Trig on the ACT — Only ~4 Questions, but Free Points

ACT Math · Axiom Academy

Only about four questions per test — but they follow the same handful of patterns, so they can be free points. Four questions you can basically pre-earn Trigonometry shows up on only about 3–5 of the 60 ACT Math questions, and it tests the same small set of ideas every single test. Master a couple of basics — SOH‑CAH‑TOA, the special right triangles, and a stray identity — and you can pick up nearly all of them. This intro shows you the one idea the whole thing rests on, then hands you two of the tools to try yourself. Right-triangle trig (SOH-CAH-TOA) — sides and angles from sine, cosine, tangent 2–3 Qs Special right triangles — 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 1–2 Qs Trig identities — and basic simplifying 0–1 Q Unit circle & radians — degree–radian swaps, key angle values 0–1 Q Graphing trig functions — amplitude, period, shifts 0–1 Q Small scope. Only about 4–5 core ideas — and no calculus, ever. Predictable. Nearly identical questions come back test after test. Friendly angles. They lean on 30°, 45°, 60°, and multiples of 90°. Quick. Each one takes a minute or two once you know the pattern. Almost every one of those points back to a single move: on a right triangle, each trig ratio is just one side over another. Watch SOH‑CAH‑TOA get built one ratio at a time — each ratio lights up exactly the two sides it comes from. Three ratios, one triangle. Every ACT right-triangle question is just picking the one that uses the sides you were given. Change the angle, read the ratios

This is the written version of the interactive lesson above. See the full ACT Math course.