ACT Tips and Tricks (2026): Section-by-Section Strategy for the Enhanced ACT

Last updated: 11 September 2026; every rule, timing and figure below was read that day on ACT’s own pages. Written by Josh Hutcheson, OnlineCourseing editor. See our review methodology.

THE FIVE THAT MATTER MOST

Most ACT advice on the internet is older than the ACT you are taking. The enhanced ACT arrived online in April 2025 and on paper in September 2025: it dropped 44 questions, shortened every section, made Science optional, cut Math from five answer choices to four, and redefined the Composite as the average of English, Math and Reading. Tips written for the old four-section test still tell you to pace Science as a required section and to guess one-in-five on Math. Both are now wrong in ways that cost points. What follows is built on ACT’s current structure page and its own section advice, read on 11 September 2026.

The test you are actually sitting

Scores run 1–36 for each section and for the Composite, and ACT is explicit that there is no penalty for incorrect answers. The bracketed numbers are how many questions are scored; the rest are unscored field-test items that look identical, so answer everything. Full timings, breaks and dismissal times are on our how long is the ACT page.

The strategies that work in every section

Answer every question, every time

ACT’s own advice is blunt: “Be sure to answer every question — there’s no penalty for guessing.” A blank scores zero with certainty; a guess scores 25% of the time. Build the habit into your pacing: when a section has thirty seconds left, stop solving and start filling. If you are guessing blind on several questions, pick one letter and use it for all of them — not because that letter is likelier, but because it removes a decision and stops you leaving gaps.

Take two passes, not one

Go through each section answering everything you can settle quickly, flagging anything that stalls you for more than about 45 seconds in English or 90 in Math, then come back. The value is arithmetic: every easy question you reach is worth exactly as much as the hard one you were stuck on, and stalling costs you three of them. Online testing has a flag button; on paper, mark the question in the booklet, never on the answer sheet.

Pace by passage, not by question

Per-question averages are useful for planning and useless during the test — you cannot check a clock every 42 seconds. Convert them into passage checkpoints instead and glance at the time four or five times a section.

Read the question and all four answers before choosing

ACT asks you to “read each question and possible responses completely before answering”, and the enhanced test makes that cheaper than it used to be: Math now has four answer choices rather than five, so reading them all costs less time and rules out more. It also protects against the most common avoidable error, which is answering the question you expected instead of the one asked.

Use leftover time on the section you are in

You cannot move between sections, so finishing English five minutes early is worth exactly one thing: rechecking English. ACT’s guidance is to reread the questions and check your answers if you finish before time is called. Start with the ones you flagged, then verify that every question has an answer.

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English: 50 questions in 35 minutes

The fastest section to improve, because most of it is rules rather than reasoning. ACT’s own advice is worth following literally:

• Read around the underline. Consider how the sentence containing the underlined portion fits with the sentences around it and into the passage. A choice that is correct in isolation is often wrong in context.
• Reread with your answer in place. ACT recommends it explicitly, and it catches the majority of near-miss punctuation errors.
• NO CHANGE is a real answer. ACT’s wording: if the underlined portion is the best answer, select NO CHANGE. Students under-select it because it feels like giving up; it is right about as often as any other choice.
• Do not fix one error and cause another. ACT warns about exactly this. Check the whole sentence, not the comma you were looking at.
• Shorter usually wins. When two choices are both grammatical and mean the same thing, the concise one is almost always the answer — redundancy is a tested error type.
• Notice the passage’s style. ACT tells you to be aware of the writing style used in each passage; tone and register questions are decided by consistency with the rest of the piece.

Math: 45 questions in 50 minutes

Questions rise in difficulty as the section goes on, so the clock matters more here than anywhere else: bank time early. ACT’s guidance is unusually practical:

• The calculator is a time tool, not a crutch. ACT says every problem can be solved without a calculator and that the skill is judging when to use one. Reaching for it on a question you could do in your head is how students lose the back end of the section.
• Make sure you answer the question that was asked. ACT warns that intermediate steps appear among the answer choices — solving for x when the question wanted 2x puts a plausible wrong answer right in front of you.
• Check that your answer is reasonable. A negative length or a probability above 1 is a sign-error caught in two seconds.
• Use scratch paper properly. Label your working by question number; most careless errors are transcription errors.
• Four choices changes the maths of guessing. Eliminate one and you are at one-in-three; eliminate two and it is a coin flip worth taking.
• Plug in when algebra is slow. With numeric answer choices you can test them, and with variables in the answers you can substitute a simple number. Both are faster than solving on a question you do not immediately see.

