Updated December 28, 2025

The ACT Science Section: Everything You Need to Know

Bonus Material: PrepMaven’s ACT Score Ranges for 750+ Schools

The ACT Science section can feel like the wild card of the ACT. 

Most students are familiar with the other three sections of the test — English, Math, and Reading.

But Science? What’s that all about? 

The ACT Science section is the fourth section of the ACT, and it’s the first optional section. It comes right before the optional ACT essay and, yes, it does involve a lot of science.

But here’s the secret — the ACT Science section really boils down to data analysis and figure interpretation. With the right tools and prep, you can feel confident in your capacity to do well on this section.

That’s what this post is all about! We’ll dive into the format, passage types, and scoring of ACT Science. We’ll also explain just what science you need to know for this section, as well as tips for improving your ACT Science score — and whether you should take the ACT Science section in the first place.

Plus, we give readers access to our ACT Score Ranges resource, which pulls together the latest data on the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile ACT scores at hundreds of schools. It’s free and you can grab it below!

Here’s what we cover in this post:

1. The ACT Science Section in a Nutshell
   1. Format
   2. Passage Types
   3. Question Types
   4. Scoring
2. What Science Do I Need to Know?
3. How to Improve Your ACT Science Score
4. Is It Worth Taking ACT Science?
5. Bonus: Get ACT Guidance from a Test-Prep Expert

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1) The ACT Science Section in a Nutshell

Here’s what ACT, the organization that actually writes this test, says about the Science section:

The science section measures the interpretation, analysis, evaluation, reasoning, and problem-solving skills required in the natural sciences. The section presents several authentic scientific scenarios, each followed by a number of multiple-choice questions. The content includes biology, chemistry, Earth/space sciences (e.g., geology, astronomy, and meteorology), and physics. Advanced knowledge in these areas is not required, but background knowledge acquired in general, introductory science courses may be needed to correctly answer some of the questions.

What does this actually mean?

In simpler language, the ACT science section tests your understanding of the process of science.

The process of science involves making hypotheses, conducting experiments, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and making predictions. While it’s tough to test all of those skills in a 40-minute, 40-question test, ACT Science does its best to measure those skills through seven very science-y “passages” and various question types.

Let’s take a look at the format and make-up of this test so you can get a better understanding of what we mean by all of this!

ACT Science – Format

The ACT Science section is the fourth section of the ACT. It comes right after ACT Reading and right before the optional ACT Essay. ACT Science is now optional.

There are 40 questions on ACT Science, to be completed in 40 minutes.

Those 40 questions come attached to 7 “passages.” Each “passage” will contain some text and/or graphics in the form of charts, figures, tables, and/or graphs. Some passages will contain more text and/or graphics than others.

The subjects of these passages will always be related to science in some capacity: chemistry, biology, physics, earth science, space science, you name it!

You may or may not be familiar with the concepts in the passages themselves (but that won’t keep you from doing well on this section, we promise). These concepts will vary from test to test.

Whether you’re completing a passage on bark beetles or pendulum physics, however, there are some predictable components of this section: the format, passage and question types, and scoring.

Passage Types

There are three passage types on ACT Science:

• Research Summaries (2-3 passages)
• Data Representation (2-3 passages)
• Conflicting Viewpoints (1 passage)

Research Summaries require students to analyze and/or compare scientific experiments or studies. These passages often include small headings that specify Study 1 and Study 2, for example, or Experiment 1 and Experiment 2.

Data Representation passages typically involve one scientific concept and a few figures. They generally do not involve a series of studies or experiments and typically have 6 questions.

Lastly, students will have to compare and analyze the perspectives or theories of several scientists or theorists. You can recognize these passages because they will specify Theory 1 and Theory 2, for example, or Student 1 and Student 2.

It’s important to note that these passage types can appear in any order, although Data Representation passages have appeared first in the lineup in several official practice tests.

Question Types

There’s a lot of science on this section, but ACT Science questions are largely concerned with the following:

• Data analysis (what ACT calls “Interpretation of Data”)
• Analysis of experiments (what ACT calls “Scientific Investigation” and “Evaluation of Models, Inferences, and Experiential Results”)
• Scientific knowledge*

*There are about 2-4 questions per ACT Science section that require outside knowledge. However, this knowledge is most likely foundational knowledge students will have learned in high school science classes. We discuss this more in the next section of this post (jump there now).

