What is ACT? Eligibility, Important Dates & Format
Updated on 30 March, 2023
Mrinal Mandal
Study Abroad Expert
Study Abroad Expert
ACT (American College Testing) is a standardized examination that is taken by high school students to secure admission to their desired colleges in the United States of America (USA) and some English-speaking countries. The test measures students’ readiness to enter college and provides colleges with the necessary data to evaluate undergraduate applicants. The ACT exam assesses the mathematical, written, scientific and verbal skills of the candidate. It comprises four sections - English, Math, Reading, and Science. There is also an optional Writing test, which an aspirant might be required to take depending on the admission criteria set by the college/university.
There is no age limit or requirement for the ACT test-takers. However, it is mostly taken by high school graduates to enter college. It can also be taken by students from sixth to ninth grades.
A candidate will have to register for ACT test online. Though there is an offline option, the online one is faster, and it will approximately take him/her 30 minutes to complete the process. All that is required is a credit card/voucher, academic documents, digital headshots, and an email address.
Read more: ACT Writing Test
Morning and afternoon sessions will be offered for each of the two ACT exam dates.
Test Date | Registration Deadline | Late Registration Deadline Late Fee Required | Photo Upload Deadline |
---|---|---|---|
April 2, 2022 | February 25 | March 11 | March 25 |
June 11, 2022 | May 6 | May 20 | June 3 |
July 16, 2022 | June 17 | June 24 | July 8 |
September 10, 2022 | August 5 | August 19 | September 2 |
October 22, 2022 | September 16 | September 30 | October 14 |
December 10, 2022 | November 4 | November 11 | December 2 |
February 11, 2023 | January 6 | January 20 | February 3 |
April 15, 2023 | March 10 | March 24 | April 7 |
June 10, 2023 | May 5 | May 19 | June 2 |
July 15, 2023* | June 16 | June 23 | July 7 |
The ACT test fee is non-refundable, except for the optional writing test fee which is refundable if requested through a written document.
ACT fee with no writing option | $171.50 | Inclusive of a report for the candidate, his/her school, and four colleges of choice, only if codes were provided by them during the registration. |
ACT fee with writing option | $196.50 | Inclusive of a report for the candidate, his/her school, and four colleges of choice, only if codes were provided by them during the registration. |
Test option change | $40.00 | If a candidate is absent on the test day, the writing test fee is refundable on written request or if they switch to ACT (no writing) before the test date. |
The additional fee is added to the test charge.
Late registration fee | $36 | Applicable when the candidate registers after the deadline. |
Change fee | $40 | Applicable when a candidate wants to make a Test Date Change or Test Center Change |
Score reports for 5th and 6th colleges | $16 | Ha to be requested online before the test date and is refundable on written request if the test is not taken. |
The ACT exam comprises four compulsory sections and one optional section, let’s understand each of them in terms of the number of questions asked and the time allotted.
Sub-categories | No of questions | Time allotted | Types of questions |
English | 75 multiple-choice questions | 45 minutes | Tests sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, and rhetorical skills. |
Reading | 40 multiple-choice questions | 35 minutes | Four paragraphs, from the genres prose fiction, humanities, social studies, and social sciences, with 10 questions each. |
Science | 40 multiple-choice questions | 35 minutes | Science-based paragraphs are presented with research summaries, graphs, tables, and charts. |
Math | 60-multiple choice questions | 60 minutes | Geometry, Trigonometry, Algebra I and II. |
Writing (Optional) | 1 essay prompt | 40 minutes | Complements the English and Reading tests. |
The ACT exam in India is conducted multiple times a year across major cities such as Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Indore, Jaipur, Mumbai, Noida, Vadodara, and Pune.
To know about ACT exam, it is necessary to understand the scoring system of the examination. Each section of ACT - English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science is scored on a point scale of 1 to 36. The composite score of the examination is calculated by taking an average of all four sections. Students opting for the optional writing test are awarded a writing score of that section ranging from two (lowest) to 12 (highest), without any effect on the composite score and the average score ranges from six to seven. Here are the ways in which a score is calculated in the ACT exam.
Step 1: Correctly answered questions are counted for each section. These scores are called raw scores. Each question carries one mark and there is no negative marking.
