Like all topic sections on the ACT, the ACT math section is one complete section that you will take all at once. It will always be the second section on the test and you will have 60 minutes to completed 60 questions. The ACT arranges its questions in order of ascending difficulty. As a general rule of thumb, questions 1-20 will be considered “easy,” questions 21-40 will be considered “medium-difficulty,” and questions 41-60 will be considered “difficult.”

The way the ACT classifies “easy” and “difficult” is by how long it takes the average student to solve a problem as well as the percentage of students who answer the question correctly. The faster and more accurately the average student solves a problem, the “easier” it is. The longer it takes to solve a problem and the fewer people who answer it correctly, the more “difficult” the problem.

(Note: we put the words “easy” and “difficult” in quotes for a reason—everyone has different areas of math strength and weakness, so not everyone will consider an “easy” question easy or a “difficult” question difficult. These categories are averaged across many students for a reason and not every student will fit into this exact mold.)