ACT.org is the company that administers the ACT, and they do not like other websites distributing their practice tests. Please visit their site to get a free practice test.
Once you have completed that practice test, it is a great time to schedule an appointment to let us help improve your skills as well as teach you useful problem-solving & specific ACT test-taking strategies.
Unlike the SAT, the ACT does NOT print any formulas on the test. Start memorizing all of the formulas that we have gathered for you in this extensive & free ACT Math Formulas study guide.
Unlike the SAT, the ACT does let students use a calculator for all of the math questions. In 2024, the SAT is planning to allow calculators on all questions. Read more about the differences between the two tests on our “SAT or ACT?” page.
ACT also has a few practice questions available online. The more you practice the easier it gets!
The ACT is 25% geometry, 6% trigonometry and 5% analytic geometry, so you better review your geometry! What makes the test challenging is how many subjects are included on the test, so to get a high score you have to invest time in rarely used facts about absolute value, logarithms, matrices and sequences & series. So, get LOTS of practice by doing several practice tests and get some tutoring to help kick start your studying.
The table above shows the number of correct answers required to earn a specific ACT score on a typical test. For example, to get a score of 30 on the math test you must get 50 or 51 of the 60 questions correct. It is hard to improve from a 19 to a 26 because you have to improve your raw score from 27/60 to 40/60. So, a 7 point ACT score improvement can require 13 more correct answers, which would be approximately a 50% improvement on the previous score! It is hard to improve your score, so do LOTS of practice and get some tutoring.
The table above shows how your ACT score will rank you against your peers. It makes sense that a 36 would put you at the top with 100%, but it is interesting to see that a math score of 34 or 35 scores you at 99% and a score of 30 puts you in the top 95%! So, if you have scored 30 or above you have probably already scored well enough to impress most colleges. On the other hand, it might not sound like a huge jump to change your score from a 20 to a 28, but that is equivalent to moving from the 55th percentile to the 91st percentile! So, set reasonable expectations. Do you really expect to move from the middle of the pack at 55% to the top 10% by studying just a couple hours? It will take LOTS of practice and probably lots of tutoring to make a large improvement like that, so set aggressive, yet realistic goals and work harder (LOTS of practice) and smarter (get some tutoring) to achieve them.