Reading Topics on the Exam

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