What is the ACT® Test? 2024 Complete Guide

The ACT® Test is one of two standardized college admission exams in the United States. If you’re a parent or student trying to figure out what the ACT® Test – or find more about the upcoming enhancements and the Digital ACT® Test – this is the guide for you. I’m an expert tutor. Here’s everything you need to know about the ACT® Test in 2024.

The Current ACT® Test.

Every student this year will take this version of the test. It’s virtually the same as it has been since 1989. If you’re a parent who took this Test, you may be familiar with the outline of the Test.

The ACT® Test is 2 hours and 55 minutes, with a 15 minute break between the Math and Reading tests. The ACT® Test has the follow sections:

What’s on each section?

Here’s a quick overview of the material tested on each section.

English

75 questions, 45 minutes

Technically 5 sections but sections don’t matter as much 4 possible answer choices.

Topics include: Grammar, rhetoric, some reading comprehension-like questions, light vocab.

Math

1 Section, 60 questions, 60 minutes

Increasingly harder questions

Basic algebra, probability, functions, geometry.

Then, its more advanced math: quadratics, very basic trig, matrices, vectors, more complicated systems of equations, very basic trig graphs.

Then some advanced topics in math. This is the one thing that does change a little bit, but it’s not really worth studying because they only appear once. There’s been one question about natural logs, ever.

You can usually still get a 36 without knowing that advanced question. You can even use test taking skills to try to get the right answer by process of elimination. The other 59 questions on the math test are very routine.

A lot of the issue on the Math Test is just reading the question – most students aren’t used to having read paragraphs of text in high school math.

Reading

4 sections, 40 questions, 35 minutes

Section 1 – Literary Narrative

Tends to be more abstract. Students can struggle here. Then if they do, it might frustrate them on following passages, which can cause a domino effect.

Section 2 – Social science

Tends to be a little more straightforward. Often some kind of contemporary history, like the history of plastics, a person/people, an economic theory.

Section 3 – Humanities

Usually something about a book and/or a person. This passage can be about a review of a book, an autobiography, and more.

Section 4 – Natural science

Tends to be most straightforward. Fewer main idea questions. More line reference questions, so most students do best on this section. The ACT® Reading Test always has one dual passage with questions comparing and contrasting the passages.

A lot of students struggle with the Reading. I’d definitely encourage my child to read more if I was trying to prepare them for the ACT® Reading Test. But it’s not just reading that helps. Strategy can solve a lot of student difficulties on this section, whereas the English and Math Tests require learning more concepts.

Science

The Science Test is not that bad. Don’t avoid the ACT® Test as a whole because you think science might be hard. Most students have a science score that matches their other section scores.

Besides, the SAT® Test also has science questions. They’re just interspersed among the other questions.

Click here for more information on the differences between the ACT® and SAT® Tests.

Data: Charts, Graphs, and Tables

Most of the passages tend to be just data interpretation: reading, charts, and graphs. All of the information is given in the passage. Students have to extend the data (if the weight of a is 1, b is 2, what would c be?) It’s a little more complicated than that, but often not by much.

Scientific Inference

Other questions ask students to evaluate study design. Why did scientists take measurements only on sunny days? Because rain would give them inaccurate data for measuring the humidity.

Scientific Conclusions

There’s one reading passage about a scientific problem, like an ice age or comets. Then there are several hypotheses proposed. Students are asked to evaluate claims based on evidence from the passage or proposed in the question (If this turned out to be true, which conclusion would it support?)

Outside Science Knowledge

There are outside science knowledge questions. These are the 1-2 questions per test that require students to know actual science. It’s not very advanced science. The most frequently asked question is whether something is a solution (did the mixture become combined?) and when water freezes in Celsius (0 degrees).

Writing - Optional

The ACT® Writing Test wants students to analyze a prompt, give a perspective, and analyze the relationship between the student’s perspective and at least one other perspective given in the prompt.

Here’s a real example of a Writing prompt:

Grading

Writing is graded on a scale of 1-6 by two people, then each score is added together to get a score between 2-12. It usually takes several weeks to receive Writing scores.

