I’m in 7th grade, taking the ACT, but I don’t have a high enough GPA to get into where I want to go for college. Does the 7th grade GPA matter? Or is it disregarded? I’ve been a fairly lazy student, but it matters a lot right now.
Nothing you do in 7th grade will matter. You may well not be able to submit your ACT by the time you are a senior. Most colleges will not accept test scores that are beyond five years old. The whole test might be redesigned by the time you actually need to take it, and colleges may no longer accept it by then. Furthermore, I think most colleges don’t accept test scores taken in middle school, for obvious reasons, mainly that 99.9% of middle school test takers have not yet learned the relevant content needed for the test, especially as it pertains to math.
Why are you taking the ACT? If your GPA isn’t high enough to get into college, there really seems to be no point, because it doesn’t appear you are going to try to enter college early.
OP is probably taking the ACT as part of a talent search.
The only thing your 7th grade GPA will influence is what you may be able to take in 8th grade. Colleges won’t care, nor will they likely ever know, what your middle school GPA is/was. That being said - try putting in a little more effort in 8th grade and start training yourself to be less lazy for when high school starts.