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The ACT recently announced some major changes as the widely utilized college admission assessment continues to evolve. At MasteryPrep, we want to ensure schools and districts are aware of these changes, which students on national test dates will start experiencing these as early as April 2025. State and district testing, where the ACT is administered during the school day, will be impacted in the spring of 2026.
Note: We will update this blog post as new information becomes available. This article is not an official source of information. Refer to act.org for official updates.
Summary: The Major ACT Test Changes, Coming Soon
One of the most notable changes is the reduction in the number of questions across all sections of the ACT. This change aims to streamline the test and reduce the overall testing time while giving students more time to focus on each question.
This reduction means students will need to adjust their test-taking strategies, focusing on accuracy and comprehension rather than speed.
With fewer questions, students will have more time to answer each one. This is a significant shift that can help reduce the pressure and improve performance by allowing students to think through their answers more thoroughly.
Overall, students will have approximately 18% more time per question, which can make a substantial difference in their test-taking experience.
The passages in the English and Reading sections will be shorter, aligning with the reduced number of questions. This change is designed to make the test more manageable and less time-consuming, allowing students to focus on understanding and analyzing the text more effectively.
In the English section, one of the passages will now always be an argumentative essay. This new feature aims to better assess students’ ability to analyze and respond to persuasive texts.
The Science section will become optional in the Enhanced ACT. Students can choose to take the test with or without the Science section, depending on their strengths and the requirements of the colleges they are applying to.
This change allows students to tailor their testing experience to better reflect their academic strengths and interests.
The ACT Composite score will be calculated based only on English, Math, and Reading scores, even if the Science section is taken.
Previously, national ACT test administrations included a separate 20-minute section of field test items that did not count toward students’ scores. In the Enhanced ACT, these items will be integrated into each test section.
These field test items will not be labeled, so students will not know which questions are being tested for future use. This integration helps ACT reduce overall testing time and maintain high-quality standards by testing new items in real-world circumstances.
When Do the ACT Changes Take Effect?
The enhancements to the ACT will soft launch in April 2025 for national test date students. In spring of 2026, state and district test administrations will be in the new format.
Here is the full timeline of the transition to the Enhanced ACT:
June 2024: Linking Study (complete)
A linking study is used to ensure that tests that vary in format can be aligned on a common scale. ACT’s linking study examined the difference in Composite score when you exclude the Science section.
October 2024: Dual Mode Study
The dual mode study will verify that online and paper tests produce consistent, comparable results. Students can opt in to participate in this study in October and get the test for free. There will be about 8,000 participants allowed. Students participating in the study will receive a college reportable score.
April 2025: Soft Launch National Online
At the soft launch of the Enhanced ACT, you can choose online testing and get the new test format, or go with paper and pencil and stick with the prior format. If you go with online testing, the Science test is optional for you. Note that this only affects national test dates. State and district testing administered during the school day will use the traditional format until Spring 2026.
September 2025: National Paper and International Launch
At this point, all national and international ACT test administrations will be in the new, enhanced format, regardless of whether you choose paper and pencil or online. Composite scores will be based the average of English, Math, and Reading scores.
Spring 2026: State/District Launch
School day administrations switch to the new format Spring 2026. After this shift, all ACT tests will be in the new format.
The Major ACT Changes in Full
The new ACT without Science will only take 125 minutes to complete. This is 50 minutes less than the school and district version of the test and 70 minutes less than the national version.
If you do opt for Science, the enhanced ACT will still require 10 fewer minutes than the prior school and district version and 30 fewer minutes than the national version.
Even though testing time is decreased, students get more time per question because there are fewer questions.
