ACT English & Reading Study Guide: 100 Flashcards on Timing, Scoring, Benchmarks and Percentiles
Study the ACT English and Reading facts that shape your strategy: 45 min/75 questions, 35 min/40 questions, benchmarks 18 and 22, percentiles, SAT conversions. Deck LC0990.
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Master the ACT Math & Science Sections: 96 Flashcards on Format, Calculators and Percentiles
Deck EM5310 holds 96 cards on the ACT Math and Science sections: timing, calculator rules, passage types, benchmarks and the full percentile ladder.
Most ACT prep is practice questions. This deck is the other half: the facts about the test that decide your strategy — timing, question counts, benchmarks, percentiles and score conversions. ACT English & Reading on Flip It (deck code LC0990) packs 100 question-and-answer cards, and if you can answer them cold you will walk into the test knowing exactly what a 24 or a 30 means.
Study this deck: ACT English & Reading
1 / 10What does ACT originally stand for?
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
What the cards look like
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How long is the ACT English section? | 45 minutes |
| How many questions are in the ACT English section? | 75 questions |
| How long is the ACT Reading section? | 35 minutes |
| How many questions are in the ACT Reading section? | 40 questions |
| What is the College Readiness Benchmark for ACT Reading? | 22 |
| What is the average ACT English score for 2025? | 18.4 |
| Is there a penalty for incorrect answers on the ACT? | No — one raw point per correct answer, no deduction |
| What is an ACT composite of 30 equivalent to in SAT score? | SAT 1360–1380 (most appropriate: 1370) |
| What percentile is an ACT Reading score of 24? | 71st percentile |
| How long does the ACT take excluding optional sections? | 2 hours and 5 minutes |
The five blocks inside the deck
Test structure. English: 45 minutes, 75 questions, five passages with underlined segments; tests usage/mechanics (commas, apostrophes, misplaced and dangling modifiers, colons, fragments, run-ons) and rhetorical skills (style, strategy, transitions, organization). Reading: 35 minutes, 40 questions, four sections — three long prose passages plus one paired passage — assessing key ideas and details, craft and structure, integration of knowledge and ideas. Writing: optional, 40 minutes, scored 2–12 by two readers across Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, Language Use and Conventions; a third senior reader steps in if the two scores differ by more than one point.
Scoring. Composite 1–36, rounded average of English, reading and math. Subscores 1–18. Standard error of measurement: 2 per section, 1 for the composite. Class of 2025 averages: composite 19.4, English 18.4, Reading 20.0, Writing 6.1. Benchmarks: English 18, Reading 22.
Percentiles and conversions. Composite 36 = 100th percentile, 30 = 93rd, 24 = 74th, 21 = 59th. English 30/24/18 = 93rd/73rd/38th; Reading 30/24/18 = 91st/71st/39th. SAT equivalents: 36 ≈ 1590, 30 ≈ 1370, 24 ≈ 1180, 18 ≈ 970. Perfect 36s: 19 students in 1990, 781 in 2012, 2,958 in 2025.
Admissions tiers. Ivy caliber 32–36, highly selective 27–31, selective 24–26, traditional 21–23, liberal 18–20, open admission 17–20.
Logistics and history. Created in 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist at the University of Iowa; Reading section since 1989; Writing added February 2005; overtook the SAT in 2012; science optional since July 2024. Fees as of 2025: $65 base, $4 science, $25 writing, $125.50 international surcharge. Seven test dates a year in the US and Canada, five abroad, always Saturdays. 55% of retakers improve, 23% drop.
Two tips for this deck
Turn the numbers into pacing rules. 45 minutes ÷ 75 questions = 36 seconds per English question; 35 ÷ 40 = 52 seconds per Reading question, or roughly 8.5 minutes per passage. Write those two figures on the first card you review — they are the only stats that matter at 8 a.m. on test day.
Learn the percentile ladder as a chain, not as isolated cards. Recite it in one breath: 36 → 100th, 30 → 93rd, 24 → 74th, 21 → 59th. Then map each rung to an admissions tier (30 = highly selective, 24 = selective, 21 = traditional). One chain, three cards' worth of answers.
Next step
Search LC0990 in your Flip It library after logging in and clear the deck in two sittings of 50 cards. Preparing for both tests? Our SAT Common Words guide covers the vocabulary side.
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