BIG ACT Changes & What You Need to Know

Today we’re talking about how the ACT is changing. Last July the makers of the ACT announced they would change the test effective this April. Which is pretty fast, but important to note the changes don’t go into effect for all testers right away. At first, it’ll just change the online ACT which is only available in select locations. The changes go nationwide for the paper ACT effective September of 2025. So that’s fall of next school year. And for students taking a school day ACT, meaning their school administers it just to their students on a Monday through Friday during class time, changes go into effect in April of 2026, so spring of next school year at the time of this recording, irrespective of whether students are testing online or on paper.

Now, there are a lot of changes coming big and small. So I’m going to break them all down for you one section at a time. Starting with Section 1 on the ACT: the English section, where they give you stories and they underline a word, a phrase, a sentence, and give you options off to the side for a better way to have written that underlying portion. Or, leave it as is, no change. Testing you on things like grammar, punctuation and more. This section is cutting down from 45 minutes to 35 minutes, so 10 fewer minutes. It’s also cutting down from 75 questions to 50 questions. 25 fewer questions. We still expect there to be 5 stories, but now instead of 15 questions per story, we expect there to be a nice round 10 questions per story. And what that means is that students will have, instead of 36 seconds per question, an average of 42 seconds per question. Which is almost 20% more time per question.

Section 2 is math, and math is going to get cut down from 60 minutes to 50 minutes. That’s 10 fewer minutes. It’s also cutting down from 60 questions to 45 questions. So that’s 15 fewer questions. So now instead of students getting an average 1 minute per question, they’re going to average almost a minute and 7 seconds per question. But remember, the questions still go from easy to medium to hard, which means you still have to go faster on those earlier easier 10 or 15 questions so that you have more time than the average per question for those later harder 10 or 15 questions. Another change coming to math is that rather than 5 multiple choice options, students will now have 4 multiple choice options matching the rest of the ACT and the SAT as well.

Section 3 is reading, and that’s going to change in 2 different directions. Now, instead of 35 minutes, students will get 40 minutes, so that’s 5 extra minutes. But rather than 40 questions, students will get 36 questions. Which means, instead of getting an average 52 seconds per question, it’ll average out to, again, almost a minute and 7 seconds per question. We still expect there to be 4 stories on topics like literature, humanities, natural science, and social science. But now instead of 10 questions per story, we expect 9 questions per story.

Section 4 is the science, and this is the biggest change coming to the ACT because now the science section will be optional. And if you’re not good at science or you don’t want to do the science, you don’t have to do it. And they’re making this change to better compete with the SAT, which doesn’t have a separately graded science section. So on the ACT science section, they’re going to give you, still, 6 or 7 stories, still with 5 or usually 6 or 7 questions. You’re still going to have 40 questions in total, but now instead of 35 minutes, you’re going to have 40 minutes. That’s 5 extra minutes, Meaning, instead of 52 seconds per question, you’re going to average a nice round 1 minute per question.

If you test without the science, testing with what they call the “core test” of English, math, and reading, colleges will still receive those scores, will still receive a super score, will still receive your best single day score, and will still receive an ELA score combining your English and reading. But they will not receive the STEM score, which combines the math and the science. You’d have to take those 2 sections in order to get a STEM score. So what we don’t know from colleges yet is whether they’re going to accept students submitting ACT scores without the science section they’ve been accustomed to since the ACT launched in the 1950s. Or, whether they’re going to require the science section for certain STEM based majors. We’re going to wait and find that out school-by-school for the fall ‘25 admission cycle by the time applications open, which for most colleges is August 1st. Keep your ears open.

Section 5 is still the writing section, which is an essay, which is still 40 minutes and still costs 25 extra dollars. But colleges by and large have stopped using that in their admissions decisions. So like I tell all of my students, you can just skip it. We’re waiting on more news. But ultimately the ACT is making these changes to better compete with the SAT, which earlier this year in March of 2024, cut their test from 3 hours of testing material down to 2 hours and 14 minutes. So now the ACT has cut theirs from 2 hours and 55 minutes to 2 hours and 5 minutes excluding the writing and the science sections based on the new timing for each section.

Keep your ears open. When we hear more, we’ll let you know. And if you have questions, call us at 732-556-8220. We are here to help.