ACT English Practice Tests

Passage I — Lessons in the Garage

The summer I turned fourteen, the rear tire on my bicycle went flat for the third time in a month. I was ready to buy a new inner tube and forget about it, but my grandfather had other ideas. He wheeled the bike into his garage, [1] where a pegboard of tools, each one outlined in black marker, covered the back wall.

"Before you fix anything," he said, "you have to find out why it broke." [2] However, we did not patch the tube right away. First we pumped it up and lowered it into a bucket of water, watching for the thin stream of bubbles that would reveal the leak. When the bubbles appeared, I reached for the patch kit, but my grandfather stopped me. He ran his fingers slowly around the inside of the tire[3] , circling all the way around its entire inner edge, until he found the real culprit: a sliver of glass that [4] had hid in the rubber for weeks.

Over the next few weeks, [5] my grandfather and me rebuilt that bicycle nearly from scratch. The first commercially successful "safety bicycle," which had two wheels of similar size and a chain that drove the rear wheel, was introduced in England in the 1880s. [6] He showed me how to true a wheel by tightening its spokes a quarter turn at a time, how to adjust the brake pads so that they met the rim squarely, and [7] cleaning a chain with an old toothbrush.

What I remember most, though, is not any single repair. It is the way my grandfather worked: slowly, patiently, and [8] without ever seeming to be in a rush. When a rusted bolt refused to loosen, he never forced it. He sprayed it with oil, set it aside, and [9] went ahead and moved on to something else. By the time he came back to it, the bolt usually turned with a gentle push. [10] My grandfather still keeps his tools on the same pegboard.

1. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) where a pegboard of tools each one outlined in black marker covered (C) where a pegboard of tools, each one outlined in black marker covering (D) a pegboard of tools, each one outlined in black marker, covered
2. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (F) No Change (G) For example, (H) For that reason, (J) In contrast,
3. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) , circling its inner edge in one full loop, (C) , going around and around the inside of it, (D) Delete the underlined portion.
4. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) had hidden (H) has hidden (J) hiding
5. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) me and my grandfather (C) my grandfather and I (D) my grandfather and myself
6. The writer is considering deleting the preceding sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted? (F) Kept, because it explains how the narrator's grandfather first became interested in bicycles. (G) Kept, because it describes the type of bicycle the narrator and the grandfather were repairing. (H) Deleted, because it contradicts the narrator's statement that the bicycle was rebuilt nearly from scratch. (J) Deleted, because it interrupts the account of the narrator's lessons with a general fact about bicycle history.
7. Which choice best maintains the parallel structure of the sentence? (A) No Change (B) how to clean (C) the cleaning of (D) to be cleaning
8. Which choice best maintains the stylistic pattern established in the sentence? (F) No Change (G) he was calm (H) calmly (J) in a way that seemed calm
9. Which choice best avoids wordiness and redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) moved on (C) moved on ahead and continued (D) proceeded forward, moving on
10. Which choice most effectively concludes the essay by connecting the grandfather's way of working to the narrator's life today? (F) No Change (G) That summer, I rode the rebuilt bicycle almost every day until school started. (H) Many bicycle shops now sell kits that make it easy to patch a flat tire in only a few minutes. (J) Now, when a problem frustrates me, I try to slow down and look for the hidden sliver of glass first.

Passage II — A Small Clip with a Tangled History

Few objects are as ordinary as the paper clip, yet its history is surprisingly tangled. In the second half of the 1800s, inventors in several countries patented wire fasteners for holding papers together. Many of these early designs, however, tore the pages or [11] slipped off, the sheets they were meant to hold.

The familiar double-loop design, known as the Gem clip, was in use by the late 1890s. In 1899, William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut, patented a machine for bending wire into this [12] shape; the drawings in his application show a clip that looks almost exactly like the ones found in desk drawers today. [13] Oddly, the Gem design itself seems never to have been patented.

