Free ACT prep · Updated for the May 2026 ACT format Take a full-length test →
Reading · Prose Fiction

Hard Prose Fiction Drill

15 hard-difficulty ACT Reading questions on Prose Fiction. Each question is on its own page with a worked answer explanation, the underlying rule, and a quick study tip.

Hard Reading Prose Fiction

All 15 questions

  1. 1 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  2. 2 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  3. 3 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  4. 4 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  5. 5 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  6. 6 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  7. 7 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  8. 8 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  9. 9 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  10. 10 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  11. 11 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  12. 12 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  13. 13 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard
  14. 14 Meaning of a Simile From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Meaning of a Simile Hard
  15. 15 Narrator's Initial Reaction From "The Letter on the Kitchen Table" — Narrator's Initial Reaction Hard

How to use this drill

Open the questions one at a time. Read the prompt, decide on an answer before scrolling, then check the explanation. The point of a drill is not to "get the question right" — it's to internalize the rule so you can apply it cold under timed conditions on test day.

If you're missing more than a third of the questions in this set, drop down a difficulty tier and rebuild from there. If you're getting all of them quickly, jump up a tier and try a mixed drill across subtopics.

What "Hard" means here

Hard questions are designed to separate strong test-takers. They typically require multiple rules applied in sequence, or careful elimination among answers that all look plausible. Expect to see these appear later in real ACT sections; even strong test-takers miss a couple per test.