Reading: 36 questions in 40 minutes

ACT’s advice is to read the entire passage carefully before you start answering, which is the opposite of the popular “skip to the questions” hack. With about ten minutes per passage there is room for it, if you read for structure rather than detail.

• Read for the shape. What is the argument, who disagrees with it, where does the tone shift? Details you can look up; structure you cannot.
• Answer from the passage, not from memory. ACT notes that some answers are plainly stated in the text while others require you to determine suggested meanings and draw conclusions, comparisons and generalisations. Both kinds are decided by the text.
• Do the locatable questions first. Anything pointing at a specific line or paragraph is quicker than a whole-passage inference question. Clear them, then spend what is left on the broad ones.
• Make notes. ACT explicitly allows notes in the test booklet; a three-word margin summary per paragraph pays for itself on the inference questions.
• Start with the passage type you find easiest. The four passages are equally weighted, so there is no reason to meet them in the printed order.

Science: 40 questions in 40 minutes (if you take it)

The most misunderstood section, and now an optional one. ACT says it tests scientific reasoning more than knowledge of specific disciplines and does not require specialised or advanced knowledge in any field. Treat it as data reading.

• Go to the figures first. Read the axes, the units and the variables before the prose. Many questions are answered entirely from a table or graph.
• Identify what the experiment changed. ACT tells you to consider the controls and variables in experimental-design passages; most questions there are about what was held constant.
• Leave conflicting viewpoints until last. Where the material presents competing views, the questions ask you to distinguish among them — it is a reading task in a lab coat and takes longer than the data passages.
• Trends beat values. “As X increases, Y decreases” answers more questions than any specific number does.
• Outside knowledge is a trap. If a choice contradicts the passage but matches what you learned in biology, the passage wins.

Writing: one essay in 40 minutes (if you take it)

ACT’s essay guidance is specific about the task: read all the prompt material to understand the issue, the three perspectives and what you are being asked to do, then budget your time across planning, writing and reviewing.

• Use the planning questions — they are not scored. ACT confirms it, so the planning space is free thinking room. Five minutes there saves ten in the writing.
• Take a position and engage the perspectives. Establish a clear argument, support it with sound reasoning and meaningful examples, and say why the ideas matter rather than just listing them.
• Address at least one perspective you disagree with. The task is analysing the relationship between your view and the given ones, not writing about the topic in isolation.
• Leave five minutes to reread. ACT asks you to reserve time to correct mistakes and, on paper, to write legibly and recopy hard-to-read words neatly between the lines.
• The Writing score is separate. It does not affect your Composite, so an essay you are unsure about cannot drag your headline number down.

Test-day rules people get wrong

• Be inside by 8:00 a.m. ACT’s test-day page says late arrivals cannot be admitted. Aim for 7:40.
• Separate timers are prohibited. So are phones, smartwatches and fitness trackers. A plain watch with no alarm is fine; online testing shows a timer on screen. Any advice telling you to bring a stopwatch is out of date and could end your test.
• One break, after Math. Fifteen minutes, plus five minutes before the essay if you are taking Writing. Eat then; you cannot eat while testing.
• Bring the right pencils. On paper, sharpened No. 2 pencils with erasers — no pens, no mechanical pencils. Bring your approved calculator either way; online testing has one built in.
• Tell staff if you are skipping Science or Writing so they dismiss you at the right time rather than leaving you sitting.

The retake strategy most students miss

ACT says there is no limit on how many times you can take the test, and its research shows students who first score between 13 and 29 gain about one Composite point on average when they retest. Colleges that superscore take the average of your best English, Math and Reading across sittings, so a retake can raise your superscore and cannot lower it.

The piece almost nobody uses: ACT My Answer Key. For $36 ordered before the test or $44 after, you receive the scored multiple-choice questions, your own answers, the answer key and the score conversion table, plus the prompt and rubric if you took Writing. ACT reports that students who retested after using it improved by roughly twice as much on average as those who did not. It is offered on only some dates — the October, December, April and June sittings — and you can order it at registration or within six months of the test. If you are planning a second attempt, order it with the first.

