1. ACT Overview
LA 5

2. Test
Content
English
75 questions
45 min
Measures standard written English and rhetorical skills.
Math
60 questions
60 min
Measures mathematical skills students have typically acquired in courses taken up to the beginning of grade 12.
Reading
40 questions
35 min
Measures reading comprehension.
Science
Measures the interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving skills required in the natural sciences.
Optional Writing Test
1 prompt
30 min
Measures writing skills emphasized in high school English classes and in entry-level college composition courses.

3. Overview, continued ACT test is about 3½ hours long
There is a short break between the Math and Reading tests
There is a total of 215 multiple choice questions and one essay
The ACT does not penalize you for a wrong answer: ANSWER EVERY QUESTION, even if it is a guess

4. English Test
The English test is a 75-question, 45-minute test, covering:
Usage/Mechanics
punctuation
grammar and usage
sentence structure
Rhetorical Skills
strategy
organization
style

5. Sample English Question:

7. Reading Test 35 minutes, 40 questions 4 reading passages 
10 questions per passage
Factoring out time you’ll initially take to read the passages, you’ll have approximately 30 seconds per question (more for some, less for others)
4 categories for reading passages:
Social Studies about 1,000
Natural Sciences words:
Humanities college level text
Prose Fiction

8. Social Studies, Natural Sciences, and Humanities Passages
Well-organized essays with a recognizable theme
You will have one reading from each of these categories
You will be asked questions about:
The theme and what its meaning is
Specific facts in the essay
The structure/organization of the essay

9. Prose Fiction Passage Only fiction passage on the ACT Reading
Questions will ask you to:
Understand thoughts, feelings, motivations of fictional characters even when not explicitly stated in passage
Make lots of inferences

10. Sample Reading Questions