There were several paragraphs and two charts before the question, but my 15-year-old only read the question, got it in seconds, and said the other three were preposterous.
I only saw two alternatives that were preposterous, but they really are.
Here is the question (if you need the whole thing, it’s )
A. The Sun travels a more southerly path in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere.
B. The Sun travels a more northerly path in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere.
C. The Sun rises in the East and sets in the West in the Northern Hemisphere, but the opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere.
D. The Sun rises in the West and sets in the East in the Northern Hemisphere, but the opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere.
This is from the ACT site. It really seemed too easy.
I had to think a minute about A & B. But it stands to reason that, since I know it travels a more southerly path in the northern hemisphere, that it couldn’t travel a more southerly path in the southern hemisphere as well (although I’m not 100% sure about this, I do know that the sun is not going to rise in the west anywhere on earth, which lets out C & D).
My reasoning is that the Sun is roughly centered on the equator. We’re north of that, so to us, the Sun takes a southerly path. If we go to the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun is gonna stay in the same relative place, but we are now south of that, so it appears to take a northernly path.
This is probably way wrong. I am not a science guy.
The only thing you’re wrong about is the Sun being on the equator. It bounces back and forth between the two tropics during the course of a year. It’s only on the equator during the equinoxes.
Other than that, you’re perfectly correct. Americans look South to see the Sun while Australians look North. Those of us significantly above the tropics have to deal with cold weather, but at least we can construct a compass rose on the sidewalk even at noon.
ETA: I was going to be a smart ass and say “we’re still working on midnight” when it occurred to me that those of us extremely north, where/when the sun doesn’t set, the midnight sun is actually in the North. Curious, eh?
Much depends on one’s interpretation. Obviously C and D are both wrong.
I’d have gone with A as the correct answer. The sun’s path ranges between 23° 26′ north and 23° 26′ south of the equator. So it gets further south in the southern hemisphere (23° 26′ S) than it does in the northern hemisphere, where it can’t get any further south than the equator.
That’s how I read it, too, although the OP left out a bunch of important information from the actual question – which clarifies that they meant “northerly/southerly with respect to the observer’s position, not to the Earth.”
The fact that there are “several paragraphs and two charts” before the question suggests to me that this question was meant to test reading comprehension, not basic astronomy knowledge. If so, though, it’s not a terribly good reading comprehension question given that a good fraction of the population can answer it without the reading.
If you look at the sun while in the northern hemisphere, it will be in the southern part of the sky, if you are in the southern hemisphere the sun won’t be further over in the southern part of the sky (answer A) instead it is generally in the northern part of the sky (answer B).
Well this is drifting a little bit away from what I meant to ask, which was: Is this a genuine example of the kind of question my kid can expect when he takes this test?
Two obviously wacko answers (if there is a high school student who believes the sun rises in the west, ever, anywhere on earth, that kid should not be taking the test), and one that might be a little misleading if you read it too fast.
I think we have to assume the data in the stuff that went before the questions is correct.
What i’ve told him to do is to read the questions first, since it’s a timed test and this can make it easier to extract correct answers. In that case he didn’t even need to read the whole question.
But MY question remains: are the answers going to be that obvious? Most of the answers? Some of the answers?
I took that test, but it’s been ages. I remember it as being somewhat more challenging.
(It will be important for him to do well on college placement tests because, as of now, he isn’t doing much in the way of homework and isn’t making outstanding grades.)
I have helped students prepare for the maths parts of the SAT and GMAT in the past. From my limited experience with these types of tests I will offer two things.
First, the quality of sample questions is often poor. I wonder if the sample questions provided by the testing institute are tested as rigorously as the actual test questions they use. Sample questions from independent sources vary in quality and can mislead you as to what is required to do well in the tests, so be careful if you are using a book or another website.
Secondly, with tests like this there is usually (always?) a range of difficulty levels in the questions, so they can make finer distinctions between ability levels. I have no idea about the average difficulty in this test but this question might be one of the easier ones.
The ACT is given to students with a wide range of capability. Some questions are intended to be easy. Whether this is one of them, I don’t know - other posts in this thread suggest it may not be as easy as you think.
If all the questions were hard, far too many students would get dismally low scores. I expect the desired result is a bell curve.
Oops - on preview I just noticed that Manwich has said much the same thing.
The information to answer it should have been located within the text (and/or data tables, graphs, etc.). The ACT isn’t a “regurgitate the memorized facts” science test, it’s a “properly interpret the data/theories presented” test, tho a good science background can certainly help.
Yes, they often are that obviously wrong; the questions can vary significantly in difficulty, along with the answers (a minority require the student to make a reasoned inference, extending data sets beyond the presented bounds, etc.). Guaranteed someone somewhere is choosing one of the “wacko” answers. Of the 4 ACT sections, science is actually the most straightforward; once my students grasp the format of that section, their scores typically skyrocket once they know what to look for (and can do so quickly and efficiently). It’s the SAT which has oodles of sneaky trap answers, tho the ACT does have their share as well.
It is linked in the OP, but apparently there was a formatting glitch. Click on the blue parenthesis that follows “it’s” (should have read “it’s here,” I’m sure).
After I posted I clicked on that link, only to find it’s “Question of the Day” and today has a different one. What I recall was something about putting sticks in the ground (standing vertically) and measuring the length and/or direction of the shadows. The paragraphs explained the method and the charts had the results.
Go outside and find a flagpole (school, post office, library, etc.). Stand to the north of it. Look at the top of the flagpole - which direction are you facing? What portion of the sky is the top of the flagpole in (east, west, north, south)?
Go outside at noon and face the sun*. Which direction are you facing?
*Hopefully you’re north of the Tropic of Cancer or south of the Tropic of Capricorn. If you’re north of the Tropic of Cancer, you’ll be facing south. If you’re south of the Tropic of Capricorn, you’ll be facing north.