Students Enrolled in Grade 6, 7, 8, or 9
Parents of younger students may register them to take the ACT or ACT Plus Writing at any time. Due to Internet privacy laws, students younger than 13 years of age cannot register online. To register for the ACT, request a registration packet, or get a registration packet from your local high school. We encourage students who are at least 13 years of age to register online, but you must pay by credit card.
Academic Talent Identification
Young students identified by their schools as academically talented may be invited to participate in an academic talent search program that includes taking the ACT. For details about individual talent search programs, visit the individual program sites:
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- Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) at The University of Iowa
- Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University
- Joseph Baldwin Academy at Truman State University
- Midwest Academic Talent Search (MATS) at Northwestern University
- Center for Innovative and Talented Youth (CITY) at University of Denver
- Talent Identification Program (TIP) at Duke University
Many of these programs offer an easy one-step registration option that combines registering for the talent search with registering for the ACT. Some additional test centers have been established especially for these students, and those centers are listed only in the talent search publications. Younger students are therefore advised to follow the instructions they receive from the talent search to register for the ACT. This will normally require registering with the talent search rather than using ACT online registration.
ACT provides links to other websites for informational purposes only. ACT is not responsible for the content in other sites, and links from the ACT website to other sites are not intended to imply endorsement of them by ACT.