ACT Practice Drills | Free ACT English, Math, Reading & Science
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The ACT rewards careful readers, organized thinkers, and students who can hold a brisk pace without falling apart. After 20+ years of ACT tutoring, the pattern is consistent: the students who improve the most usually aren’t the ones with the deepest content knowledge. They’re the ones who learn to read questions carefully, use what’s actually in front of them, and stay on pace across all three sections. This guide walks through how the test is structured, the strategy that matters most, and how to get the most out of these drills.
For full content review and complete practice tests, check out my book Barron’s ACT Study Guide Premium, 2026. First, the strategy.
How the ACT Is Structured
The enhanced ACT, which rolled out nationally in 2025, has three core sections and two optional ones. The three core sections take about two hours total — roughly an hour shorter than the previous version of the test.
| Section | Questions | Time | Pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 50 questions | 35 minutes | ~42 sec/question |
| Mathematics | 45 questions | 50 minutes | ~67 sec/question |
| Reading | 36 questions | 40 minutes | ~67 sec/question |
| Science (optional) | 40 questions | 40 minutes | 60 sec/question |
* The Writing (Essay) section is also optional: 1 essay, 40 minutes. Science costs an additional $4 to add; Writing costs an additional $25.
The ACT is not adaptive — everyone gets the same test. There’s no penalty for wrong answers, so always fill in every bubble, even when you’re guessing. Your composite is the average of your three core section scores (English, Math, Reading), each scored 1–36. Science and Writing are reported as separate scores and don’t affect your composite. Whether to take the optional Science section depends on your target schools — check each college’s policy, since some STEM-focused programs still require or recommend it.
One thing that surprises students who switch over from SAT prep: the ACT covers more content. ACT Math includes logarithms and matrices, which the SAT doesn’t touch. ACT English leans hard on parallel structure and conciseness, which the SAT mostly ignores. If your prep so far has been SAT-only, plan to broaden your content base before the ACT.
The Biggest Mistake I See on the ACT
The most common mistake I see is students attacking the answer choices before they actually understand the question. They skim the question, jump to the options, and start evaluating — without ever being sure what the question is asking them to do.
On ACT Reading, this means confusing a “main idea” question with a “detail” question and picking an answer that’s accurate but irrelevant. On ACT Math, it means calculating the wrong thing — finding area when the question asked for circumference, or solving for x when it asked for 2x. On ACT English, it means editing for grammar when the question was really about organization.
The fix is simple but takes discipline: read the question carefully and know exactly what it’s asking before you even glance at the answer choices. The extra few seconds you spend up front saves you far more time than it costs.
Four Things That Actually Move Your ACT Score
1. Use All the Time You’re Given
Move through each section at a pace that lets you do each question once and do it right. Rushing to bank time for review at the end usually backfires. Careless errors pile up, misread questions slip past you, and the review time you saved rarely recovers as many points as careful first-pass work would have given you.
Treat your time as something to spend on quality answers, not something to hoard. When you’re working at the right pace — unhurried but focused — you’ll need less review time anyway, because you made fewer mistakes the first time through.
2. Use All the Information in Front of You
Every section gives you information to work with — use it. On Reading and English, get enough context before you commit to an answer: read the surrounding sentences, understand what the passage is doing overall, and don’t answer based on one isolated phrase. On Math and Science, use the graphs, tables, figures, and any setup the problem provides. Students who ignore the visuals on Science or skip the notes on a Math problem are throwing away free information.
The ACT is an open-book test in the sense that everything you need to answer correctly is right in front of you. The skill is learning to find it and use it efficiently.
3. Write Out Your Work
Don’t try to do too much in your head. On Math, write out your calculations, set up equations on paper, and sketch the geometry. On Reading and English, circle the key words in the question so you stay anchored to what’s actually being asked. On Science, annotate the figures lightly as you read them.
