You have 35 minutes to answer 40 questions on the ACT Reading section. That’s not much time to read four passages and answer questions about each one. Many students don’t finish the Reading test in time, so if timing is a challenge for you, it’s a common issue. The goal is to use your limited time as efficiently as possible.
Because time is tight, you need to track how long you spend on both reading and answering questions. Ideally, you’ll take:
3.75 minutes (or less) to read and annotate each passage.
30 seconds (or less) to answer each question.
Time yourself during practice tests so you can see where your time goes. If you’re taking over five minutes to read a passage, that alone can explain why you aren’t finishing the section.
If you take more time to read, that’s okay - you just need to use that time well.
Avoid reading the same material twice. If you didn’t understand a paragraph the first time, it’s tempting to reread it. Don’t. You need that time to keep moving through the passage and to answer questions. Often, later paragraphs clarify earlier ones, so continuing forward can improve your understanding. Rereading the same paragraph repeatedly usually doesn’t help enough to justify the time.
Some questions naturally take longer. The key is to use strategies that reduce how much you have to search and reread.
Annotate the passage. Annotation can feel like an extra step, but it usually saves time because it helps you locate information quickly when you’re answering questions. The Annotating chapter explains how to annotate in a way that speeds up your question-solving.
After a few practice tests, you may notice you score higher on certain passage types (for example, Natural Science) than on others. Use that to your advantage. When the test starts, you can go straight to the passage type you tend to do best on instead of starting on page one. This often helps you earn more points and leaves your weakest passage for the end.
Why would it be a good idea to leave the passage you normally don’t do so well on for last?
If you run out of time, the last passage is often the one you leave unfinished. To maximize your points, it makes sense to risk leaving your lowest-scoring passage incomplete. Do your strongest passages first so you’re more likely to finish them, and save the most challenging one for last.
If you have about three minutes left and still have an entire passage to complete, use these strategies:
Focus on the questions that reference a line number. These are often Vocabulary in Context questions, which you can answer faster than broader questions. Line references also reduce how much you have to scan the passage when time is short.
Guess for all unanswered questions. If you don’t have time to finish, guess on the remaining questions. There is no guessing penalty, so leaving a question blank hurts you just as much as getting it wrong.