ACT
The other admissions test — section by section, in the shape the enhanced ACT actually has.
What the test is now
The ACT was rebuilt: it is about 70 minutes shorter than the test most guides still describe, has 44 fewer questions, and science is no longer part of the core.
- English — 50 questions (40 scored), 35 minutes. Grammar, usage and rhetorical skills.
- Mathematics — 45 questions (41 scored), 50 minutes. Pre-algebra through trigonometry, and now four answer choices rather than five.
- Reading — 36 questions (27 scored), 40 minutes. Literary and informational texts.
- Science — optional, 40 questions (34 scored), 40 minutes. Data interpretation and scientific reasoning.
- Writing — optional, one essay, 40 minutes.
Two details in those numbers matter and are easy to miss. Not every question is scored: each section carries field-test items being trialled for future forms, you cannot tell which they are, and the only sane policy is to treat all of them as real. And the Math section dropping from five choices to four changes the arithmetic of guessing — there is no penalty for a wrong answer on the ACT, so a blind guess is now worth one in four, and leaving anything blank is simply throwing away expected points.
Scoring, and the change that matters most
Each section is scored 1 to 36. The Composite is also 1 to 36, and it is now the average of English, Math and Reading only, rounded to the nearest whole number — half rounds up.
Science no longer enters the Composite. If you take it you get a standalone science score and a STEM score, the average of math and science. Writing, if taken, is scored 2 to 12 and is reported separately; it never touches the Composite either.
So before you plan anything, find out whether you are taking science at all. On a school or district administration that is decided for you, not by you; on a national test date it is a choice. It changes what to revise and it changes nothing about your Composite.
ACT or SAT
Colleges that accept one accept the other, and there is no advantage in the choice itself — only in which suits you. The honest differences:
- The ACT is faster. Even after the rebuild, English is 50 questions in 35 minutes; that is under three quarters of a minute each. Pace is the ACT's real difficulty.
- The ACT has a science section and the SAT does not — though it tests reading graphs and evaluating experiments rather than remembering biology.
- The SAT is adaptive between modules; the ACT is not. Every ACT taker sees the same form.
- ACT maths goes further, as far as trigonometry.
Sit one timed practice test of each before deciding. That comparison answers the question in an afternoon; reasoning about it does not.
How these materials are organised
One category per section — English, Mathematics, Reading, Science — because that is the unit the score report names and the unit you can actually be weak in.
They do not reproduce the timing, and timing is a real part of this test. Use ACT's own free full-length practice tests for that, under a clock, in one sitting.
The optional Writing essay is not covered here: it is produced rather than chosen, and no multiple-choice bank prepares for it. ACT publishes the prompt format and the four scoring domains — ideas and analysis, development and support, organisation, language use — and writing one against them is the only practice that counts.
How to work
- Find out whether science is on your test, and whether the essay is required by any college on your list, before planning anything.
- Never leave a blank. No penalty, four choices in Math, five in the others — a guess always beats silence.
- Practise against a clock from the beginning. The ACT is not a hard test taken slowly; it is a fair test taken fast.
- Read the explanation even when you were right. It says where the other options actually belong, which is most of what the English and Reading sections test.
Official sources
- What is on the test, section by section: act.org — exam sections and structure
- What changed and when: act.org — test enhancements
- How the scores work: act.org — understanding your scores
- Free official preparation, including full-length practice tests: act.org — test preparation
- Registration and test dates: act.org — registration
Zestly is an independent study tool. It is not affiliated with ACT, which owns the test, and it is not a test centre. Every question here is written by Zestly; no official test material is reproduced. Registration, fees, accommodations, test dates and score reporting are matters for ACT and for the colleges asking you for a score.