Pass ACT Exams Easily

Preparing for the ACT

If you are planning to take the ACT soon, you will want to prepare for the ACT test as well as possible. There are free ACT practice tests which can help you do this as well as ACT preparation classes and more. You can get books from your local book store, college book store or even online that you can use to study for this test.

Do you know what ACT testing is all about? You can take an ACT practice test if you want to get a general idea of what the tests will be like. A Pre ACT test is another way to see how well you would do if you took the ACT. There are several different options for you to take a pretest to help you know where and how you would score if you were to take the Act today. This helps you prepare properly before you actually take the real test.

ACT testing is done to cover several topics. Many have even called this test a "mental marathon" because it covers a wide range of topics. There are many people out there that have spent thousands of dollars trying to prepare for the ACT. They buy ACT prep courses, ACT practice tests, tutoring and more. What they may not have known, which you will now know is that you can get a free ACT practice test to practice for the ACT exam. ACT tests are a topic of much stress for many people but they do not have to be for you. You can prepare for your ACT testing so that you get the best ACT scores possible. While you are practicing for the ACT, you will want to time yourself and monitor your progress since the real test will be timed.

Remember that you will need ACT registration before you take your tests. So who takes the ACT? Many high school students who are planning to apply to colleges want to take the ACT to help them with college admissions after graduating high school. The ACT is meant to determine your general education development as well as your ability to be successful in college courses.

About the ACT

There are four sections of the test and all are multiple choice: English, mathematics, reading, and science. There is also an optional writing test, which has one essay question for you to answer. Most of the ACT is multiple choice. There are 215 multiple choice questions on the test, and the test takes approximately three and a half hours to complete, including any breaks. In total, you have four hours to take the test. The English section of the exam has 75 multiple choice questions and you have 45 minutes to complete it. The mathematics section is made up of 60 multiple choice questions and you have 60 minutes to complete it. The math section tests skills that are typically acquired by the end of the eleventh grade, including: pre-algebra /elementary algebra, intermediate algebra/coordinate geometry, and plane geometry/trigonometry. The reading section of the test has 40 multiple choice questions and you have 35 minutes to complete this section. This section tests skills that are required in the natural sciences, such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem solving to name a few. The optional writing test is a 30 minute essay that tests writing skills from entry level college English courses and high school English.

ACT Registration

If you want to take the ACT, you need to register first. There are a couple of different ways for you to do this. The easiest way for you to register is to go to the official website. There you will find all the information that you need and you can even sign up directly there on the site. Online registration will take you about an hour to an hour and a half. Make sure you have enough time to complete it when you sit down to start it. You can check the ACT website to find out what you will need for your website and other details before you begin.

As an alternative if you do not want to register online, you can also do your registration through the mail. You can request the registration packet online or many are available from local high schools. When you register for your ACT test, you will have to pay the registration fees upfront. The fees and what they are for can also be found on the website. Each year, there are five different national test dates for you to choose from. You will need to select one of these dates either in October, December, February, April, and June. Some states also have a late September test date.

It is typically recommended that you take your ACT at least 2 months before the college, university or scholarship application deadlines to make sure you have enough time for everything that needs to be completed.

ACT Scoring

Now that you know more about the ACT and the questions that are on it, do you know how it is scored? Like many similar tests, you will first be given a raw score on the multiple choice sections for English, math, science and reading. The raw score is based off of the number of questions you answer correctly and you are not penalized for questions that you do not answer or those that you answer wrong.

These four raw scores are later converted into scale scores that take the different versions of the test into account. A composite score, which is the average of all four scores together rounded to the nearest number. The highest possible composite score for the ACT is 36. You can get sub-scores, ranging from 1-18 for the English, mathematics, and reading sections. The writing section is scored holistically on a scale of one (low) to six (high) by two trained readers. There are also comments provided on your essay section. You can see that there are quite a lot of things that go into getting the score you get on your ACT.