | 5.0 | SW | 8.6 | NW | 6.8 | W |
| B | 1.2 | W | 2.9 | NNW | 1.7 | NW |
| C | 0.3 | N | 2.3 | N | 0.9 | N |
| D | 1.2 | E | 3.0 | NNE | 1.8 | NE |
| E | 5.0 | SE | 8.6 | NE | 6.9 | E |
ACT Question of the Day Explained – March 5, 2014 – Science, Data
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° ? Continue reading
ACT Question of the Day Explained – March 1, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT question of the day is an exciting science question about this graph:
Let’s pause to note the axes: concentration on the x-axis and sediment depth on y.
This graph corresponds to one of the elements in this chart:
| Depth (cm) |
Temperature (oC) |
pH | Concentration in sediment (ppm) | |||||
| SO42– | S2– | CO2 | Fe3+ | Fe2+ | O2 | |||
| 0 | 4 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| 5 | 5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 |
| 10 | 7 | 6.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| 15 | 9 | 5.5 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 |
| 20 | 10 | 5.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 25, 2014 – Science
Who lives in a sediment under the…ocean?
Today’s ACT question of the day is a science question from the passage about sediment in the bottom of the ocean. This time, we need to find the depth that would be a good home for a creature that likes low concentrations of Fe2+, high concentrations of O2, and a neutral pH. Continue reading
ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 17, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT question of the day comes from the same science passage we saw about a week ago.
We are given a table of sediment concentrations at various depths that’s something like this:
| Depth (cm) |
Temperature (oC) |
pH | Concentration in sediment (ppm) | |||||
| SO42– | S2– | CO2 | Fe3+ | Fe2+ | O2 | |||
| 0 | 4 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| 5 | 5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 |
| 10 | 7 | 6.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| 15 | 9 | 5.5 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 |
| 20 | 10 | 5.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
The test maker would like us to tell them which ion and dissolved gas will not be helpful in determining whether a sample was taken from either 15 or 20cm. Continue reading
ACT Question of the Day Explained- February 13, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT question is a repeat of Sunday’s data interpretation question. Enjoy the review and remember to answer what the question is asking!
ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 9, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT science question of the day is a data interpretation question. (Basically, we have to read a data table.)
We are given a table of sediment concentrations at various depths that’s something like this:
| Depth (cm) |
Temperature (oC) |
pH | Concentration in sediment (ppm) | |||||
| SO42– | S2– | CO2 | Fe3+ | Fe2+ | O2 | |||
| 0 | 4 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
| 5 | 5 | 6.5 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 |
| 10 | 7 | 6.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 |
| 15 | 9 | 5.5 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 3.8 | 0.0 |
| 20 | 10 | 5.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 0.0 |
The test maker would like us to tell them which ion and dissolved gas has a constant concentration at depths of 10 cm or more. Continue reading
ACT Question of the Day Explained – February 1, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT question of the day is a repeat of the science question we discussed on January 20.
Since there’s nothing new today, here are some general tips for the ACT science section:
- Remember the scientific method
- Read the charts carefully and know which ones correspond to which experiments
- Keep an eye on the time since you have only 5 minutes per passage
My February 8 test takers: you are officially less than a week away! Time to review all ACT tips to make sure you’ve got your strategies down and start assembling the items from your test day checklist, either. Make sure next Thursday and Friday nights are blocked out for sleeping!
ACT Question of the Day Explained – January 28, 2014 – Science
Today’s ACT science question of the day brings us back to the stick we met four days ago. This time, instead of looking for data in the charts, we are asked about something relating to the scientific method.
They would like to know what remains constant in all of the experiments – in other words, we are looking for something that is part of the setup, definitely not one of the variables that is being measured. Continue reading