ACT 2023 Exam: Dates, Registration, Fees, Eligibility, Syllabus, Results

ACT full form is American College Testing. This test assesses high school applicants for their readiness to attend college based on their previous knowledge in Maths, Science and English. A majority of US universities accept ACT scores from international students for admission purposes. Applicants must check if universities are test-optional or not, in case they are the applicants may not mandatorily submit ACT scores unless they really wish to. 

Since ACT is primarily for high school students, there are no particular eligibility criteria to appear for the ACT. People of all ages and grade levels are eligible to take the ACT.

ACT Exam Fee

The ACT is conducted only a few times a year between September to July. You do not have the luxury of selecting an exam date suitable for your convenience, which is the case with other exams. You need to plan your exam prep according to these test dates. These exams are scheduled to suit your application deadlines for the fall semester. Following are the ACT exam dates for 2024 that are scheduled to be conducted:

Check out the important ACT Test Dates for Indian students for more details along with late registration details.

Points to remember:

• Ideally, you are recommended to register for the exam two to three months before you choose a date for exam appearance.
• It is safer to stick to early registration as you will have a set schedule to prepare for the exam accordingly.
• If you are considering of taking coaching for exam preparation, the coaching institutes would also recommend you register at the earliest so that you have a wide window of time to prepare.

International students must register for ACT online only through the official website. The ACT application requires student's personal information 

Register Online for ACT

The ACT registrations are online and students are required to fill out the online application form with the following instructions and details:

• If you plan to test at the designated Indian test centres, sign up online by creating an ACT Web account.
• Choose a test date and a test centre to appear for the ACT.
• Create a student profile and complete the application request, submit the required documentation.
• You will receive an immediate registration confirmation
• Pay the exam fee through a credit/debit card or online funds transfer.
• Registration deadlines are typically about three to four weeks before a test date.
• Deadlines for late registration are typically about two to three weeks before the test date, and registering late will incur a late fee.

ACT 2024 Admit Card

Candidates can download and print the admit card from the official website. The candidate must produce the admit card while appearing for the exam. When you receive your admission ticket, check it carefully to make sure your identifying information, address, and score recipients are correct.

The ACT exam is conducted at the test centres in the following cities. Please note that these cities have multiple test centres: Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Dehradun, Fatehpur, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kodaikanal, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Mussoorie, New Delhi, Noida, Pune, and Vadodara.

ACT exam pattern is as follows- four sections, namely, English, Math, Reading, and Science. There is an optional section which is called the Writing section, which has one 30-40 minute writing prompt that will define an issue, along with two points of view on that issue. Students are not scored on this section.

ACT Pattern

Here is the ACT paper pattern for prospective students thinking of applying for an ACT for admissions abroad:

Each section of the ACT (English, Math, Reading, and Science) is scored on a 1 to 36-point scale. The composite score is the average of all four tests. Students taking the optional writing test will receive a writing score for that section ranging from 1 to 36. The writing score does not affect the composite score.

Here are the average ACT scores by sections -

ACT Score Validity – The ACT total scores are valid for five years after the testing year in which you tested.

Also, Read

• Advance Placement: Another exam by the College Board accepted by US and Canadian universities
• Understanding the Advanced Placement Program and its Benefits

ACT test results are typically released within two to three weeks of the test administration and can be viewed online. If you took the ACT with writing, your writing scores will be posted online as soon as they are ready, which is normally two weeks after your general scores are out. Applicants can access their ACT exam scores and results on their MyACT account by logging in with their credentials. Applicants can also check if the ACT scores have reached the concerned colleges or not based on the timeline. 

There are two ways to prepare for the ACT: Self-Study and Coaching Classes. Both these options have unique benefits and none of the above can be considered better than the other. These two methods cannot be compared as they serve different audiences. The choice of method of study would depend upon the requirements and preferences of the exam takers.

Self-Study: If money is a consideration and one is quite confident of being able to prepare well without supervision, then self-study may be the better option to prepare for the ACT. You could save money on personal tuition and classes, but you need to keep in mind other factors too. To be able to study on your own effectively, you need a good resource of books and study material, along with motivation and self-discipline.

Coaching: If time is a constraint and you need professional guidance to ensure a competitive edge in exam preparation, then coaching classes are a better option. You will have access to a better resource of study material and will have a team of experts guiding you. Your time will be better managed as being regular in classes will become part of your routine. Moreover, being around other students preparing for the ACT will help you increase your motivation levels.

To choose the best method how to prepare for ACT you first need to look at your criteria and decide accordingly. If you are confused and want to check whether or not you are ready to prepare o your own, you may refer to ACT Preparation Tips.