Plan the two sittings when you register: the 2026–27 dates and deadlines are on our ACT test dates page, and pairing February with June, or April with July, gives you the retake without touching senior autumn.

Where to practise

Start free. ACT’s own prep hub has full-length practice tests including Science and Writing, QuizMe question practice and a Question of the Day, and fee-waiver students get the Official ACT Self-Paced Course powered by Kaplan at no cost. Add a paid course if you need a schedule or a teacher; prices read 11 September 2026, and we earn a commission if you enrol through our links, at no change to your price.

Kaplan ACT: official ACT prep partner → Prep Expert: 4-point guarantee →

Whatever you use, make sure it was built for the enhanced ACT: 35-minute English, four answer choices in Math, optional Science. Material from before 2025 will drill the wrong pace. The wider field is in our test prep guide, our good ACT score page explains what your Composite is worth, and if you have not settled on the ACT at all, our SAT vs ACT comparison puts it against the digital SAT.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best ACT tip?

Answer every single question. ACT states plainly that there is no penalty for incorrect answers, so a blank is the only guaranteed zero on the test. Reserve the last thirty seconds of each section to put something in every remaining slot, and because the enhanced ACT cut Math from five answer choices to four, a blind guess is now a one-in-four shot in every section rather than one-in-five in Math.

Is the ACT Science section still required in 2026?

No. Since the enhanced ACT rolled out (online April 2025, paper September 2025), Science is a 40-minute, 40-question optional add-on costing $5, and it does not count toward your Composite, which is now the average of English, Math and Reading. If you do take it, the score is reported separately and combined with Math into a STEM score that some engineering and health programmes ask for, so check your target colleges before skipping it.

How do I finish the ACT English section in time?

Work in passage blocks, not question blocks: five passages in 35 minutes is about seven minutes each. Most English questions are punctuation or concision decisions you can settle in 20 seconds; bank that time for the rhetoric questions that ask about a paragraph’s purpose or whether a sentence belongs. ACT’s own advice is to reread the sentence with your chosen answer in place, and to be careful not to pick an answer that corrects one error while causing another.

Should I read the whole ACT Reading passage first?

ACT’s own guidance says yes: ‘Before you begin answering a question, read the entire passage carefully.’ With 36 questions across four passages in 40 minutes you have about ten minutes per passage including the reading, so read for structure rather than detail, then go back for specifics. Questions that point at a particular line are quicker than inference questions, so take those first within each passage.

Do I need to know science to do well on the ACT Science section?

No. ACT says the section tests scientific reasoning more than knowledge of specific disciplines, and does not require specialised or advanced knowledge in any field. It is a data-reading test: read the axes, the units and the variables, work out what the experiment changed, and answer from the figures. The exception is the conflicting-viewpoints passage, which is closer to a reading comprehension task about two scientists disagreeing.

How many times should I take the ACT?

Two or three times for most students. ACT says there is no limit on attempts, and its research shows students who first score between 13 and 29 gain about one Composite point on average when they retest. Colleges that superscore take the average of your best English, Math and Reading across all attempts, so a second sitting can only help your superscore. Beyond three sittings the gains usually stop being worth the fee and the Saturday.

What is ACT My Answer Key and is it worth buying?

It is the closest thing to seeing your own marked paper: for $36 before the test or $44 after, you get the scored multiple-choice questions, your own answers, the answer key and the score conversion table, plus the prompt and rubric if you took Writing. It is offered on only some test dates (October, December, April and June sittings), and ACT reports that students who retested after using it improved by about twice as much on average as those who did not. If you are planning a retake, it is the best-value thing on the ACT store.

Can I bring a stopwatch or timer to the ACT?

No. Separate timers of any type are on the prohibited list, along with phones, smartwatches and fitness trackers, and being seen with one can end your test. A plain watch with no audible alarm is allowed, and online testing has a timer on screen. Older ACT advice telling you to bring your own stopwatch predates the current rules.

Related ACT guides

• ACT to SAT conversion — see what your ACT score is worth on the SAT, and how precisely it converts.
• How long is the ACT?
• ACT test dates 2026–2027
• What is a good ACT score?
• SAT vs ACT (2026): which test should you take?
• Best test prep courses online