Registration deadlines · 2026-2027
ACT registration deadlines
The next deadline is November 6, 2026 at 11:59pm Central, for the December 12, 2026 test — 6 days from now. Regular registration closes 36 days before each sitting, and late registration adds roughly another fortnight for a fee.
Next test
Dec 12
Register by
Nov 6
Days left
6
Scores by
Jan 9
Closing soon
6 days left for December 12, 2026
Regular registration closes November 6, 2026 at 11:59pm Central. After that it is late registration with a fee until November 29, 2026, and centres near you may already be full.
Register at act.org →42 days after you register
Registering is the easy part. The weeks after it are where points move.
Most students spend them re-reading material they already know. The points are in the concepts you are actually missing, and finding them takes about three minutes.
Raise my ACT score →Free to start, no card. Built for the Enhanced ACT format.
Every 2026-2027 registration deadline
Regular and late deadlines for each remaining sitting, with when its scores arrive. “Scores by” is the four-week end of ACT’s published release window — the useful input if you are deciding whether a sitting is worth registering for at all.
| Test date | Register by | Late deadline | Scores by |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 12, 2026 | November 6, 2026 | November 29, 2026 | Jan 9 |
| February 27, 2027 | January 22, 2027 | February 9, 2027 | Mar 27 |
| April 10, 2027 | March 5, 2027 | March 23, 2027 | May 8 |
| June 12, 2027 | May 7, 2027 | May 25, 2027 | Jul 10 |
| July 10, 2027 | June 4, 2027 | June 22, 2027 | Aug 7 |
Dates already past are on the full 2026-2027 test date page, along with the projected schedule for the following year.
How the two windows differ
Regular registration is the ordinary fee. Late registration is the same test at a higher price, and it is not the same thing as standby.
Regular — closes 36 days before the test
The standard window and the one to aim for. It closes at 11:59pm Central on the published date, and the gap is a uniform 36 days before every sitting in the 2026-2027 year.
Late — roughly two to three weeks more, with a fee
Same test, same score release schedule, extra charge. Most 2026-2027 late deadlines fall 13 days before the test; December's falls 13 days before because of Thanksgiving week, which is the one irregularity in the schedule and the easiest to be caught by.
Standby — not a registration window
After the late deadline, some centres may admit standby testers if seats remain. It is not guaranteed, it depends on a centre you do not control, and taking the next published date is almost always the better plan.
Fee waivers — ask before the deadline, not after
ACT fee waivers are available to eligible students and cover the registration fee for up to four tests. They go through a school counsellor, which takes time, so the deadline to care about is earlier than the registration one.
Before you pick the sitting
A registration deadline is a decision point, not just a date. Two things decide whether a sitting is the right one.
Will the score arrive in time? Scores take one to four weeks, so work backwards from the earliest deadline on your list and plan against four. Every sitting’s release window is worked out date by date, including why the December test usually misses first-year merit money entirely.
Is there time to prepare for it? Registering for a sitting six weeks out and spending those weeks re-reading material you already know is the common failure. Most students improve on a second attempt and many colleges superscore, so the plan worth having is at least one retake with real preparation between the two.
Free to start, no card. Built for the Enhanced ACT format, so the question counts and conversions are the ones your sitting uses.
What this page cannot tell you
- Whether a centre near you has seats. Capacity is per test centre and ACT does not publish it in advance, so a deadline you meet is not a seat you have.
- The current fees. ACT sets and changes the registration and late fees, and quoting a figure that has moved is worse than sending you to the source for it.
- Your school's own deadline. Some high schools administer the ACT on separate state or district test days with their own registration process, which these national deadlines do not govern.
- Whether a date has changed. ACT can move a published date. This page is a reading of its schedule taken on October 24, 2026 and act.org is the authority.
Questions about ACT registration deadlines
When is the ACT registration deadline?
For the next test on December 12, 2026, regular registration closes November 6, 2026 at 11:59pm Central, which is 6 days away. Late registration, with an additional fee, runs to November 29, 2026. Every regular deadline in the 2026-2027 year falls 36 days before its test date.
How late can I register for the ACT?
Late registration runs roughly two to three weeks past the regular deadline with an extra fee — in the 2026-2027 year that is 13 days before the test for most sittings, and 13 days for the December one because of the Thanksgiving week. After the late deadline, standby testing may be available at some centres but is not guaranteed, and you are usually better off taking the next date.
What time do ACT deadlines close?
11:59pm Central on the published date. A deadline that reads as a whole day is really the end of that day in one specific time zone, which is worth knowing if you are registering from the Pacific or the Eastern coast.
What happens if I miss the ACT registration deadline?
You can register during the late period for an additional fee. After that, standby testing may be available at some centres but is not guaranteed — plan for the next date instead. Test centres also fill up, so registering on the deadline often means a long drive on test day even when you get a seat.
Does registering late affect when I get my scores?
No. Score release is counted from the test date, not from when you registered, so a late registration for a given sitting gets scores on the same schedule as an early one. ACT's published window is one to four weeks from the test date.
Related
Deadlines are stored verbatim from ACT’s published national test date schedule rather than derived from the test date, last confirmed on October 24, 2026. All times are 11:59pm Central. ACT can change a published date, so confirm on act.org before you rely on anything here. Score windows are ACT’s own one-to-four-week range counted forward from each test date.