ACT Math reporting category

ACT Integrating Essential Skills Practice

Integrating Essential Skills is the ACT math reporting category that combines skills usually learned before grade 8, such as rates, percentages, proportions, area, and averages, into multi-step problems. According to ACT, it makes up 20% of scored math questions. ACT reports it separately from Preparing for Higher Math.

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At a glance

Integrating Essential Skills on the ACT: the key numbers

Section and category facts from ACT.org, checked October 9, 2026. Time per question is ACT's section time divided by its question count.
Section	ACT Math: 45 questions in 50 minutes
Scored questions	41 scored, 4 field test
Reporting category	Integrating Essential Skills
Share of scored questions	20%, according to ACT
Average time per question	About 67 seconds
Counts toward the Composite	Yes
Practice on this page	3 original questions: Easy, Medium, Hard

What this tests

What does ACT Integrating Essential Skills test?

Rates and unit conversions. Use rates such as pages per second or miles per hour, converting units like minutes to seconds along the way.
Percent changes. Find percent increases and decreases, discounts, and tax, including several percent changes applied one after another.
Proportional reasoning. Set up and solve proportions, scale factors, and ratio problems.
Area, perimeter, and volume. Find measurements of basic shapes and solids, often as one step inside a longer problem.
Averages and totals. Use the relationship between mean, sum, and count to find a missing or removed value.
Multi-step problems. Chain several basic operations together while tracking units and what each intermediate number means.

Practice questions

Practice ACT Integrating Essential Skills questions

Pick an answer to check it. Each question has one correct choice.

Question 1 of 3Easy

A printer prints 18 pages in 45 seconds. At this rate, how many pages will it print in 4 minutes?

Show answer and explanation

Correct answerC. $96$

How to solve it

Convert the time: 4 minutes is $4 \times 60 = 240$ seconds.
Find the rate: $\frac{18}{45} = 0.4$ pages per second.
Multiply: $0.4 \times 240 = 96$ pages.

Why the other choices miss

1.6

multiplies the rate by 4 without converting minutes to seconds.

72

treats 45 seconds as if it were a full minute,

18 \times 4

600

flips the rate to 2.5 seconds per page and multiplies by 240.

Question 2 of 3Medium

A jacket is priced at 80 dollars. The store takes 25% off, and then an 8% sales tax is added to the discounted price. What is the final cost of the jacket?

Show answer and explanation

Correct answerB. 64.80 dollars

How to solve it

Apply the discount: $80 \times 0.75 = 60$ , so the discounted price is 60 dollars.
Apply the tax to the discounted price: $60 \times 1.08 = 64.80$ , so the final cost is 64.80 dollars.

Why the other choices miss

60.00 dollars applies the discount but forgets the tax. 66.40 dollars combines the changes into a single 17% decrease,

80 \times 0.83

, but percent changes must be applied one after another. 86.40 dollars applies the tax to the original price and skips the discount.

Question 3 of 3Hard

The mean of 6 numbers is 14. After one of the numbers is removed, the mean of the remaining 5 numbers is 12. What number was removed?

Show answer and explanation

Correct answerD. $24$

How to solve it

Turn each mean into a total: the 6 numbers sum to $6 \times 14 = 84$ .
The remaining 5 numbers sum to $5 \times 12 = 60$ .
The removed number is the difference: $84 - 60 = 24$ .

Why the other choices miss

2

subtracts the means,

14 - 12

, instead of the totals.

10

uses 5 numbers for both totals,

5 \times 14 - 5 \times 12

12

uses 6 numbers for both totals,

6 \times 14 - 6 \times 12

Avoid these traps

What mistakes do students make on Integrating Essential Skills?

Combining percent changes

Students add or subtract the percents, treating a 25% discount followed by an 8% tax as one 17% decrease.

Fix: Apply percent changes one at a time by multiplying, here by $0.75$ and then by $1.08$ .

Skipping unit conversions

Students mix minutes with seconds, or feet with inches, in the same calculation.

Fix: Write the unit next to every number, and convert everything to one unit before computing.

Working with means directly

Students subtract or average the means themselves instead of working with the totals behind them.

Fix: Turn each mean into a total (mean times count), do the arithmetic on the totals, then convert back if needed.

Study method

How should you practice ACT Integrating Essential Skills?

Underline every number and its unit before you start, and note which step uses each one.
For percent problems, convert each change to a multiplier, such as $0.75$ for a 25% decrease.
For averages, work with totals: the total equals the mean times the count.
After solving, check that the answer has the right unit and a sensible size.
Practice timed multi-step sets in Dolphin, and write out the first step for any problem you could not start.

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FAQ

Questions about ACT Integrating Essential Skills

What is Integrating Essential Skills on the ACT?

It is a math reporting category for multi-step problems built on skills usually learned before grade 8: rates, percentages, proportions, area, perimeter, volume, and averages. According to ACT, it makes up 20% of scored math questions.

Is Integrating Essential Skills part of Preparing for Higher Math?

No. ACT reports Preparing for Higher Math (80%) and Integrating Essential Skills (20%) as separate categories. Preparing for Higher Math groups Number & Quantity, Algebra, Functions, Geometry, and Statistics & Probability.

If these are basic skills, why do students miss them?

Each step is familiar, but the problems combine several steps. Misses often come from a skipped unit conversion, percent changes combined into one, or choosing an intermediate value instead of the final answer. Writing each step with its unit helps.

How much time do I have per ACT math question?

According to ACT, the math section gives you 50 minutes for 45 questions, which averages about 67 seconds per question. Multi-step problems can take longer than that, so keep a steady pace on quicker questions to leave time for them.

How do I see my Integrating Essential Skills results?

ACT's score report lists each reporting category with the number of questions in it, the number you answered correctly, and your percent correct. Compare this line with Preparing for Higher Math to see whether multi-step basics or higher-level topics need more of your study time.

Related practice

Sources

Where these facts come from

ACT: Understanding Your ACT Scores: reporting categories, category shares, Composite calculation, and scoring.
ACT: Test Enhancements and Changes: section length, question counts, and optional Science.
ACT: Official test preparation and free practice tests: released ACT questions in the real test format.

ACT facts checked October 9, 2026. Every practice question on this page is original Dolphin practice written to match one ACT reporting category. None is a released ACT item.

ACT® is a trademark registered by ACT, Inc., which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, Dolphin.

ACT Integrating Essential Skills Practice

Integrating Essential Skills on the ACT: the key numbers

What does ACT Integrating Essential Skills test?

Practice ACT Integrating Essential Skills questions

How to solve it

How to solve it

How to solve it

What mistakes do students make on Integrating Essential Skills?

Combining percent changes

Skipping unit conversions

Working with means directly

How should you practice ACT Integrating Essential Skills?

Questions about ACT Integrating Essential Skills

Keep practicing for the ACT

Where these facts come from