Here is a table summarizing the changes by test section:
| Test Section | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
English |
45 minutes |
35 minutes |
-10 minutes |
|
Math |
60 minutes |
50 minutes |
-10 minutes |
|
Reading |
35 minutes |
40 minutes |
+5 minutes |
|
Science |
35 minutes |
40 minutes |
+5 minutes |
|
5th Test (Field Test) |
20 minutes |
Omitted |
-20 minutes |
|
Writing |
40 minutes |
40 minutes |
Unchanged |
English and Math will each be 10 minutes shorter. Students will get 5 extra minutes in Reading and Science. The 5th test, a field test that appears on national test dates, will no longer be included.
Here is a table summarizing the time allocated for each of the new testing options:
| Test | Time | Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Standard ACT |
125 minutes |
New option |
|
+ Science |
165 minutes |
10-30 minutes shorter |
|
+ Science and Writing |
205 minutes |
10-30 minutes shorter |
Even though the enhanced ACT will take less time, it will still give students more time per question because there will be fewer questions. All told, the ACT will include 44 fewer questions.
The English test is the most heavily impacted by this change. There will be 50 items, rather than 75, a 33% reduction.
The Math test will have 45 questions, rather than 60, which represents a 25% reduction.
The Reading test will have 36 questions, which is 10% less than the original 40.
Only the newly optional Science section has the same number of questions as before: 40. Students are given 5 more minutes, so they still get more time per question on this section.
The Writing test is unchanged and will consist of one writing prompt.
This table summarizes the changes to the number of questions in each test section.
| Test Section | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
English |
75 questions |
50 questions |
-25 questions (-33%) |
|
Math |
60 questions |
45 questions |
-15 questions (-25%) |
|
Reading |
40 questions |
36 questions |
-4 questions (-10%) |
|
Science |
40 questions |
40 questions |
Section becomes optional |
|
Writing |
1 prompt |
1 prompt |
No change |
When students are signing up for the ACT, they will be able to choose to take it with or without the Science section. The ACT Composite score will be based only on the average of English, Math, and Reading. Even if students take the Science test, their composite score will be based solely on English, Math, and Reading.
Students who opt for the Science test will receive a Science section score and a STEM score based on the average of your Math and Science scores. States and school districts will also have the option to include or exclude Science once enhanced school day administration launches in Spring of 2026.
If students opt to take ACT Science, it will appear on their score report. They cannot opt to selectively suppress any one section result. Students will still have the ability to cancel their whole score.
Since there will be 44 fewer questions on the enhanced ACT, students will have more time per question. With the current version of the ACT, students are given about 49 seconds per question. On the enhanced ACT, students have about 58 seconds per question. This is an increase of about 18%.
The Reading test is the most heavily impacted by this change. Students will have a 27% greater average time allotment per question. This comes out to about 14 extra seconds per question.
Of course, time per question is only an average. Students spend more time on some questions and less time on others.
Below is a table summarizing the changes to time per question.
| Test Section | Total Items | Field Test Items |
|---|---|---|
|
English |
50 |
10 (20%) |
|
Math |
45 |
4 (9%) |
|
Reading |
36 |
9 (25%) |
|
Science |
40 |
6 (15%) |
|
Writing |
1 |
0 (0%) |
Since there will be 44 fewer questions on the enhanced ACT, students will have more time per question. With the current version of the ACT, students are given about 49 seconds per question. On the enhanced ACT, students have about 58 seconds per question. This is an increase of about 18%.
The Reading test is the most heavily impacted by this change. Students will have a 27% greater average time allotment per question. This comes out to about 14 extra seconds per question.
Of course, time per question is only an average. Students spend more time on some questions and less time on others.
Below is a table summarizing the changes to time per question.
| Test Section | Current | Enhanced | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
|
English |
36 seconds/item |
42 seconds/item |
+6 seconds (17%) |
|
Math |
60 seconds/item |
67 seconds/item |
+7 seconds (11%) |
|
Reading |
53 seconds/item |
67 seconds/item |
+14 seconds (27%) |
|
Science |
53 seconds/item |
60 seconds/item |
+7.5 seconds (15%) |
|
Overall, With Science |
49 seconds/item |
58 seconds/item |
+9 seconds (18%) |
|
Overall, No Science |
48 seconds/item |
57 seconds/item |
+9 seconds (19%) |
The ACT Composite score will be computed by averaging the English, Math, and Reading scale scores and rounding to the nearest whole number.
