ACT like you know: an ACT practice test

The ACT Test

By Valerie Willis

DIRECTIONS: On the most inconvenient Saturday of the year (usually the morning after Homecoming or Prom), drag your butt out of bed and to your testing site with a handful of sharpened #2 pencils and a calculator. Fill in the answer bubbles on the separate Scantron sheet and prepare to spend the next four hours of your precious Saturday listening to the guy behind you snort snot up his nasal passages since Kleenexes aren’t allowed in the testing room.

English Test: For each question about the passage, choose the alternative you consider best. The numbered underlined sentences or phrases in the passage correspond to the questions that follow.

The ACT is a standardized college assessment test similar to the SAT.  Unlike the SAT, which tests your reasoning skills, the ACT claims to test what you already know. [1] While the SAT is popular on the East and West Coasts, the ACT is preferred in the Midwest, Southwest and Deep South. The ACT is made up of four mini-tests: English, Math, Reading and Science Reasoning. There is also an optional writing section that will allow you to compliment your multiple choice test skills with an essay. [2] A composite score on the ACT can range from 1 to 36 points—an obvious scale for judging your likelihood of success in college. [3]

B) unlike teh SAT that tests ur resoning skillz….. the ACT testez what u know!!!1! : )
C) Unlike the SAT, which tests your reasoning skills, the ACT claims that you have no skills.
D) The ACT and SAT are not unalike. Neither of them don’t claim to not test you.

A)  that many schools don’t require, but some do. Check with the schools you’re interested in to see if taking the writing portion will be a waste of your time.
B) that is way fun, and like, the best way to top off an already stellar four hour test.
C) where you will be asked to support a viewpoint in an argumentative essay.
D) OMIT underlined section

B) . Your final score is so important that it will be tattooed on your forehead at graduation and will remind you of all the nights during high school that you should have spent studying.
C) . Your composite score is only a number. It doesn’t represent how smart you are or even how well you’ll do in college.
D) OMIT underlined section

Math Test: Solve each problem, choose the correct answer, and when your calculator breaks, use your fingers.

The ACT has a large margin of error (inconsistency by nature of the testing process) that comes out to 1.55 points in English, 1.43 in Math, 2.2 in Reading, and 1.75 in Science Reasoning. This means that if a student were to retake the test, there would be a two-thirds chance that the score would be 1.55 points higher or lower on the English section the second time around, 1.43 points higher or lower on the Math section, etc. If a student had a composite score of 22 for his first time, what could his score potentially be if the margin of error were in his favor the second time?
A) 29
B) 6.93
C) 22
D) Wow, I studied for weeks and you’re telling me my scores can come down to chance?

During the Mathematics Test on the ACT you have 60 minutes to complete 60 questions. How many questions should you answer per minute?
A) 60
B) 1
C) π
D) I don’t want to be confined by time.

Reading Test: After reading the passage, choose the best answer to each question.

I’d studied for months, taken a practice test every day for the last two weeks and completed the Kaplan ACT test prep course… twice. I skipped my own birthday party to study the night before the ACT and hit the sack at 8:30pm just so I’d be rested for the big day. The four hour chunk of the following Saturday morning would determine the success of the rest of my life. A two-digit number (please be two digits and not one!) that would dangle over my head stating the facts, formulas and strategies I was able to cram into my skull during high school.

I woke up to the barrage of alarms I had set the night before, dressed, and ate a well-balanced breakfast of pigs-in-a-blanket and scrambled eggs courtesy of my mom. I left the house an hour before the test started just so I would be settled and collected at my desk when the exam proctor started giving instructions. Prepared was an understatement, I was going to dominate this test. Grrrurgle… oh no. Grrrroan… no no no… grrrunt… I had not prepared for this. Not on ACT test day. That was it, test or no test I had to go. I ran down the hall to the bathroom with the proctor yelling after me that I wasn’t allowed to leave. I screamed “EMERGENGY!” and heard my own voice echo in the empty halls around me as I sprinted to the Ladies’.

There is nothing in the Kaplan course about bringing your Pepto to test day. 

What test is the narrator taking?
C) Litmus Test
D) Trick question. There is no test.

Which of the following does the passage infer:
A) The narrator has special permission to take the test in another location.
B) The narrator has not studied for the test and decides to go back to bed.
C) The narrator has diarrhea.
D) The narrator is a werewolf.

Science Reasoning Test: Answer the questions based on the vague data presented below. Remember, there is no penalty for wrong answers, so just make sure all your bubbles are filled in.

(Figure 1)



Given the data in Figure 1, which of the following conclusions can be drawn?
A) The line is pointing upwards and slightly right
B) Things are looking positive for this graph
C) There’s data in this graph?
D) Both A & B

Which of these would be accurately portrayed by the graph?
A) The relationship between one’s ACT score and grades in college
B) The relationship between one’s ACT score and lifetime income
C) The relationship between one’s ACT score and the number of times he or she takes the test
D) The relationship between one’s attention span and time passed during the ACT


Answers: A, A&C, C, A, B, B, C, D, C