The official ACT Compass website explains that reading topics on the exam will be taken from five broad academic areas:
(1) Natural Sciences - This area includes academic subjects such as biology, physics, and health and medicine.
(2) Social Sciences - Includes cultural studies, political science, sociology, and psychology.
(3) Humanities - Covers topics in the academic disciplines of history, education, law, and communications.
(4) Prose Fiction - For this type of passage, you will see an extract from a novel or short story.
(5) Practical Passage - These types of texts inform the reader about how to do something. In other words, they provide instructions by explaining the steps in a certain process.
List of Reading Topics in Our Materials
Here is a list of reading topics included in our Compass practice reading download, which has 20 tests.
You will see that our materials cover all of the subjects listed above, so they provide a comprehensive review of the types of topics assessed on the reading part of the examination.
1 - The Power of Tornadoes
2 - The Development of Professional Athletics
3 - Extract from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
4 - Television Networks and Broadcasting
5 - The Construction of Mount Rushmore
6 - The American Education System
7 - Gravity and the Mechanics of Motion
8 - The Psychological Theories of Jean Piaget
9 - Motion Picture Production
10 - The Automotive Industry and Buyer Preference
11 - Crime and Punishment
12 - Archeological Excavation and Investigation
13 - Agricultural Production and Processes
14 - Health and Medicine - Current Debates
15 - Communication in Interpersonal Relationships
16 - The Westward Expansion Movement
17 - Socioeconomic Inequalities - Recent Research
18 - Thanksgiving Day
19 - The State of the Union
20 - How to Create and Market a Music Download
Please click on the links below to view to our other reading materials:
Compass reading sample test
Reading sample - answers
Further information on the Compass reading test