Writing out your work cuts down on careless errors and helps you see the solution path. Students who keep everything in their heads make more mistakes and have a harder time checking their work. If you’re taking the paper test, write directly in the booklet — it’s yours to mark up. On the online version, use the scratch paper provided at the testing center. Either way, the space is there. Use it.
4. Balance Speed with Thoroughness
The students who improve the most are the ones who find their pace — not too fast, not too slow. Too fast and you make careless errors and misread questions. Too slow and you run out of time before you reach questions you could have nailed.
The right balance looks different for each student and each section. On English, you have about 42 seconds per question — brisk but workable if you’re not overthinking. On Math, you have about 67 seconds — enough to set up and solve most problems if you’re organized. Practice with timed drills to find your natural pace, then adjust from there.
How to Use These Drills
The drills below are organized by section. Each one is five questions with a full explanation for every answer choice.
The most valuable thing you can do after a drill is review your mistakes carefully. Don’t just check the answer key — figure out why you got it wrong. Were you misreading the question? Missing context? Making a careless calculation error? The pattern in your mistakes is what drives real improvement.
Also go back over the questions you got right but weren’t sure about. If you guessed correctly, figure out why the right answer was right, so you can do it deliberately next time instead of relying on luck.
For full ACT content review and complete practice tests, see Barron’s ACT Study Guide Premium, 2026.
Focused 5-question drills covering every topic tested on the ACT. Choose a section below to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions About the ACT
How is the ACT scored?
Each of the three core sections — English, Math, and Reading — is scored on a scale of 1 to 36. Your composite score is the average of those three scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. If you take the optional Science section, that score is reported separately and does not affect your composite. A perfect composite score is 36.
Should I take the optional Science section?
It depends on your target schools. The Science section costs an additional $4 to add when registering. Many colleges treat it as fully optional and don’t factor it into admissions, but some STEM-focused programs still require or recommend it. Check the admissions pages of every school on your list before deciding. When in doubt, taking it gives you more flexibility — and if you prep for it, there’s no reason not to submit the score.
How is the ACT different from the SAT?
The two tests are more similar than they used to be, but a few differences still matter for students choosing between them. The ACT is not adaptive — everyone gets the same test, regardless of how they answer earlier questions. The ACT also covers a broader content range: ACT Math includes logarithms, matrices, and more advanced trigonometry than the SAT. ACT English tests rhetoric and style questions more heavily. The ACT Science section (optional) has no direct SAT equivalent. Time pressure is similar across both tests. The best way to decide is to take a full practice test of each and compare your scores. For a deeper breakdown, see SAT vs. ACT: Which Test Should You Take in 2026?
What is a good ACT score?
The national average ACT composite score is around 20. A score of 24 or above puts you in roughly the top 25% of test-takers. Competitive colleges typically look for scores in the 28–34 range, with highly selective schools (Ivy League and equivalents) often showing 25th–75th percentile ranges of 34–36. The most useful benchmark is the middle 50% range published by each school you’re applying to — that’s the range you’re aiming to be within or above. For a detailed breakdown by school selectivity, see What Is a Good ACT Score for College Admissions in 2026?
Is there a penalty for wrong answers on the ACT?
No. The ACT uses rights-only scoring, meaning your score is based entirely on the number of questions you answer correctly. There is no deduction for wrong answers. This means you should always fill in an answer for every question, even if you need to guess — leaving a question blank can only hurt you.
How many times can I take the ACT?
ACT does not set a limit on how many times you can take the test. Most students take it two or three times. Since most colleges that accept the ACT will superscore (taking your best section scores across all test dates), retaking the test when you’ve identified specific areas to improve is generally a good strategy. Keep in mind that colleges see all scores you send unless you use Score Choice, which lets you select which test dates to report.
How long is the ACT?
The three core sections (English, Math, and Reading) total approximately two hours of testing time. With breaks and check-in procedures, plan for about two and a half to three hours at the testing center. If you add the optional Science section, the testing time increases by 40 minutes. If you add the optional Writing section, add another 40 minutes on top of that.