Does the ACT® Test ask different concepts on each test?

No. Some people think so. But it’s not necessarily true. Certain tests emphasize certain things more, e.g. once test might have a lot more commas on it, or a lot more questions about prepositions. If a student knows that one topic better, he or she may do better on that test.

There are over 96 official ACTs that have been released. They all test on the same concepts. Not only have I seen every single one of these tests, I’ve also built this entire tutoring website by studying the ACT®’s technical manual and explaining the concepts it says are the only things that ever appear. The subjects tested do not change from test to test. It’s all very predictable and standardized.

The New Digital ACT® Test

The ACT® Test is making two changes. Each passage is being restructured (“enhanced” in their words), and the entire test is becoming digital. These two changes are happening at the same time. It would see like it might be easier to say that the Test is changing. But it’s not so simple. I’ll explain the changes below.

Starting in 2025, the ACT® will roll out the Digital ACT. The new test will be available in schools in spring before being rolled out nationwide in the fall. Source

The New ACT® Test lasts 2 hours 5 minutes. It has the following sections.

The so-called “enhancements” involve reworking the number of questions per section, the time per section, and making the Science Test optional.

ACT Test FAQs

Digital vs Paper

These changes in test structure will take place in Spring of 2025 for students taking the test online. The paper and pencil test will always be available. In September of 2025, all paper and pencil tests AND online tests will have these “enhancements” or restructured passages.

Scores are not changing. Composite scores are not changing either. Colleges will accept scores from any version of the ACT® Test. The concern for college admissions (where standardized tests are required) is how you did on the test – not what version of the test you did.

Does the ACT® Test get harder?

No. The SAT® Test does gets harder “dynamically.” That means, depending on how a student does on one passage, the test adapts to get easier or harder. The ACT® Test does not get harder. All of the questions are the same for each test, with no variation depending on how a student does.

How should I prepare for the changes to the ACT® Test?

The ACT® Inc. will release sample questions for the enhanced Test later this year. They have explicitly stated that the concepts tested will not change. That makes sense.

The ACT® Test hasn’t changed much since 1989. Just because the number of questions is changing, it doesn’t mean the concepts tested or the ways concepts are tested are changing. In fact, the ACT® Inc. has stated that students can continue to use previously released material as a guide.

Each test currently emphasizes one or another topic. On the ACT® English Test, for example, there’s usually a lot of a certain type of question. Some tests are laden with punctuation questions, others with apostrophe questions, others with commas, etc.

Reducing the number of questions, in my view, doesn’t mean the same old concepts are going away. It just looks like the ACT® Test will stop asking the same question over and over again on a test, and instead will ask all of the same concepts more evenly on any given test without repetition.

Can I still take the pencil and paper test?

Yes! The ACT® says you will always have the option to chose between online and paper and pencil

Should I take the ACT® Science Test When It Becomes Optional?

The answer to this question really depends on each student’s unique situation. Top colleges and scholarships might want a student to have done all sections of the Test. Prospective STEM majors should definitely consider taking the Science Test when it becomes optional.

What time does the ACT® Test Start?

Here’s what the ACT® Test Day looks like for students now taking the test without enhancements.

8am – arrive at the test center

12:35 – finish the Test with no Writing

1:35 – finish the Test with Writing

Note: the end times may change slightly based on any possible delays in getting started.

What is TIR?

Test Information Release, or TIR, is a way to see all of the answers a student made and the specific test a student took. The ACT® Test offers this service on certain days. Take advantage of this service if you’re interested in seeing the test and the answers for your son or daughter.

What is a Superscore?

A superscore is combining a student’s best scores from across tests to form a new composite score. If a student does better on science on one test and better on math on another test, then those scores can be combined to show up as if the student got both of those high scores on one test.

Not all colleges accepted superscores. Look at the admission requirements on any given college’s website to learn whether or not the institution accepts superscores.

Conclusion

The ACT® Test is changing yet staying very much the same as it’s always been. The Test offers many resources for students to study, so each person can do his or her best on Test Day.

Do you have any other questions about the ACT® Test? Leave a comment below!