ACT Study Guide/Overview

The ACT (American College Test) is a standardized college entrance exam taken by many United States high school students in their 11th or 12th year of standard schooling. Although the United States is not the only place to take the ACT, it is the main country in which students take the test. The highest score possible is a 36. The subsections have a high score of 18. You are also shown your percentile rank. Students decide what colleges they want to have their scores sent to. The colleges then look at the test scores and use them as one of many factors for admission. Another major college entrance exam in the US is the SAT. If you wish to prepare for the SAT you can read the SAT Study Guide.

The ACT has four main sections. These sections are English, Math, Reading, and Science. Below you can find the amount of time give, the number of questions, and the subscore categories.

The information below is taken from Getting Into the ACT copyright 1990 and 1997 by ACT, and from the 2004/2005 student score report.

English

 * Time
 * 45 Minutes


 * Questions
 * 75


 * Subscores
 * Usage and Mechanics (40 Questions)
 * Rhetorical Skills (35 Questions)

Math

 * Time
 * 60 Minutes


 * Questions
 * 60


 * Subscores
 * Pre-Algebra (14 Questions)/Elementary Algebra (10 Questions)
 * Intermediate Algebra (9 Questions)/Coordinate Geometry (9 Questions)
 * Plane Geometry (14 Questions)/Trigonometry (4 Questions)

Reading

 * Time
 * 35 Minutes


 * Questions
 * 40


 * Subscores
 * Arts/Literature (20 Questions)
 * Social Studies/Sciences (20 Questions)

Science

 * Time
 * 35 Minutes


 * Questions
 * 40


 * Subscores
 * None


 * Question Content
 * Data Representation (15 Questions)
 * Research Summaries (18 Questions)
 * Conflicting Viewpoints (7 Questions)