| By Gale Staff |
In 2024, roughly 1.4 million high school seniors took the ACT.1 As one of the top two college readiness exams in the United States, the ACT is essential for evaluating proficiency in core high school subjects to assess eligibility for college admissions and scholarships.
After considering feedback from students, educators, and experts in K–12 and higher education, the ACT has decided to evolve its test format to better meet the needs of today’s students.
How Is the ACT Evolving?
With a shorter test length and more options for test takers, the new ACT will be more accessible and flexible for every learner.
Here’s a summary of what’s changing:
- A new option to take the ACT with or without the science section
- Reduced number of questions overall
- Reduced test length: 125 minutes compared to 195
- More time per question
- Reduced number of answer choices in math questions2
By having the choice to take the science section, students can decide whether to test their proficiency in the subject based on whether or not science aligns with their college and career goals. Science scores will be reported separately for students who take the section, similar to the ACT’s current writing section.
The ACT Composite score will shift to focus on English, math, and reading, but will remain comparable to the Composite scores from the previous test format.
These changes will be available in April 2025 for students who take the ACT online and in September 2025 for students who choose paper-pencil testing.
How Can You Help Students Prepare?
A shorter test time and the option to forgo the science section will help alleviate a lot of stress for future test takers, but preparation will still be key to ACT success. Students should use test prep materials to get comfortable with the ACT format and grow their confidence for test day.
With Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep, you can connect students to full-length ACT practice tests, quizzes, instructional videos, interactive lessons, flashcards, and an ACT study guide. Students can learn whenever, wherever with convenient online access.
Plus, Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep is consistently updated to reflect the latest exam changes. Students can start practicing for the ACT today with effective, up-to-date materials, whether they’re taking the previous format of the exam or the new version starting this spring.
Not a subscriber to Gale Presents: Peterson’s Test and Career Prep? Request a trial of this accessible education and career planning resource, named “Overall Career Prep Solution of the Year” in the 2024 EdTech Breakthrough Awards.
Notes:
1 “School-Day ACT Testing Opens Doors for More High School Graduates,” act.org, 2025.
2 “ACT Test Enhancements,” act.org, 2025.