­­About the ACT

The ACT is an entrance exam used by most colleges and universities to make admissions decisions. It is a multiple-choice, pencil-and-paper test administered by ACT, Inc.

The purpose of the ACT is to measure a high school student’s readiness for college and provide colleges with one common data point that can be used to compare all applicants. College admissions officers will review standardized test scores alongside your high school GPA, the classes you took in high school, letters of recommendation from teachers or mentors, extracurricular activities, admissions interviews, and personal essays. How important ACT scores are in the college application process varies from school to school.

Content covered on the ACT

The ACT consists of four multiple-choice sections—English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science—and an optional writing section. Some colleges and universities require or accept ACT writing scores, so you may want to consider taking the writing section of the ACT.

Each multiple-choice test contains questions with either four or five answers from which you are to choose the correct, or best, answer. The ACT measures the knowledge, understanding, and skills you have acquired throughout your years in school. Because of this, it is unlikely that a “cram” course can improve your scores. However, it is a good idea to do some test preparation to be familiar with the tests and what to expect on test day. Here are three strategies to help you prepare for the ACT:

• Get familiar with the content of the tests. Review the information in this booklet. Note which content areas make up a large proportion of the tests. The topics included in each content area are examples of possible topics; they do not include all possibilities.
• Update your knowledge and skills in the content areas. Review content areas that you have studied but are not fresh in your mind. Refresh your knowledge in the content areas that make up large portions of the tests.
• Study content areas you are not familiar with. If some content areas of the ACT are unfamiliar to you, consider taking coursework in those areas before you take the test.

Structure of the ACT exam

The ACT is made up of four major, multiple-choice sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. This exam also includes an optional Essay section (also called the Writing section).

Understanding ACT scoring

Every question on the ACT, not counting the essay, is worth one point. If you choose not to answer a question or if you answer a question incorrectly, you will not gain or lose any points. So, for example, if you answered every question on the English section (which consists of 75 questions) correctly, you would receive 75 points on that section. If you only answered 60 questions correctly, however, you would receive 60 points.

Once you are done, your total raw scores for the English, Math, Reading and Science sections will be converted into scaled scores between 1 and 36. These four scaled scores are then averaged together to create your total composite score, which is also between 1 and 36. This composite ACT score is the score that colleges care about.

The Essay section is scored differently – instead of being scored by a machine, the way the other sections are scored, it is read over by two human test graders. These graders will evaluate an essay and each give it a score of 1-6 for each of four writing domains: Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions. The graders’ scores are then combined and then averaged to give you your total composite score on the essay. This means the highest score you can get on the ACT essay is a 12.

It is worth noting here that a student’s score on the optional essay is not calculated into their raw score. However, the essay score will still be considered by colleges that require an essay score to be submitted with a student’s application.

Adapted from information taken from http://www.act.org/.