What we know about the new ACT so far

In a press release on July 15, 2024, the ACT announced it will be updating its college entrance test over the next two years. These changes come in the wake of ACT’s digital test relaunch in December 2023 and the SAT’s permanent shift to an entirely new digital test format in March 2024.

Their overall goal appears to be to differentiate themselves as the test provider that offers the most variety and accessibility to meet every student’s individual needs.

What is changing about the ACT?

1. Pacing: Fewer questions, more time per question
   1. English – 50 questions in 35 minutes
   2. Reading – 36 questions in 40 minutes
   3. Math – 45 questions in 50 minutes
   4. Science – 40 questions in 40 minutes
   5. (Writing is still 40 minutes to answer one essay question)

2. Science section will be optional
   1. The Science section will now be treated like the writing section in that it will…
   2. Cost an extra fee and will not be included in the “core” test everyone takes
   3. Have a score included in the STEM score but NOT the composite score
   4. Be optional for in-school tests to provide it at all

3. Updates to the content of each subject
   1. English
      1. Adding instructions and a specific question to every item (primarily for screen reader accessibility)
      2. Shorter passages (a common theme throughout all of the updates)
      3. One passage will be an argument essay

2. Math
   1. Only 4 answer choices instead of current 5
   2. Reducing number of questions on hardest and easiest math concepts (presumably Pre-calculus and computation)
   3. Shorter word problem questions (again, less reading)

3. Reading
   1. Shorter passages
   2. More “Integration of Ideas” questions, which…
      1. Evaluate what the author’s main claim or purpose is
      2. Compare the opinions of multiple authors
      3. Analyze the best evidence to support a claim

4. Science
   1. Will include one engineering and/or design passage
   2. Increase the number of questions that require external science knowledge
   3. Make the test a better measurement of actual science skill, rather than just statistics skill

4. Integrated research questions
   1. The current system has a fifth section designed to gather data about testers which is not counted toward the composite score
   2. They are now integrating those questions into each section
      1. 10 questions in English
      2. 9 questions in Reading
      3. 4 questions in Math
      4. 6 questions in Science

5. Pricing
   1. The “core” test (English, Reading, and Science) will be cheaper so that the add-ons will still add up to the current total
   2. Fee waivers will be applicable to the Science section as well

When will these changes take place?

Here is a tentative timeline of goals the ACT is aiming for, though there may be changes to this as the year progresses:

1. Sometime before April 2025, the ACT will release an updated online practice test so students and educators can see what it will be like
2. In April 2025, national online test-takers will experience the new version of the test first
3. In September 2025, all national* and international testing will move to the updated model
4. In April 2026, all in-school state and district** testing will use the new test

*National tests are the ones offered on a Saturday which are open to anyone to enroll on the ACT’s website.

**State and district testing is for the students who take the test at their school on a school day. These are being rolled out later due to the nature of ACT’s contracts with school districts.

What we can anticipate about these changes

1. The core test will be an even better option for students strongest in humanities. Higher Scores has always advised students strongest in English and Reading take the ACT over the SAT, and this will be even more true once the Science section becomes optional.

2. The ACT will continue to be the best option for students who need accommodations of any kind. Their digital accommodations and flexibility is superior to the Digital SAT, and the considerations they are taking for screen readers only further solidifies that point.

3. The Digital ACT will be more widely available and offer a compelling alternative to the Digital SAT for students who do not want adaptive testing.

4. There will likely be small shifts to the core test over the course of 2025 and into 2026 as the real-time results come in for the first time and scores fluctuate slightly higher or lower with the slower pacing and potentially harder questions. We can probably expect the ACT to settle into its new form by the end of 2026.

5. University STEM programs will have to decide whether the Science section is a useful metric for them. If they treat it like they treat the Writing section, it may become rare for students to take the Science section at all. However, if certain competitive programs do find the Science score useful, the ACT could become a necessity for students applying for Engineering and hard science programs, in particular.

The Higher Scores plan

Higher Scores Test Prep will continue to offer up-to-date test prep as we aim to meet every student’s testing needs, so we will have a new ACT course available in Spring of 2025 for students taking the Digital ACT.

During the period in which both the new and old ACTs are administered in different settings, Higher Scores will have both prep courses available.

If you would like to take the current ACT before it changes: Get started with our ACT Sprint or ACT Comprehensive courses to be fully prepared for test day.

As new information about these tests is made available, we will continue to post updates so that our students can make the best choices for their testing journeys.