Take a look at this sample question from a Data Representation passage. Yes, it’s full of what we call scientific jargon — fancy, big science-y words that seem intimidating. But the secret to answering this question correctly lies in pulling simple data from a figure. Students don’t need to know anything about geology or recognize the names of any of these minerals to answer the question!

The same goes for this question from a Research Summaries passage, which can be answered by simply consulting a table:

More advanced questions might require students to do the following:

• Examine information from more than one table or figure
• Identify differences between experiments
• Work with details located in the text
• Complete basic math
• Apply data trends to a hypothetical situation or additional study

This question, for example, requires that students synthesize information from all three experiments described in the passage and apply data trends to a hypothetical situation:

Scoring

How is ACT Science scored? Every section on the ACT is scored on a scale of 1-36 (except the optional ACT Essay). So, 1 is the lowest score you can earn on this section and 36 is the highest score. 

The test graders calculate this based on section-specific algorithms that boil down to converting your raw score (the number of questions you get right) to a number between 1 and 36.

All ACT section scores are averaged to generate a composite score on a scale of 1–36. You can find out more about how this works in our ACT score calculator.

There is no wrong answer penalty on the ACT. This means that you don’t lose points for getting a question wrong on ACT Science — you simply do not get any points. Students can use this to their advantage by never leaving a question blank on this section!

How many questions do you have to get right in order to achieve a high score on ACT Science? The answer: it depends.

Even though the ACT is a standardized test, no two science sections are the same in terms of difficulty and content. The number of questions that you need to get right on one test isn’t the same for another test.

The key to improving your ACT Science score thus lies in maximizing your raw score — the more questions you ace on this section, the higher your odds are of earning a competitive score.

We’ll talk more about how to improve your Science score later on in this post. If you want more insight into what counts as a “good” ACT score overall, check out our other post on the subject.

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2) What Science Do I Need to Know for ACT Science?

Do you actually need to know science facts to do well on ACT Science? Not necessarily!

All of the “passages” on ACT Science, as we’ve already discussed, will concern scientific concepts, studies, or themes. But students will only encounter 2-4 questions on ACT Science that directly test your knowledge of scientific content. ACT confirms this:

“Advanced knowledge in these areas is not required, but background knowledge acquired in general, introductory science courses may be needed to correctly answer some of the questions.”

Don’t worry, though — the scientific content that surfaces in these questions is largely foundational content students will have already learned in basic science classes. Many also can be answered through common sense and/or logic.

Here’s an example of a standard Scientific Knowledge question on ACT Science, from an official practice test. Students must know the difference between an acid and a base, and how these relate to pH.

The scientific knowledge questions we’ve seen on official ACT practice tests have concerned the following topics:

• pH (acids and bases)
• Chemical equations
• Speed, force, and drag
• Energy
• Phase changes (liquid, solid, gas)
• Endothermic vs. exothermic
• Osmosis
• Genotypes (i.e., recessive vs. dominant alleles)
• Boiling and freezing points
• Scientific notation
• Basic chemical formulas (i.e., H20 or C02)

Because these questions are so broad, it’s virtually impossible to prepare for them. That’s why we advise that students don’t sweat them in the long run. 

If you do come across a question and have no idea how to approach it, work your process of elimination as best you can and, if need be, guess. Remember — there’s no wrong answer penalty on the ACT, so it’s to your advantage to leave no questions unanswered on every ACT section.

Wondering what goal ACT Science score you need in the first place? That depends on the colleges on your list. We’ve put together the latest data on the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile ACT scores at over 750 schools, which you can grab for free below.

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3) How to Improve Your ACT Science Score

The ACT Science test often gives students a fair amount of grief. Many are intimidated by the test’s reliance on data analysis and figure interpretation. What’s more, the test is the fourth section, meaning that students are often battling fatigue on top of complex passages!

Timing is also a common struggle for ACT test-takers. It can feel virtually impossible to tackle 40 ACT Science questions in 40 minutes!

There are many ways to improve your ACT Science score, which we explore more fully in another post. For now, however, the secret to doing well on ACT Science lies in strategy.

It’s extremely important to establish a strategic approach for all sections of the ACT, precisely because it is a standardized (and thus predictable) test. 

Here are four of our best strategies for succeeding on this difficult section, no matter where your strengths lie. For more ACT Science strategies, check out our detailed post on the topic.

