Syllabus and Pattern of ACT Exam | How to Prepare for ACT PDF Download

The ACT is a test made by ACT, Inc. It's a standard test students need to take to get into colleges mainly in the US and Canada. It's multiple-choice and online, checking students' skills in writing, math, reading, and science. There's an extra writing part students can choose to take for an added fee when signing up. In 2021, the ACT switched from paper to computer-based testing, but the content and scoring stayed the same.

Highlights

Eligibility 

• The ACT, which stands for American College Testing, evaluates high school students' readiness for college based on their knowledge in Math, Science, and English.
•  Many US universities accept ACT scores for admission, even from international students. Whether to submit ACT scores depends on whether universities require them. 
• There are no specific eligibility criteria for taking the ACT; students of any age or grade level can take it.

Exam Pattern

Syllabus

English Section Syllabus

1. Usage/Mechanics: This section holds a weightage of 52-55% and requires students to apply knowledge of their grammar rules, usage and mechanics to assess the fault in the text.

• Punctuation – The questions test the 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 – Candidates are tested on their understanding of relationships between and among clauses, shifts in construction, and placement of modifiers.

2. Rhetorical Skills: The weightage for this section is between 15-17% and assesses students' knowledge of correct usage in terms of tone and consistency.

• 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.

Mathematics Section Syllabus

1. Pre-Algebra/Elementary Algebra: This section holds a weightage of 57-60% and aims to understand the applicant's knowledge in the areas of understanding of these topics at large. 

• Pre-Algebra – Candidates have to answer questions based on operations like whole numbers, decimals, place value; the concept of exponents; square roots and approximations; fractions, linear equations in one variable; and integers; scientific notation; factors; ratio, proportion, data collection, representation, and interpretation; and percent; and understanding descriptive statistics.
• Elementary Algebra – Candidates have to solve questions based on solving quadratic equations, multiplying binomials, solving linear equations, inequalities, substitution, and simplifying expressions.

2. Plane Geometry/Trigonometry: The weightage of this section is between 12-15% and how students apply their knowledge is the basic catch here.

• Plane Geometry – The questions are related to 3-D geometry, triangles, parallelograms, lines and angles, volume, polygons, and properties of circles, triangles, and parallelograms.
• Trigonometry – The questions are based on trigonometric identities and graphs, graphing trigonometric functions, and triangles, and solving trigonometric equations.

Reading Section Syllabus

The weightage of the reading section in the ACT exam is divided into three categories - Key Ideas & Details which holds a weightage of 52–60%, Craft & Structure which holds a weightage of 25–30% and Integration of Knowledge & Ideas holding a weightage of 13–23%. The students are assessed in the following areas of study:

• 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.

Science Section Syllabus

• Data Representation (25-30%) – This section has Graphic and tabular material similar to those in science journals and texts. The questions associated with this format measures skills like graph reading, interpretation of the information presented in tables, and interpretation of scatterplots.
• Research Summaries (45-60%) - This section provides descriptions of experiments. The questions focus on the design of experiments and the explanation of results.
• Conflicting Viewpoints (15-20%) - 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.

Exam Fee

Scoring

Every part of the ACT, including English, Math, Reading, and Science, is graded from 1 to 36 points. The composite score is the average of all these tests. If students take the optional writing test, they'll get a separate score from 1 to 36, but this score doesn't impact the composite score.

Results

ACT test scores are usually available online within two to three weeks after taking the test. If you took the ACT with writing, your writing scores will be posted online about two weeks after your general scores are released. You can view your scores by logging into your MyACT account. Additionally, you can check whether your scores have been sent to the colleges you're interested in based on the timeline.