# ACT exam guide > Study the enhanced ACT section by section, from the three core tests behind the composite to the optional science and writing components. - Canonical page: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act - Markdown source: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act/llms.txt - Exam family: College admissions - Governing body: ACT, Inc. - Official exam information: https://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act.html - Who takes it: High school students applying to colleges and scholarship programs that accept or require ACT scores. - Follows the enhanced ACT format, from 5 Apr 2025 - Guide structure last checked against official sources: August 30, 2026 ## Overview The ACT is a college admissions test administered by ACT. In its current enhanced form, first given in 2025, the core test is English, math, and reading: 131 questions in 2 hours and 5 minutes, and those three sections alone produce the 1 to 36 composite score. All three are multiple choice, there is no penalty for a wrong answer, and math questions now offer four answer choices rather than five. The change that matters most for planning is that science is optional. Students who take it get 40 minutes for 40 questions and receive a separate 1 to 36 science score plus a STEM score that combines math and science; students who skip it still receive a full composite. The optional writing essay remains a separately reported 2 to 12 score. Because the enhanced format also trimmed question counts and gave students more time per question, older prep books, timing charts, and score conversion tables built for the legacy four-section ACT will not match what you see on test day. Arcade Academy is an independent study workspace, not an ACT product. ACT publishes the authoritative statement of test structure, section options, registration, accommodations, and score reporting at act.org, and its policies on retesting and score reporting have changed more than once, so confirm the current rules there before you register or plan a retake. ## Exam format - **Sections:** English, math, and reading are the core scored sections; science and the writing essay are optional - **Questions:** 131 in the core sections: English 50, math 45, reading 36; the optional science section adds 40 - **Timing:** 2 hours 5 minutes for the core sections; optional science adds 40 minutes and the optional writing essay adds 40 minutes - **Question style:** Multiple choice throughout, with four answer choices on math and no penalty for a wrong answer - **Delivery:** Paper or online at test centers, and through school-day testing - **Score range:** 1 to 36 per multiple-choice section; composite of 1 to 36 from English, math, and reading - **Optional components:** Science is scored 1 to 36 when taken and pairs with math for a STEM score; writing is scored 2 to 12 ## Scoring Each multiple-choice section is reported on a 1 to 36 scale, and the composite is the average of the English, math, and reading scores rounded to the nearest whole number. Science, when taken, is reported as its own 1 to 36 score and combines with math for a STEM score rather than entering the composite. The optional writing essay is scored 2 to 12 and reported separately from the composite. ## Sections ACT is organized into 5 sections. Each one below lists its published weighting where the governing body publishes one, the topics it covers, and study tips specific to it. ### 1. English - Position: 1 of 5 - Scored questions: 50 - Time: 35 minutes - Page: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act/english English is the first section: 50 questions in 35 minutes, which is roughly 42 seconds per question and the fastest pace on the test. Questions attach to passages with underlined portions that you either leave alone or replace, mixed with questions that ask which choice best accomplishes a stated purpose. ACT reports performance in three categories: Production of Writing, Knowledge of Language, and Conventions of Standard English. #### Topics - **Production of Writing** — Topic development and organization, unity, and cohesion: whether a sentence belongs at all, where it should go, and which opening, transition, or conclusion actually serves the passage's stated purpose. - **Knowledge of Language** — Precision and concision in word choice plus consistency of style and tone, including the redundancy questions where two grammatically correct options say the same thing at different lengths. - **Conventions of Standard English** — Sentence structure and formation, punctuation, and usage: run-ons and fragments, modifier placement, parallelism, verb tense and agreement, pronoun clarity, commas, apostrophes, semicolons, and dashes. #### Study tips - Budget roughly 42 seconds per question and practice at that pace; English moves faster than any other section, even though the enhanced format allows slightly more time per question than the legacy test did. - When two choices are both grammatically correct and convey the same information, the more concise one is usually the credited answer. - Read the question stem before the answer choices whenever one is present; those items test rhetorical purpose, not grammar, and the shortest option is often wrong. - Drill comma use and sentence boundaries above all other punctuation rules, and always read the full sentence, including the words after the underlined portion, before choosing. ### 2. Math - Position: 2 of 5 - Scored questions: 45 - Time: 50 minutes - Page: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act/math Math is 45 questions in 50 minutes, about 67 seconds per question, and on the enhanced format each question offers four answer choices instead of five. Questions tend to run from easier to harder, so time banked early is time available for the end of the section. A calculator is permitted for the whole section, subject to ACT's published list of prohibited models. ACT reports results in three categories, one of which, Modeling, cuts across the others. #### Topics - **Preparing for Higher Math: Number and