If you searched for a list of PreACT test dates, here is the surprise: there isn't one. Unlike the ACT, the PreACT has no national test dates at all. Your school picks a day inside a long testing window and gives the test during the school day. The state and district Secure versions use two fixed windows instead.
The full ACT runs on a published national calendar — roughly seven Saturday test dates a year that any student can register for individually. The PreACT works completely differently. Schools order it, schools schedule it, and students take it at school. That difference explains why you cannot find a date list anywhere and why the answer to "when is the PreACT?" is always some version of "ask your school." This guide covers how the testing windows work for 2026–27, how to pin down your own date, and how PreACT timing fits into the larger testing arc that ends with the real ACT.
There are no national PreACT test dates, and there is no individual registration. States, districts, schools, education agencies, and gifted programs order the PreACT and PreACT 8/9, and each school chooses its own test day inside a broad window. PreACT Secure and PreACT 9 Secure are ordered only by states and districts and are given inside two fixed windows. Either way, your grade usually tests during a regular school day, not on a Saturday.
That means two things in practice. First, the only reliable source for your test date is your own school. Second, if your school does not offer the PreACT, you cannot sign up somewhere else the way you can for the full ACT — but there are good substitutes, covered in the last section.
For the 2026–27 school year, the PreACT and PreACT 8/9 testing window runs from early September 2026 through late May 2027. Inside that span, a school orders the test, picks a date that fits its own calendar, and proctors the test itself, usually during the school day for an entire grade at once. (PreACT Secure and PreACT 9 Secure work differently; see Secure administrations below.)
Because the window covers almost the whole school year, there is enormous variation in when students actually test. One district might run the PreACT for all sophomores in early October; the school across town might wait until March. Neither is "the" PreACT date — both are simply choices inside the same window.
The PreACT is a school assessment tool, not an admissions test. Colleges don't use PreACT scores for admission, so there is no reason to make every student test on the same morning the way the real ACT does. Letting schools schedule around their own calendars — sports seasons, state testing, semester breaks — is what makes a school-day administration workable at all.
You will most likely take the PreACT in a classroom or gym at your own school, proctored by your own teachers, on a weekday. Schools can give the PreACT and PreACT 8/9 on paper or online; the Secure versions are online only, with limited paper accommodations. Since fall 2026 the PreACT runs 120 minutes for English, Math, and Reading, or 160 minutes if your school or district also gives Science. The PreACT 8/9 still runs about 130 minutes. Either way, schools usually block out a morning for it.
Since the date is a school decision, the search happens at school, not on ACT's website. In rough order of usefulness:
Counselors either set the PreACT date or sit in the meetings where it gets set. A thirty-second question — "when is our PreACT this year, and which grades take it?" — usually settles the matter completely.
Larger schools have a designated test coordinator who manages ordering, materials, and proctoring for every standardized test the school gives. If your counselor doesn't know the date yet, the coordinator will know the plan.
Many schools publish the PreACT date on the academic calendar, in a counseling newsletter, or in morning announcements a few weeks out. If you see a morning blocked off for "sophomore testing" in the fall or spring, that is often it.
Two versions of the PreACT run on a different calendar: PreACT Secure (grade 10, scored 1–35) and PreACT 9 Secure (grade 9, scored 1–32). Only states and districts can order them. They are given online (with limited paper accommodations) under stricter conditions, closer to an official state assessment.
Instead of a school-year-long window, the Secure versions have two fixed windows each year. Your state or district picks the day inside them:
| Secure window | 2026–27 dates | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Fall | September – October 2026 | 4 weeks |
| Spring | March – April 2027 | 6 weeks |
From your point of view, the test still happens at school on a day someone else selects. The decision just sits a level above your school, and your counselor is still the one who tells you the date. Some districts use Secure results for decisions such as placement (Chicago Public Schools uses PreACT 9 Secure for selective enrollment, for example), so ask how your scores will be used.
| Version | Grades | Score Scale | Delivery | Who Orders / Schedules It |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PreACT 8/9 | 8–9 | 1–30 | Paper or online | Schools, districts, states, agencies, gifted programs · school picks a day, early Sept – late May |
| PreACT | 9–10 | 1–35 | Paper or online | Schools, districts, states, agencies, gifted programs · school picks a day, early Sept – late May |
| PreACT 9 Secure | 9 | 1–32 | Online | States and districts only · fall (Sept–Oct) or spring (March–April) window |
| PreACT Secure | 10 | 1–35 | Online | States and districts only · fall (Sept–Oct) or spring (March–April) window |
| ACT (for reference) | 11–12 | 1–36 | Paper or online | You register for a national date (~7x per year) |
ACT does not prescribe a season — the window is the window — but in practice schools tend to cluster their choice around one of two goals. This is common practice, not official policy, so treat it as a way to guess your school's likely timing, not a rule.