Even if students take the Science test section, it will not be included in their composite scores. Science will be included in a separate STEM score that considers only student Math and Science scores.
This change means that two thirds of the ACT Composite score will come from the English Language Arts domain, and only one third be derived from Math. Since Math was one fourth of the composite score before, this change makes the Math section more important. That said, since Science is no longer included in the composite calculation, the overall weight of STEM-related subjects is decreasing from one half to one third.
The change in the computation of the ACT Composite score is not retroactive. Students who take the current version of the ACT will not have their scores recomputed or their Science scores disregarded once these changes take effect. Only score reports for the enhanced ACT form factor will use the new composite scoring methodology.
Likewise, superscores (composite scores computed based on the student’s best showing on each subject) will not recalculated. However, when students take the enhanced ACT, they will receive a new superscore based only on their best outcome thus far on English, Math, and Reading, even if that outcome was achieved on the previous test form factor. For students relying on superscores for college entrance, this is a convincing reason to test now with the current form factor and then again on the enhanced test.
The ACT English test will have significantly fewer questions: 50 rather than 75, a reduction of 33%.
Based on the new item count, we assume that the ACT English test will retain its five-passage structure. However, each passage will have only ten questions, rather than fifteen. ACT has not made a statement about this, yet.
The time limit for the ACT English test will change as well. The test section will last 35 minutes, rather than 45 minutes, a 10-minute reduction. However, since there will be 25 fewer questions, students will end up with more time per question: approximately 42 seconds per question, an increase of 6 seconds per question.
The English passages will have some structural changes as well. Some or all of the English passages will be shortened in length, which lines up with the lower item count. Also, one of the passages will always be an argumentative essay, which is a new feature.
One relatively distinctive feature of the ACT English test has been stemless questions. A question stem is the question or prompt that appears before the answer choices—the stimulus that students respond to. On the English test, many grammar questions presented four alternatives without any prompt. The students were tasked by the overall test directions to find the best alternative, but no stem was used. In the Enhanced ACT, some or all of the stemless questions will be given stems. ACT has not yet clarified if stemless questions are disappearing entirely. Neither have they indicated how the new stems might be worded.
Ten of the ACT English test questions will be field test items. They will not contribute to student scores. The field test items will not be marked, so students won’t differentiate field test items and other questions. It’s likely that one passage and its ten questions will all be field test.
Lastly, and perhaps most significantly, ACT will be rebalancing the English reporting categories. This means that some types of questions and ACT College Readiness Standards will become more heavily weighted on the test, while others will become less so.
The Enhanced ACT will shorten the math test from 60 to 45 questions. The test will also run for less time—50 minutes instead of 60. This will give students more time per question: 67 seconds per item, an increase of 7 seconds.
The ACT Math test will undergo significant structural refinements. The most obvious will be that questions will no longer have 5 answer choices, but instead 4 just like in the other ACT test sections.
ACT will reduce the number of word problems, which require more time to read. It will also reduce the number of questions aligned to advanced or higher grade level topics. Integrating Essential Skills questions will also appear with less frequency. These are questions that require students to apply two or more discrete mathematical skills to solve a problem.
Beyond these reductions, ACT will also rebalance the math reporting categories, so some question types may become more prominent after the Enhanced ACT is launched.
Four field test items will be mixed into the new ACT Math test. They won’t be scored, but students will have no way of knowing which questions they are.
The time limit on the ACT Reading test is increasing from 35 to 40 minutes, while the number of questions decreases from 40 to 36. This means that students have about 67 seconds to answer each Reading question, up from 53 seconds per question before. The ACT Reading test has the most significant change to its time limits; students will receive an average 27% increase in time per question. Students who felt rushed on the current ACT Reading test may feel like they have more time to think through their answers on the new one.
