Students Enrolled in Grade 6, 7, 8, or 9
Parents of younger students may register them to take the ACT (No Writing) or ACT Plus Writing on the web only if the student is at least 13 years of age. Due to Internet privacy laws, students younger than 13 cannot register online or create a student Web account, even if their parents or guardians assist them or create their account. These students should request a registration packet or get one from a local high school. We encourage students who are at least 13 years of age to register online, but payment must be made by valid credit card.
Academic Talent Identification Programs
Students identified by their schools as academically talented may be invited to participate in an academic talent search program that includes taking the ACT.
Many of these programs offer a one-step registration option that combines registering for the talent search program with registering for the ACT. In some instances, additional test centers have been established especially for these students which are listed only in the talent search publications. Talent search participants are advised to follow the instructions they receive from their respective program to register for the ACT. This may require registering directly with the talent search program rather than using ACT online registration or an ACT registration packet.
For details about specific academic talent search programs, visit these websites:
(Links will open in a new window.)
- Belin-Blank Exceptional Student Talent Search (BESTS) at The University of Iowa
- Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University
- Joseph Baldwin Academy (JBA) at Truman State University
- Midwest Academic Talent Search (MATS) at Northwestern University
- Talent Identification Program (TIP) at Duke University
- Western Academic Talent Search (WATS)
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.


