New ACT changes

Following the lead of the recent SAT changes, ACT announced new changes going into effect starting in April 2025.

The changes will first only apply to national online test dates in April 2025, then will be rolled out to hard copy tests in September 2025, and finally school-day tests in Spring 2026.

Here’s a summary of the major changes:

Length

The ACT will ask fewer questions and take two hours to complete, one hour less than the current three hour test.

Reading passages will be shorter, and there will be 44 fewer questions between the English and reading sections.

Science section optional

Students will now be able to choose whether they want to take the ACT science section, just like they currently do with the ACT writing section.

Scoring

ACT will be referring to the English, reading and math sections as the “core,” and the ACT composite score will be the average of those three sections only. If a student takes the writing and/or science sections, those scores will be reported separately.

ACT hasn’t released more specific dates and details yet, and it remains unclear how colleges will respond to these changes, and what may be required or recommended. Schedule an hour’s worth of free advice with our education team to get the most up-to-date information on testing and other college planning strategies.