Schools that test in the fall are usually after a baseline: where does each student stand at the start of the year? A fall PreACT gives counselors most of a school year to act on the results — course placement conversations, targeted support, and early ACT planning all benefit from data that arrives in October rather than April.
Schools that test in the spring are typically measuring growth — how far students have come over the year — or timing the result to feed directly into summer and junior-year planning. A spring PreACT score, with its predicted ACT range, lands right as families start thinking about when to take a first real ACT.
Some districts do both across grades: PreACT 8/9 in one season, the PreACT in another. If your district uses a Secure version, the season is limited to the fall or spring window. Again — your school's pattern is knowable only from your school.
How fast scores come back depends on how you test. Online results are available as soon as testing is complete. Paper answer sheets have to be scored first, so paper results take longer. Your school distributes the reports, so the day you see yours also depends on your school.
The report itself is the whole point of the exercise. It includes:
| Report Component | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
| Composite score | 1–30 (PreACT 8/9), 1–32 (PreACT 9 Secure), or 1–35 (PreACT and PreACT Secure), from English, Math, and Reading |
| Science score | Only if your school or district gives Science; it isn't part of the composite |
| Predicted ACT ranges | Predicted ACT subject and Composite score ranges on the 1–36 scale (PreACT 8/9 and PreACT 9 Secure also show predicted PreACT ranges) |
| Readiness benchmarks | Whether each subject score is on track for the ACT College Readiness Benchmarks |
| STEM score | A combined read on your math and science performance |
| NCRC progress indicator | Progress toward the WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate |
| Interest inventory | Career-area interests paired with your results (PreACT and PreACT 8/9 only) |
Colleges don't use PreACT scores for admission, and for most students the test is low-stakes, so treat any result as a diagnostic. A weak Reading score isn't a verdict; it's a to-do list for the year or two before the ACT. If your report shows a US Rank, that's the best guide to how you compare nationally.
The PreACT makes the most sense viewed as one step in a multi-year arc. ACT designed the suite so that a student can get a scored, on-format checkpoint in 8th or 9th grade, another in 9th or 10th, and then walk into a first real ACT junior year with two calibrated data points already in hand.
| Grade | Test | Scale | How It's Scheduled |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8th–9th | PreACT 8/9 | 1–30 | School picks a day, early Sept – late May |
| 9th | PreACT 9 Secure (state/district testing) | 1–32 | District or state picks a day in the fall or spring window |
| 9th–10th | PreACT | 1–35 | School picks a day, early Sept – late May |
| 10th | PreACT Secure (state/district testing) | 1–35 | District or state picks a day in the fall or spring window |
| 11th | First real ACT | 1–36 | You register for a national date (~7 per year) |
| 11th–12th | ACT retakes as needed | 1–36 | National dates — pick strategically |
Notice the handoff in 11th grade: scheduling control moves from your school to you. That is when date strategy actually starts to matter — see which ACT test dates work best for how juniors typically sequence their attempts, and the current ACT date calendar for what's available.
If your school doesn't offer the PreACT, or you missed the administration day, you can't register for it independently the way you can for the ACT or SAT. (The PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10, and PSAT 8/9 are school-administered too.) The good news is that you aren't missing anything you can't replicate.
Because the PreACT is fully content-aligned with the ACT, a timed, full-length ACT practice test measures the same English, math, reading, and science skills. In one sense it is a better instrument: instead of a predicted ACT range, you get a direct read on the actual 1–36 scale you will eventually be scored on.
Take it in one sitting, timed strictly, ideally on a weekend morning to simulate test conditions. Score it, then treat the section breakdown exactly the way you would treat a PreACT report: identify the weakest section, note the question types that cost you points, and build a light plan around them. Younger students should expect scores below where they'll eventually land — that is the same reality the PreACT's grade-adjusted scales (topping out at 30, 32, or 35 rather than 36) are designed to soften.