Format of the ACT

ACT Format Overview

The ACT has three required sections—English, math, and reading—followed by two optional add-ons, science and writing, in that order. Each section is timed on its own. The three required sections run about two hours of testing, with a short break before reading; adding science extends the day by roughly 40 minutes, and writing by another 40. Which sections you sit for is your choice at registration.

ACT English

On the ACT English section, test-takers answer 50 multiple-choice questions in 35 minutes, each with four answer choices. The questions are tied to a set of passages and gauge how well students handle written English and the conventions of the language. Alongside the 1-36 section score, ACT reports "reporting category" scores in three areas: Production of Writing, Knowledge of Language, and Conventions of Standard English. Reporting category scores on every multiple-choice section come in raw form and as percentages—the number of correct answers divided by the total in that area.

ACT Math

The ACT math section poses 45 multiple-choice questions in 50 minutes. Each now carries four answer choices—down from the five that math questions once used. The questions fall under two main reporting categories, Preparing for Higher Math and Integrating Essential Skills, with a Modeling indicator drawn from questions across the section. Preparing for Higher Math breaks down further into Number and Quantity, Algebra, Functions, Geometry, and Statistics & Probability. A calculator is permitted but not required; students testing online get a built-in Desmos graphing calculator. The section covers math typically studied through the start of grade 12.

ACT Reading

On the ACT reading section, students show they can make sense of written texts by answering 36 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, four choices each. The reporting categories are Key Ideas and Details, Craft & Structure, and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Passages come in two types—literary narrative and informational—pitched at the level of a first-year college course, and one set pairs two shorter passages so students can compare them. Beyond the category and section scores, ACT flags how well a test-taker handles the most demanding material, drawing on the questions built around the toughest passages.

ACT Science

Science is now an optional add-on: a 40-question, 40-minute multiple-choice section that no longer feeds the Composite. Skills tested include analysis, interpretation, problem-solving, and reasoning. The reporting categories are Interpretation of Data, Scientific Investigation, and Evaluation of Models, Inferences, and Experimental Results. Students work through six or seven passages built around graphs, tables, charts, and descriptions of experiments; no calculator is allowed. The material spans biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science and assumes about three years of secondary-level science coursework. When science is taken, its score combines with math to form a separate STEM score on the 1-36 scale.

ACT Writing

The Composite comes from the three required sections—English, math, and reading—so writing is optional and scored on its own. The writing test is a single essay with a 40-minute limit. The prompt lays out a contemporary issue and three distinct perspectives on it; students stake out their own position and connect it to at least one of the given views. Two graders rate the essay from 1 to 6 in four domains—Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions—so each domain lands between 2 and 12. The reported writing score is the average of the four domains, rounded to the nearest point, and it feeds a separate ELA score alongside English and reading.