The ACT® is Changing — Here's What Students and Parents Need to Know
Starting in April 2025, the ACT college admission test will undergo significant changes to enhance flexibility in how high school students take the test and reduce test duration for students. These modifications are designed to better align the assessment with students' needs while maintaining the ACT’s role as a reliable indicator for college admissions.
This article addresses the major changes to the ACT as well as Elite Prep’s recommendation for how students and parents should prepare for the new test.
1. Optional Science Test
One of the most notable changes is the option for students to choose whether to include the Science test when they register to take the ACT. The current ACT comprises four sections: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science (EMRS). With the upcoming changes, the Science section will become optional, similar to the existing Writing section. This allows students to tailor the test to their strengths and the requirements of their prospective colleges.
Elite Prep’s Pro Tip: If students are strong in math and science or plan to pursue STEM majors in college (such as computer science and engineering), then they should consider taking the Science test as a part of their ACT before applying to college.
2. Online Testing Option (But You Can Still Take the Test on Paper If You’d Like)
The most dramatic change, however, is the option for students to take the ACT online using their own computer at an approved testing center. (Students already have the option to take the current ACT online, albeit with limited availability. Even though the new ACT online test will be introduced in April 2025, we expect that online testing will continue to be limited initially and widespread availability will begin with the September 2025 test date.)
Furthermore, the ACT will continue to offer the option for students to take the new test in pencil-and-paper format. Therefore, unlike the digital SAT introduced by the College Board in March 2024, the new ACT will be a linear, non-adaptive test where all students will be tested using the same set of questions.
3. Shortened Test Duration and Increased Time Per Question
In addition to the optional Science section, the overall length of the test will be reduced, and students will have more time to tackle each question.
The new format decreases the total number of questions by 44, allowing students to complete the core sections in approximately 125 minutes, compared to the previous 195-minute duration. This reduction aims to lessen test fatigue and provide students with more time per question, thereby enhancing the testing experience. (That said, students who decide to take the optional Science section will increase their test time by 40 minutes.)
The Math section will also see a change in its structure. The number of answer choices for each math question will be reduced from five to four, simplifying the decision-making process for test-takers. This adjustment is intended to streamline the test and reduce the cognitive load on students.
Additionally, the length of passages in the English and Reading sections will be shortened, thereby reducing the time students spend reading when taking the test.
4. Change in Calculation of ACT Composite and STEM Scores
With the upcoming changes, the calculation of the ACT Composite and STEM scores will be adjusted. The Composite score, which previously averaged the scores of all four sections, will now be calculated based on the English, Mathematics, and Reading (EMR) sections only.
For students who choose to take the optional Science section, their Science score will be reported separately and will not factor into the Composite score. A STEM score will continue to be calculated as the average of the Mathematics and Science section scores.
Despite these adjustments, several core aspects of the ACT will remain the same. The scoring scale will continue to range from 1 to 36, and there will be no changes to the ACT benchmarks or state-specific achievement standards.
Implementation Timeline
The rollout of the new ACT will be staggered, with the introduction of the online test in April 2025 and the paper-based test in September 2025.
The changes to the ACT will first be implemented for students taking the national online starting in April 2025.
The ACT will continue to administer the current paper-based test (with the four mandatory sections for English, Math, Reading, and Science) through the July 2025 test administration.
Beginning in September 2025, the paper-and-pencil format of the new ACT will replace the current paper-based ACT, and students will choose between the paper-based and online versions of the new ACT.
Elite Prep’s Pro Tip: As we expect that the new online ACT will not be widely available during the initial phase of the rollout, most students will end up taking the current paper-based ACT during the initial phase of the new ACT rollout.
Same Fees for Both Versions of the Test
The fee will be the same for both the online and paper-based versions of the ACT through the July 2025 test administration:
The ACT Test: $65
Science Test Add-on: $4
Writing Test Add-on: $25
Note: students who take the paper-based ACT on the April, June and July test dates will not be able to opt out of taking the Science test.
Unanswered Questions about the New ACT
Will some colleges require students to take the Science test?
While students who want to highlight their strengths and interest in science should consider taking the optional Science test, it’s unclear whether colleges will nevertheless require the Science section for all students who want to submit an ACT score as a part of their college application.
Will students be allowed to not report their Science scores if they did not do well?
While colleges might not require all students who submit an ACT score to take the Science test, it’s unclear whether colleges will allow students who took the optional Science test to hide their Science score on the college application.
Will there be a new ACT-SAT concordance table for colleges to use when comparing students who submit different test scores in their college applications?
When the College Board introduced the digital SAT in March 2024, the ACT and the College Board did not revise the concordance table comparing the ACT and digital SAT. With the changes in the ACT, it’s unclear if these two organizations will get together and create a new concordance table for the two college admission tests.