Quantity** — Real and complex number systems, integer and rational exponents, vectors, and matrices, along with the numerical reasoning that underlies later algebra work. - **Preparing for Higher Math: Algebra** — Solving, graphing, and modeling with linear, polynomial, radical, and exponential relationships, including systems of equations and expressions with more than one variable. - **Preparing for Higher Math: Functions** — Function definition, notation, representation, and application across linear, radical, piecewise, polynomial, and logarithmic functions, plus graphing and transformations. - **Preparing for Higher Math: Geometry** — Shapes and solids, congruence and similarity, surface area and volume, right triangle trigonometry, and the equations of conic sections. - **Preparing for Higher Math: Statistics and Probability** — Center, spread, and distribution of data, relationships in bivariate data, probability and counting, and the difference between what a sample supports and what it does not. - **Integrating Essential Skills** — The pre-high-school foundations applied in harder settings: rates and percentages, proportional relationships, area, surface area and volume, average and median, and expressing numbers in different ways. - **Modeling** — A cross-cutting category rather than a separate block of questions, scoring how well you produce, interpret, evaluate, and improve models; the same questions also count toward the categories above. #### Study tips - Four answer choices instead of five makes a blind guess more valuable, but it is not a strategy; answer every question and guess only after you have spent your time budget. - Do not neglect Integrating Essential Skills, since rates, percentages, proportions, averages, and area are quick points that reward accuracy more than advanced technique. - Bank time on the earlier, easier questions so the harder ones later in the section get more than the 67-second average. - Check your calculator against ACT's prohibited-model list well before test day, and practice with the exact device you will bring. ### 3. Reading - Position: 3 of 5 - Scored questions: 36 - Time: 40 minutes - Page: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act/reading Reading is 36 questions in 40 minutes, about 67 seconds per question, which is meaningfully more time per question than the legacy ACT allowed. Passages are drawn from literary narrative, social science, humanities, and natural science, so the section rewards being equally comfortable with a story and with a dense argument. ACT reports results in three categories: Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. #### Topics - **Key Ideas and Details** — Reading closely to determine what a text says explicitly, drawing inferences that the text supports, and tracing central ideas, themes, sequences, and relationships across a passage. - **Craft and Structure** — Word and phrase meaning in context, the effect of specific word choices, how a text is organized, and the point of view or purpose behind an authorial or narrative choice. - **Integration of Knowledge and Ideas** — Evaluating arguments and the evidence offered for them, and synthesizing or comparing information and claims across texts or between a text and other material. #### Study tips - Identify which of the four passage subject areas slows you down and decide in advance whether you will take that passage last. - Use the extra time the enhanced format gives you to actually return to the passage and locate support, rather than answering from memory of a first read. - Practice putting the answer in your own words before reading the choices, which makes tempting but unsupported options easier to reject. - Give Integration of Knowledge and Ideas dedicated practice, since evaluating evidence and comparing claims across texts is the least intuitive of the three categories. ### 4. Science (Optional) - Position: 4 of 5 - Scored questions: 40 - Time: 40 minutes - Page: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act/science Science is optional on the enhanced ACT and is not part of the composite score. Students who take it answer 40 questions in 40 minutes, exactly 60 seconds per question, and receive a separate 1 to 36 science score plus a STEM score that combines math and science. The section tests scientific reasoning applied to figures, tables, experiment descriptions, and competing explanations far more than it tests recalled science content, though comfort with basic biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science vocabulary helps. #### Topics - **Interpretation of Data** — Reading values, trends, and relationships from graphs, tables, and diagrams, interpolating and extrapolating, translating between representations, and comparing results across figures. - **Scientific Investigation** — Understanding experimental design: what was varied, what was held constant, why a control exists, what a described tool or procedure does, and how a study would change under a new condition. - **Evaluation of Models, Inferences, and Experimental Results** — Judging whether a hypothesis, model, or conclusion is supported by the evidence presented, and deciding which competing explanation new results would strengthen or undermine. #### Study tips - Decide early whether science is part of your plan, since programs and scholarships differ on whether they want it, and then commit so your practice time is not split. - Work the figures before the prose on data-heavy passages, and go back to the text only for the questions that require it. - Passages that present competing explanations need genuine reading rather than data lookup, so budget extra minutes for them and consider taking them last. - At exactly 60 seconds per question, practice deciding fast which figure a question points to; locating the right data is most of the work. ### 5. Writing (Optional Essay) - Position: 5 of 5 - Time: 40 minutes - Page: https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/act/writing Writing is an optional 40-minute essay taken after the multiple-choice sections and reported