Last Updated On: July 31st, 2024
Throughout the years, the ACT has been the paragon of consistency. While the SAT went through multiple iterations—adding a Writing section and making it out of 2400, revamping the entire test and changing it back to 1600, making the Essay optional, dropping the Essay altogether, and then completely revamping it again with no essay and going Digital—the ACT has kept its tried-and-true test. With the exception of adding an optional Essay section in 2005, the ACT has kept its format of English, Math, Reading, and Science, in that order, with a maximum scaled score of 36. It’s been remarkably predictable over the decades, until last week, when the ACT announced significant changes to its upcoming tests.
So what’s changing? The biggest change is that the notorious (and often dreaded) Science section will now be optional. At the same time, the other three sections—English, Math, and Reading—will be shorter, reducing the total time for the core test from 3 hours to 2 hours. There will be shorter passages for English and Reading and fewer questions in each section, allowing test takers more time for each question. As in years past, students may choose to take the test online or with paper and pencil.
These changes will take effect with national online testing in spring 2025 and for school-day testing in spring 2026. This means that students applying for the 2025-26 college year will face the current test (with the Science section), while students planning to start college in 2026 can take the revamped test online.
What does this mean for potential test-takers? First off, the changes make the ACT more similar to the New Digital SAT, which includes two combined Reading and Writing sections that mix questions of both types and two Math sections. When I’ve advised students in the past about the difference between tests, there have been three major points: the ACT includes the Science section and the SAT doesn’t, the SAT allows more time per question, and the ACT questions are more straightforward (but still challenging). Now, the first two differences might no longer apply, though the ACT probably still offers more straightforward questions, especially on the math section. The changes may also reduce another advantage of the ACT—plenty of readily available practice tests. Like the Digital SAT, the ACT will probably only release a handful of practice tests when it first rolls out the new test format, and it may take test preparation companies a little while to develop materials that effectively mimic the changes to the test.
The advice that I would give potential test-takers who are deciding between tests is still the same as before: Make time to take a full practice test for both the SAT and the ACT, see how you score, and decide which test you’d like to focus on. Also, find out whether the schools you’re most interested in require or prefer the ACT Science and/or Essay sections.
Does this make test preparation easier? The short answer is yes. The ACT Science section tends to be one of the most daunting sections of the test, and also one that is the least similar to what students already do in school, so as a tutor I spend a fair amount of time teaching strategies for that section. Those opting to drop the Science section will probably need less preparation time. That said, even the revised and shortened versions of the SAT and ACT are (and will be) challenging tests, so potential test-takers will still want to take time to prepare.
