ACT Preparation / Unit 5 ACT 0422 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Which Detail Fits the Audience
The idea
When a question asks which choice best suits a passage's audience, work in three steps. First, identify the audience from the passage: experts or general readers, adults or children, people deciding or people learning. Second, ask what they already know and what they need. Third, choose the detail that gives them what they need in terms they understand, and reject choices that assume knowledge they lack or explain what they already know.
In practice
Worked example: a leaflet for new gardeners explains when to water tomatoes. The choices are "Water when the top inch of soil is dry," "Water according to readings from a soil tensiometer," "Water often," and "Watering is an ancient practice." The second assumes an instrument new gardeners do not have; the third is vague; the fourth is off the point. The first gives a test a beginner can do with a finger.
Where people slip
A technically better answer can be the wrong one. The audience defines what precise means.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it · Sources for ACT Preparation