separately from the composite. You are given a prompt on a complex issue along with perspectives on it, and you must develop your own position and analyze its relationship to the other perspectives. Two readers score the essay in four domains, producing a reported score from 2 to 12. Take it only if a college or scholarship on your list asks for it. #### Topics - **Ideas and Analysis** — Establishing a clear position on the issue and engaging with the other perspectives, including the tensions, assumptions, and implications that make the issue genuinely contested. - **Development and Support** — Backing claims with reasoning and specific examples rather than assertion, and explaining why the evidence supports the point being made. - **Organization** — A structure that makes the argument's progression visible, with purposeful paragraphing and transitions that connect ideas instead of merely listing them. - **Language Use and Conventions** — Clear and varied sentence structure, appropriate word choice and tone, and control of grammar, usage, and mechanics sufficient to keep the argument readable. #### Study tips - Spend the first several minutes planning: choose your position, decide which other perspective you will engage, and pick your examples before writing a sentence. - The scoring rewards analyzing the relationship between your position and the others, so a well-written essay that only argues one side leaves points on the table. - Write a small number of timed practice essays and score them against the four domains rather than reading them over informally. - Confirm whether any school or scholarship on your list requires or recommends the essay before you pay for it and add 40 minutes to your test day. ## Study strategies - Verify that every practice test, timing chart, and score conversion table you use is built for the enhanced format, because legacy materials assume different question counts, different timing, and a composite that includes science. - Decide early whether you are taking the optional science section, then build your schedule around that choice instead of leaving it open and splitting your practice. - Treat pacing as its own skill and train it with timed single sections before full-length tests: English allows about 42 seconds per question, math and reading about 67 seconds, and science exactly 60. - Keep an error log tagged by reporting category, so you can tell whether your reading misses come from Key Ideas and Details or from Integration of Knowledge and Ideas and study accordingly. - Because the composite is the rounded average of three sections, each one carries a third of the weight, which usually makes raising your lowest section the highest-leverage work available. - Confirm current registration, retake, and score-reporting rules on act.org rather than relying on advice written for earlier versions of the test. ## Frequently asked questions ### How is the ACT composite calculated now that science is optional? The composite is the average of the English, math, and reading scores, rounded to the nearest whole number and reported on a 1 to 36 scale. Science is not part of that calculation. Students who take science receive a separate 1 to 36 science score and a STEM score combining math and science, both reported alongside the composite. ### Should I take the optional science section? It depends on where you are applying. Some colleges and scholarship programs want the science score or the STEM score, and students headed for science-heavy majors may want to show it; others do not consider it. Check the published testing requirements for each school on your list, and confirm current rules with ACT, since section options and reporting policies have changed recently. ### How does the ACT differ from the SAT? The ACT gives three core sections plus an optional science section and an optional essay, moves faster per question, and reports a 1 to 36 composite. The SAT is digital and adaptive, has two sections, allows more time per question, and reports a 400 to 1600 total. Colleges that accept one generally accept the other, so most students take an official practice test of each and choose the format that fits their pace and content strengths. ### Why do my prep books describe a different ACT? Materials written for the legacy ACT describe four required sections with a composite that includes science, longer English, math, and reading sections, and five answer choices on math. The enhanced ACT that ACT began administering in 2025 changed all of those. Legacy practice is still useful for content, but its timing and score conversions no longer match the current test. ### Can I retake the ACT, and will colleges superscore my results? Students commonly retest, and ACT has offered superscoring, which combines your highest section scores across test dates. Both the availability of retesting options and how scores from different test formats are combined are set by ACT and have changed over time, so confirm the current policy on act.org. Whether a college uses a superscore at all is that college's decision, so check each school's published policy too. ### Is Arcade Academy affiliated with ACT? No. Arcade Academy is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACT. ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this site. Use official ACT publications as the authoritative source on the exam itself. ## Related exam guides - [SAT](https://www.arcadesacademy.com/exams/sat): Study the digital, adaptive SAT module by module, with the College Board's published content domains and their share of every section. ## Independence and trademark notice Arcade Academy is an independent educational resource. ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this site. Always confirm exam structure, section options, registration, and score policies with ACT directly. Arcade Academy is an independent educational resource. SAT® is a trademark registered by the College Board, and ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc.; neither organization was involved in the production of, nor endorses, this site.