Content
English - 45 minutes - 75 Questions Math - 60 minutes - 60 questions Reading - 35 minutes - 40 questions Science - 35 minutes - 40 questions
Strategies
Strategy #1: Triage the Test
- Work through all the low-difficulty questions that you can do quickly. Skip questions that are hard or time-consuming.
- For the Reading Test, start with the passage you find most manageable and work toward the one you find most challenging. You do not need to go in order.
- For the Science Test, start with the passage type you find most manageable and work toward the one you find most challenging. You do not need to go in order
- Work through the questions that are doable but time-consuming
- Work through the high-difficulty questions
Strategy #2: Eliminate
Even though there is no wrong-answer penalty on the ACT, Elimination is still a crucial strategy. If you can determine that one or more answer choices are definitely incorrect, you can increase your chances of getting the right answer by paring the selection down
To eliminate answer choices, do the following:
- Read each answer choice
- Cross out the answer choices that are incorrect
- Remember: there is no wrong-answer penalty, so take your best guess
Strategy #3: Guess
When guessing on a question, do the following:
- Try to strategically eliminate answer choices before guessing
- If you run out of time, or have no idea what a question is asking, pick a Letter of the Day
A “Letter of the Day” is an answer choice letter [A/F, B/G, C/H, D/J, or (math only) E/K] that you choose before test day to select for questions you guess on. You can use the same Letter of the Day for the entire ACT or change it depending on the section, but you should always use the same Letter of the Day within an individual section