ACT · Science
ACT Science practice
Forty questions in 35 minutes, built on tables, graphs, experimental setups and pairs of conflicting hypotheses. Almost everything you need is on the page. It is a data-reading section with a science vocabulary, and it rewards a method more than a course.
What the Science section tests
Data representation: reading exact values from a table or graph, spotting a trend, interpolating and extrapolating, and comparing two data series. Research summaries: what an experiment varied and controlled, what a result implies, and how a change to the setup would change the outcome.
Conflicting viewpoints: two or three scientists' explanations of the same phenomenon, and questions about where they agree, disagree, and what evidence would settle it.
A handful of questions each test do need outside knowledge — a basic fact about density, pH, or the phases of matter — but the section is passed by reading figures precisely and fast, not by remembering a syllabus.
Science drills
Untimed, single-topic, with a worked explanation after every question. Practice Test 1 is free; the drills open with Premium.
Science lessons
Each teaches the method the question is testing, then walks a worked example end to end.
Free resources for Science
Find out which of these topics is actually costing you points. ACT Practice Test 1 is free, full-length, and timed section by section — 35 minutes for Science — with accuracy and pace reported by topic.
ACT Science questions, answered
What does the ACT Science section actually test?
Reading data, not remembering science. The questions are built on charts, tables, experimental descriptions and conflicting hypotheses, and almost all of the information needed is on the page. Outside knowledge is required only occasionally, so the section rewards a reading method more than a science course.
How many questions are on the ACT Science section?
40 questions in 35 minutes, across six or seven passages — a mix of data representation, research summaries, and one conflicting-viewpoints set. That is the format of every full-length ACT practice test on this site.
How do I get faster on ACT Science?
Go to the questions before reading the passage in full. Most point at a specific figure, table or experiment; read that, answer, move on. The conflicting-viewpoints passage is the exception and is usually worth doing last. The score report shows your pace per section so you can see whether the clock is the problem.
Do I need to know biology, chemistry or physics for the ACT?
Only at the level of a few basic facts — perhaps two or three questions per test. The rest is reading the figures the passage gives you. Drilling data representation and experiment questions moves the score more than reviewing any science content.