ACT 2024 Syllabus: Check Section-wise ACT Syllabus, Pattern, Study Material

ACT exam syllabus includes four sections English, Math, Reading, and Science. There is one more section, 'Writing', however, it is an optional section that includes one 30-40 minute prompt. Students are not scored on this section. 

ACT English Section Syllabus

The ACT's English section basically focuses on the following areas of study to understand the student's understanding of the language:

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.

Also Read: ACT Registration.

ACT Mathematics Section Syllabus

The mathematics section tested in the ACT is also divided into two broad categories:

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.

ACT 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.

ACT Science Section Syllabus

The weightage in the ACT's Science section is divided based on the subsections. Read on for more details:

• 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.

The ACT consists of 4 tests (English, Math, Reading, and Science) and an optional Writing test (Essay). The duration of the ACT is 3 hours 35 minutes with the essay and 2 hours 55 minutes without the essay. There are two breaks in the test. A short break is provided after the second test. The second break is after the fourth test. This is only for those who are taking the optional Writing test.

This is the ACT syllabus for all international testees. So far, there hasn't been a drastic change in the ACT syllabus, even after switching from paper-pencil test to the digital ACT test during the pandemic. 

In order to ace the ACT exam, the applicants must first understand the entire ACT exam syllabus and then make a plan in order to get a good score. Each section of the ACT syllabus must be timed so that maximum questions can be covered. The following table discusses the time an applicant must spare on each ACT section:

This is just a brief on how applicants can time their ACT exam based on each of the sections tested on ACT exam syllabus. There may be a case where applicants may require lesser time on one section and more on the other, hence, they can manage their time accordingly depending upon their weak and strong prep on the ACT syllabus.