Norway, meanwhile, often [14] totally hypes up the paper clip as a national invention. A Norwegian inventor named Johan Vaaler did patent a paper clip around 1900, but his version lacked the Gem's inner loop and was never widely produced. [15] In 1989, a giant Gem-style paper clip was even raised in Vaaler's honor near Oslo.

11. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) slipped off the sheets (C) slipped, off the sheets (D) slipped off: the sheets
12. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) shape, the drawings (H) shape the drawings (J) shape; and the drawings
13. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) As a result, (C) For instance, (D) Similarly,
14. Which choice most effectively maintains the essay's tone? (F) No Change (G) goes wild over (H) celebrates (J) makes a huge fuss over
15. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence:
    
    During World War II, some Norwegians wore paper clips on their clothing as a quiet symbol of unity.
    
    Should the writer make this addition here? (A) Yes, because it helps explain why Norwegians take pride in the paper clip despite the limits of Vaaler's design. (B) Yes, because it shows that the paper clips Norwegians wore during the war were all made from Vaaler's original design. (C) No, because it interrupts the paragraph's explanation of how the Gem clip was manufactured. (D) No, because it repeats information stated earlier in the essay.

Passage III — Hedy Lamarr's Hidden Invention

[1]
In the late 1930s and the 1940s, Hedy Lamarr was one of Hollywood's most famous film stars. Born Hedwig Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, in 1914, she [16] had began acting as a teenager and later signed a contract with the MGM studio. [A] Audiences knew her for glamorous roles, but few people knew that she spent much of her free time [17] working on inventions of her own design that she had thought up herself.

[2]
During World War II, Lamarr became interested in a serious weakness of radio-controlled torpedoes. A torpedo steered by a signal on a single frequency could be sent off course if an enemy [18] jammed, or blocked, that frequency. Lamarr wondered what would happen if the signal jumped rapidly from one frequency to another in a pattern known only to the sender and the receiver. [B]

[3]
To develop the idea, she teamed up with George Antheil, an avant-garde composer [19] whom had once written music for several player pianos playing in sync. Antheil suggested that a mechanism similar to a piano roll could keep the transmitter and the receiver hopping between frequencies in perfect step. [C] Fittingly, their design called for 88 frequencies, the same as the number of keys on a piano. In 1942, Lamarr and Antheil received a patent for their "Secret Communication System." [20]

[4]
The U.S. Navy, [21] however, did not adopt the system during the war, and for decades Lamarr's role in the invention was largely forgotten. [D] Engineers eventually built on the principle of frequency hopping, and versions of it [22] is now used in technologies such as Bluetooth. In 1997, Lamarr and Antheil were honored with a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and in 2014 both were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. [23] Lamarr's story is a reminder that the woman audiences saw on the screen was only part of who she really was.

Questions 24 and 25 ask about the preceding passage as a whole.

16. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) begun (H) began (J) has began
17. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) personally working on self-designed inventions of her own (C) working on inventions that she herself had designed on her own (D) working on inventions of her own design
18. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) jammed or, blocked, (H) jammed, or blocked (J) jammed or blocked,
19. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) who (C) which (D) whose
20. If the writer were to delete the preceding sentence, the essay would primarily lose: (F) an explanation of how a piano-roll mechanism kept the transmitter and receiver in step. (G) a description of the kind of music Antheil was known for composing. (H) evidence that the U.S. Navy tested the system before deciding not to use it. (J) a detail indicating that Lamarr and Antheil's idea was officially recognized as an invention.
21. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) therefore, (C) for example, (D) similarly,
22. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) are (H) was (J) has been
23. Which choice most effectively concludes the essay by returning to an idea introduced in the first paragraph? (A) No Change (B) Bluetooth is now built into many phones, headphones, and speakers. (C) Antheil continued to compose music until his death in 1959. (D) Today, navies use many kinds of guided torpedoes.
24. Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to describe how a person known mainly for one kind of work made an important contribution in a very different field. Would this essay accomplish that purpose? (F) Yes, because it explains how a famous film actress helped invent a communication technology that is still in use. (G) Yes, because it shows that Lamarr's acting success depended mainly on her reputation as an inventor. (H) No, because it focuses mainly on the films that made Lamarr famous. (J) No, because it suggests that the invention was never put to practical use.
25. The writer wants to add the following sentence to the essay:
    
    A signal that never stayed on one frequency long enough to be found, she reasoned, would be nearly impossible to jam.
    
