You can be as prepared for the ACT as you want, crushing the pacing and getting 36s on all of your practice tests—none of it will matter if you don’t show up at the test center on the right day. In this post, we’ll lay out the schedule of remaining 2020-2021 ACT test dates and registration deadlines so that you know exactly when the test is administered. It might not be that interesting, but it’s definitely important.
2021 ACT Test Schedule
As a general rule, the ACT is administered roughly once every two months. There are typically a couple of times each year – generally summer and fall/winter – where they’ll double up and have test dates in consecutive months. The end result is an average of 7-8 test dates per normal calendar year.
Of course, you may have caught on by now to the fact that this hasn’t exactly been a normal calendar year. As a result of the tumult caused by COVID, the ACT added multiple additional test dates in September and October of 2020 (with varying degrees of success actually administering them). Those new dates have all come and gone by this point, however, and the current schedule for remaining 2020-2021 ACT test dates looks like this:
- Test Date: Dec. 12, 2020
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- Registration Deadline: Nov. 6
- Late Registration Deadline: Nov. 20
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- Test Date: Feb. 6, 2021
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- Registration Deadline: Jan. 8
- Late Registration Deadline: Jan. 16
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- Test Date: Apr. 17, 2021
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- Registration Deadline: Mar. 12
- Late Registration Deadline: Mar. 26
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- Test Date: June 12, 2021
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- Registration Deadline: May 7
- Late Registration Deadline: May 21
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- Test Date: July 17, 2021
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- Registration Deadline: June 18
- Late Registration Deadline: June 25
- Not available in New York
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It’s important to remember that even though you can register up until the late registration deadline for a given test date by paying a fee, seats at test centers are very much ‘first come, first serve.’ If you want to be sure of getting a spot at a center that isn’t three towns over, it’s a good idea to get registered as early as possible once you know that you want to test on a specific date.
I also want to be sure to note that there will be additional 2021 test dates in the months following July, likely in September, October, and December. The ACT typically releases the specific dates towards the end of the preceding school year (so May or June of 2021 in this case), and registration for 2021-2022 test dates will likely open at some point in the summer.
Potential Changes to the 2021 Schedule
As a final note, students should be aware that it’s very possible that this testing schedule will change over the coming months. COVID has wreaked havoc on most 2020 test dates, and it’s likely that some form of restrictions (and therefore accompanying test cancellations) will carry over into at least the early part of 2021. It’s also possible that the ACT will add additional test dates to compensate for that fact, as they did in September and October of 2020.
Students should remember to be on the lookout for any and all updates regarding the testing schedule. Follow the ACT on Twitter, keep an eye on your email inbox if you’re registered for a test date, and check ACT.org periodically for any new information. Make sure that you start thinking about prepping for and taking the test early enough to account for any unexpected delays in the scheduling process—you don’t want to be stuck playing catch-up!
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That wraps up our brief summary of 2020-2021 ACT test dates and registration deadlines. If you’d like more information about registering for the ACT, planning a prep schedule, or any other aspect of the test, head over to Inspirica Pros’ ACT headquarters. Our squad of test gurus would love to help you crush the ACT.
