ACT · Math
ACT Math practice
Sixty questions in sixty minutes, climbing from pre-algebra to trigonometry, with a calculator allowed throughout and no formula sheet provided. The drills here are tiered — easy, medium, hard — for each topic, so you can climb the same way the section does.
What the Math section tests
Algebra and functions carry the most weight: linear equations and inequalities, systems, quadratics, exponents and radicals, and function notation. Word problems that turn a situation into an equation appear throughout.
Geometry and trigonometry: angles and polygons, circles, area and volume, coordinate geometry, right-triangle ratios and — unlike the SAT — the trig identities and the laws of sines and cosines. Statistics and probability round it out: mean, median, counting, and probability from a table.
The questions get harder as the section goes on, so pacing means banking time on the first thirty to spend on the last fifteen. The ACT prints no formulas, which is why the formula sheet is worth memorising.
Math drills
Untimed, single-topic, with a worked explanation after every question. Practice Test 1 is free; the drills open with Premium.
Math lessons
Each teaches the method the question is testing, then walks a worked example end to end.
Free resources for Math
Find out which of these topics is actually costing you points. ACT Practice Test 1 is free, full-length, and timed section by section — 60 minutes for Math — with accuracy and pace reported by topic.
ACT Math questions, answered
How many questions are on the ACT Math section?
60 questions in 60 minutes — one minute per question — with five answer choices each. A calculator is allowed for the whole section. That is the format of every full-length ACT practice test on this site.
What math is on the ACT?
Pre-algebra and elementary algebra, intermediate algebra and coordinate geometry, plane geometry, and trigonometry, roughly in that order of frequency. The ACT reaches further than the SAT into trigonometry and logarithms and occasionally into matrices and complex numbers.
Does the ACT give you formulas?
No. The ACT Math section provides no reference sheet at all, so every area, volume, slope and quadratic formula has to be memorised. The printable ACT formula sheet on this site covers all of them, including the trigonometry and logarithm groups the SAT sheet leaves out.
What order should I do the drills in?
Easy tier first for every topic, then medium, then hard — the same climb the section makes. A full-length practice test tells you which topics to start with; an 80% score on a tier is the signal to move up.