ACT Science Test

The Science portion of the ACT is designed to assess a student's ability to interpret, analyze, and evaluate issues in natural sciences. The test focuses on the effectiveness of the student's ability to use reasoning to solve problems. The test consists of 40 questions with a 35-minute time limit.

The test results in one overall score. There are no subscores in the Science test. Students must use their skills to answer questions that ask them to draw conclusions, make predictions, or generalize.

The test covers topics including biology, chemistry, physics and Earth science. The student is presented a passage that contains the information needed to answer a group of questions. The test uses three different formats to convey information. Of the 40 total questions, 38% are presented as data representation, 45% are presented as research summaries, and 17% are presented as conflicting viewpoints.

The data representation format may provide a graph or chart that the student must interpret in order to answer questions. The research summary format will present a description of an experiment. The questions that are provided with this particular format usually address the design and interpretation of the experiment. Questions presented as conflicting viewpoints provide several different hypotheses that have been based on different types of data or different premises. Students must be able to understand, analyze, and compare the various hypotheses.