Start Here: your friendly guide to the ACT

Never looked at the ACT before? Nothing here assumes you have. This page explains what the test is, what is actually on it, the two choices you have to make when you register, and what to do first. You can start today, at any age.

1. What is the ACT?

The ACT is a test many students take in high school. Colleges sometimes use it to help compare students who come from different schools with different grading. It is not a measure of how smart you are — it checks a specific list of English, math, reading and science-reasoning skills. That is good news, because skills can be practiced, and practice is what this site is for.

Two things about it are worth knowing on day one. First, every question is multiple choice with four answer choices — there is nothing to type in, in any section. Second, there is no penalty for guessing: your score is simply the number of questions you got right. A blank and a wrong answer are worth exactly the same, so you should never leave one empty.

2. What a Composite score is

Each section you take gets its own score from 1 to 36. The number people usually mean when they say "my ACT score" is the Composite, which is also on the 1–36 scale.

The Composite is built from three sections only: English, Math and Reading. You add those three scores together, divide by three, and round — half a point or more rounds up. That is the whole calculation.

• Science does not go into the Composite. If you take it, you get a separate Science score, plus a STEM score, which is the average of Math and Science.
• Writing does not go into the Composite either. The essay is scored on a 2–12 scale of its own. If you take it, you also get an ELA score, the average of English, Reading and Writing.

So a student who takes only English, Math and Reading still gets a real, complete, college-reportable Composite. Nothing is missing from it.

3. What the test looks like, section by section

Here is the whole test in one table's worth of facts. The second number in each row is how many of those questions actually count — the rest are new questions ACT is trying out, and you cannot tell which is which, so treat every question as if it counts.

• English — 50 questions (40 scored), 35 minutes. Passages with underlined parts to fix or improve: punctuation, grammar, word choice, and whether a sentence belongs at all.
• Mathematics — 45 questions (41 scored), 50 minutes. Everything from arithmetic and algebra through functions, geometry, trigonometry and statistics. This is the only section where a calculator is allowed.
• Break — ten to fifteen minutes, after Math.
• Reading — 36 questions (27 scored), 40 minutes. Some parts are one long passage; some are two shorter passages with questions that span both. Every passage comes with a line telling you the author and source. There are no isolated vocabulary questions — everything is answered from the passage in front of you.
• Science (optional) — 40 questions (34 scored), 40 minutes. Graphs, tables and experiment write-ups. You do not need advanced science classes; you need to read data carefully. No calculator here.
• Writing (optional) — one essay, 40 minutes. One issue, three perspectives given to you, and your job is to argue your own view and relate it to at least one of theirs. Which side you take does not affect your score.

Sections are always taken in that order: English, Math, break, Reading, then Science, then Writing. English, Math and Reading together are 125 minutes of testing.

Two practical rules that surprise people: you bring sharpened No. 2 pencils — mechanical pencils and pens are not allowed — and there is no scratch paper. You do your working in the test booklet itself. The calculator rules and test-day kit module covers the rest of what you can and cannot bring.

4. Your two decisions: Science and Writing

When you register for a Saturday national test, Science and Writing are add-ons you choose and pay for separately. You can add or drop either one up to the late registration deadline for your test date, so the decision is not permanent — but it is yours to make, and it is worth making on purpose.

How to decide about Science. Leaving it out cannot lower your Composite, because it was never in it. But there are real reasons to take it:

• Some colleges and some scholarship programs still ask to see a Science score. Check the requirements of the schools on your list before you skip it.
• The STEM score only exists if you take Science. If you are applying to engineering, computing or a science major, that number is one more piece of evidence in your favour.
• If your school or district administers the ACT, the institution chooses whether Science is included — not you. Ask which version you are sitting.

A reasonable default: if you are aiming at anything scientific or technical, or you do not yet know your college list, take it. Forty minutes is a low price for keeping a door open.

How to decide about Writing. Same test: look up whether the colleges you care about ask for it. Fewer do than used to. If none of yours require or recommend it, the essay is 40 extra minutes at the end of an already long morning, and skipping it does not touch your Composite.

5. What counts as a good score

There is no universal cutoff, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. A "good" ACT score is defined entirely by the colleges you actually want to apply to, so here is how to find your own number instead of borrowing someone else's:

• Write down five to eight colleges you would genuinely consider. Include a couple you think are a stretch and a couple you are confident about.
• Look up each one's Common Data Set (search the college's name plus "Common Data Set") or its "admitted student profile" page. Section C9 of the Common Data Set lists the middle 50% ACT range of students they admitted — the 25th and 75th percentile Composite.
• Aim for the upper half of that range for the schools that matter most to you. That is your target, and it is a real number from a real source rather than a rumour.
• Check each school's testing policy while you are there — whether scores are required, optional, or not considered at all, and whether they superscore. Superscoring means taking your best English, Math and Reading scores across different test dates. Not every college does it, though the number that do is growing.

Do this once, early. It turns "I want a good score" into "I need a 27 for my top choice", which is a target you can actually plan against. The scoring, Composite and superscore module walks through the arithmetic in more detail.

6. Building a study plan from a diagnostic

Do not start by studying. Start by finding out where you already are, then spend your time where it changes the score.

• Take the diagnostic first. It is a short mix of questions from every skill, and it comes back with your weakest areas named. Guessing at your own weak spots is unreliable — most students are wrong about at least one.
• Pick the two weakest skills and give them most of your practice for the next two weeks. Ignore, for now, the things you are already good at. Points come from the gaps.
• Study in short sessions, most days. Twenty focused minutes on five days beats one long Sunday. Spreading practice out is one of the few study findings that holds up consistently.
• Review every miss. For each question you got wrong, work out why your answer was tempting, not just what the right one was. That is where the score moves.
• Every week or two, take a full timed test to build stamina and see whether your pacing survives contact with a real clock.
• Re-take the diagnostic after a month. Your weak list should have changed. Re-aim at the new one.

If pacing is what breaks you rather than the content, work through Pacing & Timing — English alone gives you about 42 seconds a question, and that is a skill of its own.

7. The first three things to do here

Everything on this site is free, and you can learn without signing up. In order:

• One. Take the free diagnostic — about 30 questions, untimed, no hints, so the result is honest.
• Two. Open the module it points you at and read the short lesson before you practice. If you are not sure where to start, Punctuation & Boundaries is the single highest-value English skill, and Integrating Essential Skills is the best first stop in Math.
• Three. When you have a few modules behind you, sit a full-length practice test with the timer running, and review every question you missed.

Two optional extras: create a free account if you want your XP, streak and progress on your phone as well as here — a parent or guardian approves it by email, so younger students cannot sign up alone. And the study guides have a four-week and a twelve-week plan already written out if you would rather follow one than build one.