We expect the ACT Reading test to retain its four-passage structure. Since each passage will have 9 questions rather than the usual 10, and because there will be more time allotted, our recommendations for how long to spend reading each passage will be revised. ACT has not confirmed the passage structure on the Enhanced ACT Reading test.
Some or all of the Reading passages will be shortened. On the current ACT Reading test, passages average between 750 and 900 words. It’s possible that the average word count on the passages could decrease by 100 words or more. This will make the ACT Reading test even more approachable in terms of time limit.
The Integration of Knowledge and Ideas reporting category will become more important. Questions in this reporting category ask students to analyze claims, separate fact from opinion, and make connections between multiple texts. Currently, it’s weighted 13-23%. On the new ACT Reading test, this category may comprise 25% or more of the questions.
ACT has stated that it will continue its ongoing commitment to incorporate literary narrative texts featuring authentic, diverse perspectives, and that it is refining its approach to selection. This may mean that the types of literary narratives we see on the Enhances ACT Reading test may be somewhat different than what we’ve seen before.
Nine questions on the Enhanced ACT Reading test will be field test items and will not contribute to student scores. It’s likely that an entire passage, along with the questions that go with it, will be field test.
As with all of the new test sections, ACT will rebalance the reporting categories, which means some reading skills will gain more prominence on the test, while others will be weighted less heavily. This will change the priority of what to study when preparing for the new ACT.
On the Enhanced ACT, the Science test will be optional. By default, the ACT will only comprise English, Math, and Reading. Students can opt to add Science to their test administration, just like they have been able to do with Writing.
The ACT Science test will no longer factor into the ACT Composite score (1-36). Instead, it will be calculated based only on the rounded average of the scale scores on English, Math, and Reading. The ACT Science score will be included in a reported STEM score, which considers the Math and Science scale scores.
If they opt for the ACT Science test, students will be allotted 40 minutes. This is a 5-minute increase over the 35 minutes provided on the current test. This will allow students an average of 60 seconds per question, a 15% increase from the average 53 seconds per question before. For this reason, some students may feel less rushed on the new ACT Science test.
We believe that ACT will retain its 6-passage format for the Science test. That said, they have not released a practice test or test specifications yet. One confirmed change, however, is that the Enhanced ACT Science test will include at least one engineering and design passage.
Traditionally, only a small percentage of ACT Science questions have required scientific background knowledge. Most of the items could be answered using only the data that appears in the passages. On the new Science test, more questions will require background knowledge. ACT refers to the Disciplinary Core Ideas from the Next Generation Science Standards for what could be tested.
The ACT Science reporting categories will be rebalanced, which means that some standards will become more heavily tested while others will appear with less frequency.
ACT has stated that it intends for its core test (without the Science and Writing options) to cost less than the current ACT. ACT will also continue to offer fee waivers for students who need them.
Final pricing will be set prior to the opening of registration.
What Will Remain the Same on the Enhanced ACT?
The Enhanced ACT is shorter and more streamlined, but it’s still very much the ACT. The test will continue to be a linear assessment, unlike its competitor, the computer adaptive Digital SAT. This means that every student on the same form experiences the same test. Students are not tracked or limited to score ranges based on their performance early on in the test.
The optional ACT Writing section remains unchanged.
ACT will continue with its distinctive 1 to 36 scoring scale.
ACT is undergoing a robust process for ensuring that the predictive validity of the new test form factor meets or exceeds the performance of the current test version.
While reporting categories are being rebalanced, there have not been any announced changes to the reporting categories, themselves.
The ACT College and Career Readiness Standards remain unchanged.
ACT continues to maintain its ongoing commitment to fee waivers.
Important Note
This article is designed to give you everything we currently understand about the changes coming to the ACT. All of it is subject to change as ACT completes research and development on the new test and finalizes its policies. We will update it as new information comes out. This article is not an official source of information. Refer to act.org for official updates.