    The sentence would most logically be placed at: (A) Point A in Paragraph 1. (B) Point B in Paragraph 2. (C) Point C in Paragraph 3. (D) Point D in Paragraph 4.

Passage IV — Faith Ringgold's Story Quilts

Faith Ringgold (1930–2024) began her career as a painter, but she is best remembered for [26] her story quilts; large works that combine painted canvas with pieced fabric. Ringgold, who grew up in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, [27] learned about sewing from her mother, a fashion designer and dressmaker. Each of Ringgold's story quilts [28] include handwritten text, often on strips of fabric sewn around the edges, so that viewers can read a story while they study the pictures.

Her best-known quilt, "Tar Beach" (1988), shows a girl named Cassie lying on a blanket on the roof of her family's apartment building on a summer night. In the story written along the quilt's border, Cassie imagines flying [29] up above and over the top of the George Washington Bridge, and she declares that the bridge now belongs to her. Ringgold later turned the story into a [30] childrens' book, which was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1992. The original quilt is now in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

26. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) her story quilts. Large (H) her story quilts: large (J) her story quilts, and large
27. Given that all the following choices are accurate, which one most clearly indicates that Ringgold's mother directly helped produce one of Ringgold's works? (A) No Change (B) often visited museums with her mother, (C) lived for many years near her mother, (D) created her first quilt in 1980 with her mother, Willi Posey,
28. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) includes (H) are including (J) have included
29. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) up and above over (C) over (D) above, over the top of
30. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) children's (H) childrens (J) childrens's

Passage V — The Water Bear's Secret

In 1773, the German naturalist Johann August Ephraim Goeze described a tiny, eight-legged animal that he called a "little water bear." The name fit: under a microscope, the animal seemed to lumber along on its stubby legs like a tiny bear. Today, these creatures are known as tardigrades, and they [31] have been found almost everywhere on Earth, from mountain peaks to deep-sea mud. Most are less than a millimeter long[32] , making them very small in size. Yet tardigrades are famous for surviving conditions that would kill nearly any other animal.

Their secret is a state called cryptobiosis, a word meaning "hidden life." When a tardigrade's surroundings dry out, the animal pulls in its legs and head and shrivels into a dry, barrel-shaped form called a "tun." In this state, [33] it's metabolism slows to less than 0.01 percent of its normal rate. A tardigrade can remain a tun for [34] years, when water returns, it swells back to its usual shape and walks away as if nothing had happened.

[35] Tardigrades in the tun state have survived remarkable tests. Scientists have [36] introduced them to temperatures close to absolute zero and to doses of radiation far greater than a human could survive. In 2007, tardigrades were carried into orbit on an uncrewed satellite as part of a European experiment and exposed directly to the vacuum of space. Most survived the [37] vacuum, a few even survived the sun's harsh ultraviolet radiation.

Researchers are now studying the molecules that make this toughness possible. One of them, a protein called Dsup, [38] appear to protect a tardigrade's DNA from radiation damage. Other proteins form a glasslike material that protects the animal's cells as they dry out. [39] For example, discoveries like these might help scientists find ways to store medicines without refrigeration.

Question 40 asks about the preceding passage as a whole.

31. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) has been found (C) are finding (D) had found
32. Which choice is least redundant in context? (F) No Change (G) , so they are quite small (H) , which is tiny (J) Delete the underlined portion.
33. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) their (C) its (D) its'
34. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) years. When (H) years, then when (J) years when
35. Which choice most effectively creates a connection between the preceding paragraph and this paragraph? (A) No Change (B) Tardigrades have eight legs, each of which ends in tiny claws. (C) Some tardigrades eat plant cells, while others eat smaller animals. (D) Goeze was not the only scientist of his time to study tiny animals.
36. Which choice most precisely describes what the scientists did to the tardigrades? (F) No Change (G) treated them to (H) gave them (J) subjected them to
37. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) vacuum, and a few (C) vacuum a few (D) vacuum, while, a few
38. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) appearing (H) have appeared (J) appears
39. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) Instead, (C) In time, (D) Similarly,
40. Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to explain how scientists first discovered tardigrades. Would this essay accomplish that purpose? (F) Yes, because it names the naturalist who first described tardigrades, gives the year, and reports what he called them. (G) Yes, because it explains how scientists carried tardigrades into orbit. (H) No, because it mentions the first description only briefly and focuses mainly on how tardigrades survive extremes. (J) No, because it focuses mainly on the ways medicines are stored without refrigeration.

Passage VI — Let Teenagers Sleep

At many American high schools, the first bell rings before 7:30 a.m. For students who ride a bus, that can mean waking up at 6:00 or even earlier. Many of them spend their first class of the day struggling to keep their eyes open. Many adults assume that teenagers who are tired in the morning simply stayed up too late, and they expect students to adjust. The science of sleep, [41] though, tells a different story.

During adolescence, the body's internal clock shifts. The brain begins releasing melatonin, the hormone that signals the body to prepare for sleep, later at night than it did in childhood. As a result, many teenagers cannot fall asleep until around 11:00 p.m., no matter how early they go to [42] bed, sleep experts recommend that teenagers get eight to ten hours of sleep a night, [43] but a student who falls asleep at 11:00 and wakes up at 6:00 gets only seven.

Losing an hour or more of sleep every night [44] really messes students up big-time. Sleep-deprived students have more trouble paying attention, remembering what they have learned, and [45] they control their moods. Drowsy teenage drivers are also more likely to be involved in car crashes. [46] For these reasons, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2014 that middle and high schools start classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Critics argue that later start times would be too costly, since districts [47] would of had to redraw bus routes and reschedule after-school activities. These challenges are real, but they can be overcome. [48] California has more public school students than any other state. If California can make the change, other states [49] can also do so too. [50] After all, school buses are expensive to operate.

41. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) therefore, (C) for instance, (D) likewise,
42. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) bed sleep (H) bed, being that sleep (J) bed. Sleep
43. Given that all the following choices are accurate, which one most effectively supports the writer's point that early start times keep many teenagers from getting enough sleep? (A) No Change (B) and many teenagers like to sleep late on weekends. (C) although some adults need less sleep than that. (D) and the amount of sleep a person needs changes over a lifetime.
44. Which choice most effectively maintains the essay's tone? (F) No Change (G) has serious consequences (H) is super bad news (J) totally wrecks students
45. Which choice best maintains the parallel structure of the sentence? (A) No Change (B) to control their moods (C) controlling their moods (D) their moods are controlled
46. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence:
    
    Car insurance rates for teenage drivers vary widely from state to state.
    
    Should the writer make this addition here? (F) Yes, because it provides evidence that drowsy teenage drivers cause most car crashes. (G) Yes, because it explains why many teenagers drive themselves to school. (H) No, because it introduces a detail about insurance costs that is unrelated to the effects of lost sleep. (J) No, because it contradicts the paragraph's claim that drowsy teenage drivers are more likely to be involved in crashes.
47. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) would have to (C) would had to (D) would of have to
48. Given that all the following choices are accurate, which one most effectively supports the writer's claim that these challenges can be overcome? (F) No Change (G) Some parents in California worried at first that later schedules would make mornings harder for families with younger children. (H) Many schools in other states still begin classes before 8:00 a.m. (J) In 2019, California required most public high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and they switched in 2022.
49. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) can, in addition, also do so (C) can do so as well (D) also can do so as well
50. Which choice most effectively concludes the essay by restating its main argument? (F) No Change (G) Letting teenagers sleep in step with their biology is one of the simplest ways schools can help students learn. (H) Of course, some students will always prefer to take classes early in the morning. (J) Many adults also say that they do not get enough sleep.