ACT Articles
ACT prep guides, section strategies and scoring explained.
Latest articles
ACT Writing Section Guide
ACT Writing is an optional 40-minute essay. You add it at registration by choosing ACT with Writing, which raises the fee from $70...
Jul 23, 2026
ACT Science Section Guide
ACT Science is now an optional section: it does not count toward your Composite score, which is averaged from English, Math, and R...
Jul 23, 2026
ACT Reading Section Guide
The ACT Reading section gives you 40 minutes for 36 questions, and only 27 of those questions count toward your score. The other 9...
Jul 22, 2026
ACT Math Section Guide
The ACT Math section has 45 questions in 50 minutes, about 67 seconds per question. Of the 45 questions, 41 count toward your scor...
Jul 21, 2026
ACT Test Day Rules and Checklist
Arrive at your ACT test center by 8:00 a.m. Late arrivals are not admitted. Bring a valid photo ID and your printed admission tick...
Jul 21, 2026
ACT Score Reporting and Sending Scores
Your ACT registration fee includes free score reports for you, your high school, and up to four colleges, but only if you enter co...
Jul 20, 2026
ACT Retake Policy and Superscoring
You are allowed to retake the ACT as many times as you want, and most students test two or three times before applying to college....
Jul 19, 2026
ACT Test Dates: How to Choose One
The ACT runs seven national Saturday test dates for the 2026-2027 cycle: September 19, 2026, October 17, 2026, December 12, 2026,...
Jul 18, 2026
ACT Cost and Fees
The base ACT fee is $70 and covers English, math, and reading, no science, no writing. Adding science brings the total to $75, add...
Jul 18, 2026
How to Register for the ACT
Register for the ACT online at my.act.org. Create a free MyACT account, pick a test date and center, upload a photo, and pay the f...
Jul 17, 2026
How Hard Is the ACT
The ACT is hard mainly because of pacing, not because the content is advanced. On the Enhanced ACT, English gives you about 42 sec...
Jul 16, 2026
ACT Percentiles Explained
An ACT percentile, called a national rank by ACT, tells you the share of recent high school graduates who scored at or below your...
Jul 15, 2026