ACT EXPLAINED
Individuals with different educational backgrounds and ages can take the ACT, including middle school students, high school graduates, and adults who want to return to college. A student can take the ACT more than once and select the scores to be sent to colleges for review.
ACT is a three and a half hour test and has four mandatory subject tests- English, Reading, Mathematics, and Science, and one optional 30 minute Writing. The test has 215 questions.
TIME |
SECTIONS |
35 minutes |
Reading |
40 minutes |
English |
60 minutes |
Mathematics |
35 minutes |
Science Reasoning |
Admission Calendar:
You can take ACT five times a year all over the United States -in February (except in the state of New York), April, June, October and December. And on an additional date in September you can take ACT in the states of Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.
Dates for SAT exams for 2007-08:
DATES |
LAST DATE FOR REGISTERATION |
15 September 2007 |
16 August 2007 |
27 October 2007 |
1 October 2007 |
8 December 2007 |
2 November 2007 |
9 February 2008 |
4 January 2008 |
12 April 2008 |
7 March 2008 |
14 June 2008 |
9 May 2008 |
NOTE:
- September 15, 2007, test date is available only in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.
- February 2008 test is not scheduled in New York due to special requirements of legislation in effect in that state. This restriction may continue for the 2008–2009 testing year.
Time |
Subject |
Number of Questions |
|
Reading |
|
35 minutes |
4 passages one each on prose fiction, social science, humanities and natural sciences in that order |
40 |
|
English |
|
45minutes |
10 punctuations, 12 Basic Grammar and usage, 18 sentence structure and 35 Rhetorical Skills |
75 |
|
Math |
|
60 minutes |
14 Pre-algebra, 10 Elementary Algebra, 9 Intermediate Algebra, 9 Co-ordinate Geometry, 14 Plane Geometry and 4 Trigonometry |
24 |
|
Writing |
|
35 minutes |
7 passages consisting of graphs, charts and explanatory text |
40 |
ACT Scoring:
The subjects are graded separately, according to the total number of correct answers a student has for a particular section. Points are not reduced for incorrect answers, so that you can guess and go on. The correct answers give your raw score which is compared to all other students who took that same test and converted to a "scaled score" from 1 to 36. Scaling is done to maintain consistency between ACT tests.
* Have questions? See Frequently Asked Questions.




