ACT Essentials

ACT research shows that of the students who took the ACT more than once:

• 55% increased their composite score on the retest
• 22% had no change in their composite score on the retest
• 23% decreased their composite score on the retest

The ACT takes just over four hours without the writing test, including administration instructions and breaks. Actual testing time is two hours and 55 minutes, broken down as follows:

• English: 45 minutes
• Math: 60 minutes
• Reading: 35 minutes
• Science: 35 minutes

The ACT Writing Test adds 30 minutes to the testing time

The ACT is administered on five national test dates: in October, December, February, April and June. In selected states, the ACT is also offered in late September. For specific dates log on to: www.actstudent.org/regist/currentdates.html

Over 2.1 million ACTs were administered in 2005-2006

The national average ACT composite score for 2007 was 21.2 (Based on the scores of all ACT-tested 2007 high school graduates--more than 1.3 million students.)

36 is the highest possible ACT score

About 1 in 4,000 2007 graduates who took the ACT scored 36

Find more facts about the ACT at www.act.org/news/aapfacts.html.

This blog was written by Valerie Anderson

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