Step 2: The raw scores are changed into scale scores. The scale score is the final score and ranges from 1 (lowest) to 36 (highest). It is important to note that raw score doesn’t translate to scale score. The conversion of the raw score into scale score is an equating process and is done to ensure consistency of scores across all test dates, irrespective of the level of the examination.
Step 3: The average of scale scores (as calculated for all four sections) is called the composite score, which is rounded off to the nearest whole number if it is in a fraction.
Each ACT test has a different raw score to scale the score conversion chart, depending on the level of the examination.
Read More: Act Reading Test- Overview, Syllabus
Find below the sample ACT scoring chart, as available on the testing agency’s website:
Scale Score | Raw Scores | Scale Score | |||
English | Mathematics | Reading | Science | ||
1 | 0-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
2 | 3-4 | — | 1 | — | 2 |
3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
4 | 6-8 | — | — | 2 | 4 |
5 | 9-10 | 2 | 3 | — | 5 |
6 | 11-13 | — | 4 | 3 | 6 |
7 | 14-15 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
8 | 17-19 | — | 6 | 5 | 8 |
9 | 20-22 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 9 |
10 | 23-24 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 10 |
11 | 25-26 | 6-7 | 9-10 | 8 | 11 |
12 | 27-28 | 8-9 | 11-12 | 9 | 12 |
13 | 29 | 10-11 | 13 | 10 | 13 |
14 | 30-32 | 12-14 | 14-15 | 11 | 14 |
15 | 33-34 | 15-18 | 16-17 | 12 | 15 |
16 | 35-37 | 19-23 | 18 | 13 | 16 |
17 | 38-39 | 24-26 | 19 | 14-15 | 17 |
18 | 40-41 | 27-28 | 20-21 | 16 | 18 |
19 | 42-44 | 29-30 | 22 | 17-18 | 19 |
20 | 45-47 | 31-32 | 23-24 | 19-20 | 20 |
21 | 48-50 | 33 | 25 | 21-22 | 21 |
22 | 51-52 | 34-35 | 26 | 23 | 22 |
23 | 53-55 | 36-37 | 27-28 | 24-25 | 23 |
24 | 56-57 | 38-40 | 29 | 26-27 | 24 |
25 | 58-59 | 41-42 | 30 | 28-29 | 25 |
26 | 60-61 | 43-44 | 31 | 30 | 26 |
27 | 62-63 | 45-46 | 32 | 31-32 | 27 |
28 | 64-65 | 47-48 | 33 | 33 | 28 |
29 | 66 | 49 | 34 | 34 | 29 |
30 | 67 | 50-51 | 35 | 35 | 30 |
31 | 68 | 52 | 36 | 36 | 31 |
32 | 69 | 53 | 37 | — | 32 |
33 | 70 | 54 | — | 37 | 33 |
34 | 71-72 | 55-56 | 38 | 38 | 34 |
35 | 73-74 | 57-58 | 39 | 39 | 35 |
36 | 75 | 59-60 | 40 | 40 | 36 |
Once the scores are revealed, aspirants can check them using their MyACT account. The ACT exam result is valid for a duration of five years. The steps to check the scores are as follows:
Read More : ACT English Test
ACT exam meaning the American College Testing is a standardized entrance examination for seeking admission to undergraduate schools based in the USA and Canada. It is a multiple-choice exam conducted with the aim of evaluating a candidate’s readiness to enter college. The ACT score is a common data point through which the college authorities can compare all applicants on the basis of their mathematics, scientific, written, and verbal skills.
Preparing for the ACT examination requires the candidate to keep a few things in mind.
The ACT exam is conducted for a duration of 2 hours and 55 minutes for students not opting for the optional writing test. For students taking the optional writing test, it is 40 minutes extra, thereby making the total duration 3 hours and 35 minutes.
The ACT examination is used to provide admission to students in undergraduate courses in the USA and Canada. It reflects what the students have learned in high school, and the ACT score serves as excellent information for colleges and universities to select the right candidate.
A major difference between the ACT and SAT exams is that unlike the former, the latter does not include a science section. Though SAT tests the scientific skills of students through some other sections, it does not have a dedicated section for science like the ACT.
The ACT exam is conducted across different cities in India through seven annual test dates. The test is held once in the months of February, April, June, July, September, October, and December.
The ACT exam full form is American Testing College and is currently administered by ACT, Incorporated. It covers four academic skill areas - Mathematics, English, Reading, Scientific Reasoning, and an optional test for writing.