The ACT is changing! ACT (quietly) announced that a new version of the longstanding college entrance exam will be released in Spring 2025 for national testing and Spring 2026 for school day testing.
The biggest changes to the ACT will include an overall shortened test and newly optional Science section. Composite scores will continue to be on a 1-36 point scale, but will only include English, Math, and Reading section scores. Students may elect to take the Science section, just as they have been able to elect to take the Writing (essay) section, but those scores will be reported separately.
ACT claims the new version of the test (without Science) will be 2 hours long, which will reduce the testing time by about an hour, and will include both a decrease in the number of questions and shortened English and Reading passages. Importantly, this means students will now have more time available to answer each question. As the fast pace of the ACT has always been one of the test’s biggest challenges, this is good news for students.
Contrasted with the SAT, which underwent significant revisions in 2016 and again in 2023 when it became a fully digital and adaptive exam, the changes to the ACT over the years have been very slight. In 2005, ACT added the optional Writing section, and in 2015, ACT revised the Writing prompt, added a paired text to its Reading section, and provided more detailed sub-scores and reporting categories for students. Otherwise, the ACT has remained largely the same over the decades. The stability of the ACT, and its commitment to maintaining a paper-and-pencil exam (while also making a digital version of the ACT available), has endeared the test to many educators and families. Within this context, the changes announced yesterday are dramatic. However, there is no reason to panic.
For one, these changes to the ACT mean that the ACT and SAT are becoming more similar. For years, the standalone ACT Science section has been an important deciding factor for students choosing between the two tests, as the SAT has never had an explicit Science section. By making the ACT Science section optional, and by mirroring SAT’s decision to reduce the length of the test, the number of questions, and the length of its passages, thereby giving students more time per question, the ACT is aligning itself closer to the SAT. With these changes to the ACT, it may be that the primary differences between the ACT and SAT will be student preference with regard to test structure (linear like the ACT or adaptive like the SAT) and delivery format (paper or digital for the ACT, digital only for the SAT). Once we see released versions of the shortened ACT we’ll be better able to evaluate any content differences.
Although ACT’s announcement will come as a surprise to some, Academic Approach has been watching ACT carefully after we learned that ACT was piloting a “shortened version” of the test in June. While it is not officially confirmed that the piloted test, and this newly announced shortened test are the same, it is fair to infer that there may be strong similarities, especially since the piloted test featured 44 fewer questions, the same number of questions ACT announced it will be cutting for the shortened test. Below, we’ve included information about the number of questions and timing of the pilot test.
| Current ACT | Pilot ACT | Difference | |
| English | 75 questions in 45 minutes | 50 questions in 35 minutes | 25 fewer questions with 6 extra seconds per question |
| Math | 60 questions in 60 minutes | 45 questions in 50 minutes | 15 fewer questions with 7 extra seconds per question |
| Reading | 40 questions in 35 minutes | 36 questions in 40 minutes | 4 fewer questions with 12.5 extra seconds per question |
| Science | 40 questions in 35 minutes | 40 questions in 45 minutes | Same number of questions with 15 extra seconds per question |
While we can’t say with certainty that the number of questions and timing of the ACT piloted in June will in fact be the new specifications for this Spring 2025 shortened ACT, it is good to be aware of the kind of changes ACT has tested ahead of this announcement.
The state of Illinois has already announced that it is returning to the ACT (after 8 years with the SAT as its state-mandated standardized test) for the 2024-2025 school year. The contract stipulates that Illinois students will be given the digital version of the ACT that includes English, mathematics, reading, science, and writing. Given this information, and the fact that Illinois elected to add the optional Writing section, it’s highly likely that students will also be provided the newly optional Science section.
As always, we promise to keep you up to date as we learn more about these changes to the ACT. To read ACT’s announcement, click here.
