About 36 seconds per English question and 67 seconds per Math question. For comparison the digital SAT allows nearly a minute and a half per math question, which is why students often describe the ACT as a speed test rather than a harder test.

CruxStudy › ACT prep

Free ACT prep, including the Science section everyone skips

Ten full-length ACT exams with no repeated question, more than 2,100 ACT questions with worked explanations, and a full Science strand: four lessons plus 432 Science questions, because reading a table under time pressure is a skill you can actually be taught.

4Sections

1–36Score range

10Full-length exams here

432Science questions

What is on the ACT

Section	Questions	Time	What it asks
English	50	35 min	Passages with underlined portions: punctuation, grammar, sentence structure and rhetorical skills.
Math	45	50 min	A wider topic range than the SAT: it adds logarithms, matrices, sequences, complex numbers and more trigonometry.
Reading	36	40 min	Four longer passages: prose fiction, social science, humanities and natural science.
Science (optional)	40	40 min	Charts, experiments and conflicting viewpoints. It tests reading data, not memorised science.

Pacing is the whole game

The ACT is not adaptive. Everyone sitting a given form gets the same questions in the same order, and every question is worth the same as every other one.

That single fact should change how you take it. A brutal question and a trivial question pay identically, so time spent wrestling the brutal one is time stolen from three easy ones later in the section. You get about 36 seconds per English question and 67 seconds per Math question. The instinct to finish what you started is the most expensive habit students bring to this test.

There is also no penalty for a wrong answer, which means an unanswered question and a wrong one score identically. With a minute left, fill in every remaining bubble.

How the composite is built, and where the cheap points are

Every section scores 1 to 36. Your composite is the average of English, Math and Reading only, rounded to the nearest whole number. Science is reported separately, and Math plus Science produces a STEM score.

Because the composite averages three numbers, one weak section costs you about a third of its gap. Raising your worst section by three points is worth a full composite point, and that is nearly always easier than squeezing another point out of the section you are already good at. Students who plateau usually plateau because they keep practicing their best section.

The Science section, properly taught

Most free ACT prep treats Science as unteachable and leaves you with "read the graph". It is teachable, because the section follows rules:

You are not being tested on science. Roughly nine questions in ten are answered by reading a row, a column, or a direction of change. The handful that need outside knowledge need the kind you already have.
Three passage shapes, three speeds. Data Representation is mostly lookups and is the fastest scoring on the test. Research Summaries needs you to track what changed between experiments. Conflicting Viewpoints is the most reading and the least data, so most students should do it last.
Interpolation beats arithmetic. "It has to be between these two" is the single most useful sentence in the section, and it is nearly always available.
Conflicting Viewpoints has four recycled traps. Right idea attached to the wrong scientist; true but irrelevant; a restatement of the observation everybody already agrees on; and an overstatement of a claim that was only ever a tendency.

CruxStudy has four Science lessons covering exactly that, each with a hands-on widget and closed captions, plus 432 Science questions with explanations.

Find out where you stand

Eighteen questions, untimed, about fifteen minutes. It scores all nine ACT content areas including Science, then builds a plan around your test date.

Take the ACT diagnostic See the Science lessons

Common questions

Is the ACT adaptive like the digital SAT?

No. The ACT is a fixed form: everyone sitting a given test sees the same questions in the same order, and every question is worth the same. That makes pacing the central skill, because a hard question and an easy question pay identically.

Is the ACT Science section required?

Science is now optional. It does not count toward your composite, which is the average of English, Math and Reading. If you do sit it, Math and Science together produce a STEM score that some programs look at.

Do I need to know science for the Science section?

Almost never. The section tests whether you can read a table or a graph, track what changed between experiments, and compare competing explanations. Roughly nine questions in ten are answered from the figures printed on the page.

How is the ACT scored?

Each section is scored 1 to 36. The composite is the average of English, Math and Reading, rounded to the nearest whole number. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so you should never leave a question blank.

Should I take the ACT or the SAT?

Colleges accept both equally. The ACT gives you less time per question, covers more math topics and has a Science section; the SAT adapts and allows a calculator throughout. Our SAT versus ACT comparison covers how to choose, and sitting one timed section of each is the fastest way to find out.

Is CruxStudy free?

Most of it is, permanently and with no account: the arcade, practice by skill, the diagnostic, all four calculators, every blog article, the mini test, and the starter lessons covering how your exam works, both strategy lessons and the opening lesson of every content area. Membership at $9.99 a month adds the rest of the lesson library, the full-length adaptive exams, synced progress, your full score history, printable reports and a parent dashboard.

hello@cruxsci.com X Instagram LinkedIn Facebook

CruxStudy is a college admission test prep program by CruxSci. Not affiliated with, or endorsed by, ACT, Inc. or the College Board. ACT is a trademark of ACT, Inc.; SAT and PSAT/NMSQT are trademarks of the College Board.