The ACT is historically more popular in the Midwest, including Wisconsin, and many regional colleges are built around ACT scoring. However, most Wisconsin colleges now accept both tests equally, and some students find they perform better on one format than the other. Many Madison-area high schools offer free ACT testing days, making it the natural first choice for local students.

The ACT Science section (35 minutes, 40 questions) tests your ability to interpret data, graphs, and scientific reasoning—not memorized science facts. You'll analyze experiments, compare hypotheses, and extract information from tables and charts across biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science topics. The challenge isn't the science knowledge; it's the tight pacing and quickly interpreting unfamiliar data.

Most students benefit from 3-4 months of consistent prep, starting in junior year or early senior year. If you're starting from a baseline score around 20-22, expect 40-60 hours of focused study to reach the 26-28 range. With personalized 1-on-1 instruction, you can often compress this timeline and target specific weak areas like the Science section or Math pacing.

Most students see 2-4 point improvements with focused prep, and students with significant gaps (like struggling with the Science section) often improve 4-6 points. The key is identifying your specific bottlenecks—whether that's pacing on Math, data interpretation on Science, or reading comprehension—and addressing them systematically. Your starting score and available prep time both affect your improvement potential.

The ACT is faster-paced than the SAT, so time management is critical. On Math (60 minutes for 60 questions), aim to spend about 1 minute per question but skip difficult ones to maximize points. On Reading (35 minutes for 40 questions), many students find success reading the passage first, then tackling questions. On Science, quickly scan the data and focus on what each question actually asks rather than trying to understand the full experiment.

Most Wisconsin colleges don't require the ACT Writing section anymore, so it's optional. Check your target schools' requirements, but if you're applying to UW-Madison, Marquette, or other regional universities, you likely don't need it. If you're unsure or applying to selective schools, taking it doesn't hurt—you can always choose not to submit it when applying.

Most Wisconsin colleges, including UW-Madison and Marquette, do NOT superscore the ACT (taking your best score from each section across multiple test dates). However, they do allow you to submit your single best composite score from any test date. This means you should focus on doing your best on one test date rather than counting on piecing together scores from multiple attempts.