Strategy #1: Think of this as another Reading section.

At first glance, ACT Science appears to be all about data and technical experiments. To some extent, this is true. But students can and should approach this test as they approach ACT Reading: strategically.

This means taking passages and questions out of order, prioritizing those that are easiest for you personally. When approaching questions, think in terms of main ideas of the experiments or scientific concepts presented in the passage.

When starting your ACT Science prep, familiarize yourself with the test’s question and passage types — and, most importantly, which are easier and harder for you!

Here’s a hint: many students find Data Representation passages on ACT Science to be easier, because they often involve a single scientific concept and fewer charts or figures. On the other hand, the passage that contains conflicting viewpoints tends to be more challenging because it often doesn’t include charts or figures.

Similarly, shorter, single figure based questions tend to be easier for students than those that involve several figures and lots of verbiage.

Strategy #2: Annotate the charts and figures before answering questions.

Much as we encourage students to annotate the passages on ACT Reading before diving into the questions, we also recommend annotating the charts and figures in an ACT Science passage first.

When annotating, identify and notate the following:

• Trends and patterns in the data (i.e., what’s increasing, decreasing, and/or staying the same)
• X-axis and Y-axis designations
• Units
• Chart titles
• Main ideas or experiment purposes
• Equations
• Differences between experiments

Strategy #3: Don’t get lost in the jargon.

It can be really easy to get overwhelmed by the technical details of the ACT Science passages. Yet do your best to look past this jargon and focus only on main ideas, what the questions are asking, and data trends.

You don’t have to understand everything about the scientific concepts discussed! You only have to demonstrate your ability to approach charts and figures strategically.

In some cases, you won’t even need to read any of the text associated with the passage. In fact, we encourage students to ignore this text unless they encounter a question that directly concerns it. Keep this in mind on all passages.

Strategy #4: Think like a scientist.

This may sound pretty obvious, but thinking like a scientist can be helpful on ACT Science. What does it mean to think like a scientist, though?

It means approaching questions in the context of scientific investigation. In many ways, this boils down to the Scientific Method:

• Make an observation
• Ask a question
• Form a hypothesis
• Make a prediction based on that hypothesis
• Test the prediction
• Use your experiment results to make a conclusion, other predictions, or new hypotheses

Many ACT Science questions use words like “hypothesis,” “observation,” “prediction,” or “results.” There’s a reason for that! When analyzing the data for a given passage, analyze it in the context of the Scientific Method. This will allow you to dive into those questions with greater confidence.

We’ve given you only four of our expert strategies for ACT Science — to grab more, head on over to our post on How to Improve Your ACT Science Score.

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3) Is It Worth Taking ACT Science?

As of 2025-26, the ACT Science section has become optional.

You might still want to take the Science section if:

• You’re applying for a STEM major.
• You’re applying to highly competitive schools and want to stand out in the college admissions process.
• Any colleges on your list require one or both of these sections.
• You know you’re strong in science and that this section is a chance for you to shine.

You may not need to take the Science section if:

• You’re not planning to apply to competitive colleges, so you don’t need as much of an edge in the college application process.
• You know that science is a challenging area for you where you won’t boost your score.

Since this is a recent change, it will take some time for institutions to update their college admissions requirements. Right now, very few colleges require the already-optional ACT Writing section for students submitting an ACT score. Does that mean that they’ll see the ACT Science section as truly optional, too? Maybe, maybe not. 

Until colleges have had time to adjust to the new ACT, it’s not a bad idea to take the optional Science section to be on the safe side. But always make sure to check the latest guidelines from the college admissions offices at any schools you’re applying to. If in doubt, give them a call and ask what their current requirements are.

One thing that should not be a dealbreaker in taking either of the optional ACT sections is cost. It costs $4 extra to take the ACT with the Science section, on top of the $68 ACT registration fee. If that would make it hard for you to take the test, you can apply for a fee waiver. Find out if you’re eligible and how to apply here.

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4) Want to Ace ACT Science? Work With an Expert!

We’ve covered everything you need to know to jumpstart your ACT Science prep in this post. But every ACT test-taker is different — it’s important to customize your strategies based off of your strengths.

Working with a PrepMaven ACT expert can help you do just this! With one-on-one ACT tutoring, you’ll be well on your way to strategically approaching ACT Science and improving your score.

Learn more about PrepMaven tutoring options now.