The ACT is an entrance exam that many colleges and universities in the United States use as part of the college admissions process. The ACT is a standardized test that evaluates a student's skills in five core areas: English, Mathematics, Reading, Science, and Essay Writing (optional). Students in grades 11 and 12 take the ACT so that they can process admission into colleges or universities.
The ACT is composed of four multiple-choice sections- English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science-and one optional essay section-Writing. Total testing time is 2 hours and 55 minutes for the ACT without Writing and 3 hours and 35 minutes for the ACT with Writing. The breakdown of each section is as follows:
ACT Test Breakdown| Section | # of Questions & Time Limit | Content/Skills Covered | Question Types |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 75 questions in 45 min. | grammar & usage, punctuation, sentence structure, strategy, organization, and style | four-choice, multiple-choice usage/mechanics and rhetorical skills questions |
| Math | 60 questions in 60 min. | pre-algebra, elementary algebra, intermediate algebra, coordinate geometry, plane geometry, and trigonometry | five-choice, multiple-choice questions |
| Reading | 40 questions in 35 min. | reading comprehension of what is directly stated or implied | four-choice, multiple-choice referring and reasoning questions |
| Science | 40 questions in 35 min. | interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem solving | four-choice, multiple-choice data representation, research summaries, and conflicting viewpoints questions |
| Writing (optional) | 1 essay in 40 min. | writing skills | essay prompt |
ACT SCORING PATTERN
The ACT provides four answer choices to questions in the English, Reading, and Science tests but five answer choices to questions in the Math test. The ACT has a unique feature in which the odd-numbered questions have answer choices labeled A through D or E, whereas the even-numbered questions have answer choice labeled F through J or K with the exclusion of I.
Each correct answer on the ACT gets you a raw point, and there is no penalty for wrong answers. A scale score ranging from 1-36 is computed for each test on the basis of the raw score secured in that test. The ACT also provides a STEM score and seven different sub-scores.
ACT ENGLISH TEST
The English test consists of five passages with 15 questions per passage. Most of the questions ask you to select the answer that is most appropriate in grammar and style or the one that is most consistent with the tone of the passage.
Six elements of effective writing are tested in the English test, that fall under two categories.
1 Usage/Mechanics-40 questions
- Punctuation (10 questions)
- Grammar and usage (12 questions)
- Sentence structure (18 questions)
2 Rhetorical Skills-35 questions
- Strategy (12 questions)
- Organization (11questions)
- Style (12 questions)
ACT MATH TEST
Approximately 14 pre-algebra based, 10 Elementary algebra-based, 9 intermediate algebra-based, 9 coordinate geometry-based, 14 plane geometry-based, and 4 trigonometries based question comprise the math test. While the questions are arranged in a ‘general order of difficulty-easy, medium, and hardly you may see a few hard questions in the first 20 questions conversely, you may also find a few easy questions among the last 20 question’.
ACT READING TEST
Four passages belonging to for genres prose fiction, social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences comprise the Reading test. A Passage always follows this order and each passage is followed by 10 questions. This gives the test taker the advantage of working on those passages belonging to the genres he is most comfortable with first and save the harder ones at the end.
ACT SCIENCE TEST
The ACT science test does not test any ‘Science’ based knowledge; rather it is a test of reading and Reasoning based on science-related passages. In this test, you will see about 2-3 Charts and Graphs passages, about 2-3 science experiment passages, and 1 or 2 fighting scientists a passages-the number of questions ranged from 5 to 7.
ACT WRITING TEST
The writing test is optional and needs to be taken if the essay score is required by the college you are applying to. Most of the time the essay task asks you to take a position on an issue presented before you. The essay task asks for your views on an issue in the context of the three given perspectives presented on the issue.
