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Enhancing MasteryPrep for the New ACT®

  • Stephanie Constantino
  • February 20, 2025

As students around the country gear up for the new ACT®, MasteryPrep is hard at work aligning our products with the revamped test format. Alongside overall quality enhancements to our ACT product line, we’re updating our lesson content, practice questions, and strategies to support educators in prepping students for what they can expect on test day.

For national testers, these changes will begin as early as April 2025. However, students taking the ACT administered during the school day—at the state and district level—will have until the spring of 2026 to prepare for these changes.

  • What’s Changing on the ACT?

With the enhancements being made to the ACT, students can expect:

  • Digital format. The ACT will now be offered in a digital format, alongside its usual pencil-and-paper options.
  • Shorter length. The English, Reading, and Math sections of the test will all see a reduction in the total number of questions.
  • More time. Each subject test’s allotted time will provide students with additional time per question.
  • Passage changes. English and Reading passages have been shortened in both word count and question totals. Science, on the other hand, has added a new genre of passage focused on engineering topics.
  • English stems. Students will now see a stem attached to every English question, clearly indicating the type of skill being tested.
  • Optional Science. The Science will become optional for students, allowing them to tailor their test structure to better reflect their strengths.
  • Field test item integration. Field test items will be integrated into students’ tests, rather than administered as a separate 20-minute section during national test implementations.
  • Key Changes to MasteryPrep for the ACT
MasteryPrep hasn’t just been researching the changes students should expect to see on test day. We’ve been busy updating our test prep solutions to integrate these changes into each and every product and service. Our goal is to ensure our students receive the highest quality test prep materials that will help them score college-ready.

So, what’s in store for MasteryPrep’s ACT offerings?

  • Digital Updates

The best prep materials offer students the opportunity to engage in authentic test practice, meaning they’re practicing with materials that look just like the test.

MasteryPrep has updated our digital offerings—including Practice Testing & Analysis, our Online Course, and MasteryPrep Bell Ringers—to account for the ACT’s new digital format. Our students can expect to see a practice testing environment on the MasteryPrep platform that sets their expectations for what they’ll experience on test day—including the same available test-taking tools like answer strikethroughs and flagging—to help them master the ACT and build their confidence.

As part of the transition to the digital format, there will also be changes to how the ACT points test-takers to relevant details in a Reading, English, or Science passage for a given question. On pencil-and-paper tests, questions used line references. In contrast, the digital format utilizes dynamic highlighting, which highlights the parts of the passage based on the specific question a test-taker is tackling. This feature helps students find the relevant detail quickly and without distractions. The MasteryPrep platform will implement a similar feature so students can practice navigating using it in the lead-up to test day.

  • Targeted Strategies
Arguably the greatest changes to the test—the longer time and shorter number of questions—mean students can tackle each subject test at a less aggressive pace. However, that doesn’t mean they should take a leisurely stroll through the questions. The ACT® is still a rigorous marathon of a test, and building stamina and pacing skills is essential.

We’ve updated our instruction to account for this change, ensuring that students can learn and practice using pacing strategies that help them maximize their score gains. These updated pacing plans are included in:

  • Boot Camp for the ACT®
  • MasteryPrep Curriculum for the ACT
  • Online Course for the ACT
  • MasteryPrep Unofficial Teacher’s Guide to the ACT®
In addition, our test-taking strategies have been updated across all our instructional materials to ensure they align with the test’s digital format and available tools. For example, students can learn when and how to use the question-flagging feature as they run into challenging questions. Additionally, students using the MasteryPrep platform can practice utilizing the answer strikethrough tools while applying the process of elimination—all to mimic what they’ll experience on the actual ACT.

By using the new tools that will be available on the test, students can leave breadcrumbs, ensuring no time or resource is wasted.

  • Practice Question Upgrades
Our focus on updating materials to align with the new test goes down to the test question level. That’s right. Every. Single. Question.

So, what kinds of changes are we making?

  • Passage Changes
The enhanced English test contains what is perhaps the most drastic change to the test’s passages. Previously, the ACT English section included 75 questions spread across five passages, each with 15 questions. In the enhanced version of the test, the number of passages will increase, but the size and question total will decrease.

On test day, students can expect to see a total of six passages, which will be a mix of long and short passages.

Long Passage

10 questions
~325 words

Short Passage

5 questions
~200 words
The Reading test, however, offers a much more consistent experience. Each Reading passage will consist of:
  • 9 questions
  • ~650 words
Even more, the Science test will now contain a new passage type: engineering. MasteryPrep has updated our offerings to include these kinds of passages and questions so that students are well-prepared for test day.
  • English Stem Additions
Before the enhancements, most ACT English questions were not actually questions. They consisted of an underlined portion of a sentence, along with answer choices that could be used to replace the underlined section to make it correct. This created a unique challenge because in order to begin eliminating wrong answers, students had to first spend time decoding the question to determine what it was testing them on.

The enhanced version of the ACT provides for less ambiguity on the test by attaching a clarifying question stem that helps students identify the task of the question.

Some examples of question stems students can expect to see on test day include:

  • Which choice is least redundant in context?
  • Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context?
  • Which choice most effectively maintains the essay’s tone?
  • Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable?
  • Which choice is clearest and most precise in context?
MasteryPrep has updated all of its ACT® offerings to ensure students now have the opportunity to practice utilizing these stems as they apply the process of elimination and maximize their score gains.

Related Reading

The MasteryPrep Guide to the Upcoming ACT® Changes [2025-2026]
We want to ensure schools and districts are aware of the upcoming ACT test changes, which will impact state and district testing starting in Spring 2026.
READ MORE
  • Are You Ready for the Enhanced ACT®?
Success on the new ACT® starts with high-quality preparation, and we’ve got you covered. With updated materials, test-aligned strategies, and digital tools that mirror the real exam, your students will be ready to tackle the test with confidence. No surprises, no uncertainty—just the skills and strategies your students need to achieve their goal scores. The ACT® is evolving, and with MasteryPrep, your students will be ready to rise to the challenge.

The information in this article is intended to provide an overview of the impact changes to the ACT® made on MasteryPrep’s ACT product offerings. These updates are subject to change as ACT completes research and development on the new test style and format and finalizes decisions. This article is not an official source of information. Refer to act.org for official updates.

Picture of About the Author: Stephanie Constantino
About the Author: Stephanie Constantino

Stephanie Constantino is the Senior Director of Academic Product for MasteryPrep, where she oversees the development and quality of instructional content. As a former educator and long-time curriculum developer, Stephanie utilizes her experience to consistently deliver high-quality, innovative materials that help students reach their college readiness goals.

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ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT, Inc. Some items in MasteryPrep programs are the copyrighted content of ACT, Inc. and are reproduced with permission. SAT® is a trademark of the College Board. MasteryPrep LLC has no affiliation with College Board MasteryPrep SAT programs are not approved or endorsed by College Board. The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) is an ACCUPLACER® exam, which is a trademark of College Board. MasteryPrep has no affiliation with College Board or the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), and the TSIA2 Mastery program is not approved or endorsed by College Board or the TSI. WorkKeys® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc. The WorkKeys programs are not approved or endorsed by ACT, Inc.

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