Practice Tests and Sample Papers: 

It is always better to prepare with the help of practice tests and sample papers. The step-by-step way to go about this would be:

• Checking the syllabus thoroughly
• Understanding the exam pattern
• Making a preparation plan covering all the sections
• Picking up some tests to practice
• Referring to old samples papers to see how far you've reached

The ACT exam syllabus covers Reading, Mathematics, English, and Science as mandatory. This exam, however, has an optional writing section as well. Given below is an idea of how the syllabus of the ACT exam goes section-wise:

ACT English Section

The ACT English section tests the student's ability to understand the language basics and the ability to comprehend it too. These topics are broadly tested in ACT for the English section:

Usage/Mechanics

• Punctuation – These questions test your knowledge of internal and ‘end of sentence’ punctuation, with a focus on the relationship of punctuation to meaning.
• Grammar and Usage – These questions test your understanding of the agreement between pronoun and antecedent, between subject and verb, and between modifiers and the word modified; pronoun case; verb formation; idiomatic usage; and formation of comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs.
• Sentence Structure – These questions test your understanding of relationships between and among clauses, shifts in construction, and placement of modifiers.

Rhetorical Skills in ACT

• Strategy – These questions test how well you develop a topic by choosing appropriate expressions to an essay's purpose and audience; judging the effect of adding, deleting, or revising supporting material; and testing the relevance of statements in context.
• Organization – These questions test how well you organize ideas, as well as how you choose an effective opening, transitional, and closing sentence.
• Style – These questions test how well you choose appropriate words and images, manage sentence elements, maintain the level of style and tone, and avoid ambiguous pronouns.

ACT Mathematics Section

The following areas of Mathematics are tested in the ACT, thus students can prepare around the following topics:

Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra

• Pre-Algebra – These questions are based on operations like whole numbers, decimals, place value; square roots and approximations; fractions, and integers; the concept of exponents; scientific notation; linear equations in one variable; factors; ratio, proportion, and percentages; absolute value and ordering numbers by value; data collection, representation, and interpretation; counting techniques and probability, and understanding descriptive statistics.
• Elementary Algebra – These questions are based on the evaluation of algebraic expressions, properties of exponents and square roots, understanding algebraic operations, using variables to express functional relationships, and solution of quadratic equations.

Intermediate Algebra/Coordinate Geometry

• Intermediate Algebra – These questions are based on an understanding of rational and radical expressions, quadratic formulas, sequences and patterns, absolute value equations and inequalities, systems of equations, functions, modelling, quadratic inequalities, matrices, complex numbers, and roots of polynomials.
• Coordinate Geometry – These questions are based on graphing and the relation between equations and graphs, including lines, points, polynomials, other curves, and circles; graphing inequalities; parallel and perpendicular lines; slope; distance; conics and midpoints.

Plane Geometry/Trigonometry

• Plane Geometry – These questions are based on the properties and relations of plane figures, including relations and angles among perpendicular and parallel lines; properties of triangles, circles, rectangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms; transformations; the concept of proof and proof techniques; volume; and applications of geometry to three dimensions.
• Trigonometry – These questions are based on understanding values and properties of trigonometric functions; trigonometric relations in right triangles; graphing trigonometric functions; use of trigonometric identities; modelling using trigonometric functions; and solving trigonometric equations.

ACT Reading Section

The sections on passages that are required to be read and questions to be answered are modelled around the following topics in the ACT:

• Social Studies – These questions are based on passages in the areas of biography, anthropology, business, economics, psychology, history, archaeology, geography, political science, education, and sociology.
• Natural Sciences- These questions are based on passages in the areas of meteorology, astronomy, biology, botany, natural history, ecology, geology, physics, medicine, microbiology, anatomy, physiology, technology, chemistry, and zoology.
• Literary Narrative or Prose Fiction – These questions are based on passages from novels, memoirs, short stories, and personal essays. Questions in the Prose Fiction section are based on passages from novels and short stories.
• Humanities – These questions are based on passages in the areas of art, dance, film, language, radio, literary criticism, philosophy, music, television, ethics, architecture, and theatre.

ACT Science Section

The following areas are tested for the Science section of the ACT:

• Data Representation – This section has Graphic and tabular material similar to those in science journals and texts. The questions associated with this format measure skills like graph reading, interpretation of the information presented in tables, and interpretation of scatterplots.
• Research Summaries - This section provides descriptions of experiments. The questions focus on the design of experiments and the explanation of results.
• Conflicting Viewpoints - This section presents several hypotheses or views that might be based on differing premises or incomplete data, and are inconsistent with one another. The questions focus on the analysis, understanding, and comparison of alternative hypotheses.

To get a detailed syllabus and pattern of the ACT Exam, click ACT Syllabus.