On July 15th, ACT, Inc made a surprising if somewhat expected announcement about upcoming changes to its signature exam, the ACT. While it was expected that the ACT would be undergoing some changes in the years to come (more on that below), what is surprising is how quickly the announcement came and with how little preamble. For context, the ACT has remained largely unchanged in the last thirty years, and what few changes it has announced in the last decade have been largely shelved.
We’ve compiled notes on the announced changes, how those changes may impact your or your student’s preparation for the ACT, and why these changes are being implemented.
What Happened?
ACT, Inc has recently announced plans to significantly change the structure of its namesake test. The announced changes will begin to roll out in digital formats in April 2025, giving all test takers a lot of time to consider those changes and prepare for them. The ACT has since clarified that they anticipate implementing the new ACT in all formats as of September 2025.
For now, when students head to www.myact.org to access their dashboard and register for the ACT, they’ll find that test dates are available through February 2025 in both paper-based and digital formats. These test dates feature a version of the ACT that reflect its current format, pacing, and content. We anticipate that when registration dates are open for April, June, and July 2025, some testing sites will offer new versions of the digital ACT, with expanded access to the new ACT in all forms to follow in the 2025-2026 school year.
At Collegewise, it is fundamental to our nature to try to explain the “why” of things, the story behind the story, as it were. In keeping with that ethos…
Why are these changes here?
There are many (many) reasons that the ACT may be choosing this exact moment to update its exam, which broadly reflect why every major test from the SAT to the GRE, GMAT, and LSAT have changed in recent years.
- The ACT has lost market share to the SAT since the start of the pandemic. At its heyday in 2015-2016, over two million students took the ACT as part of their college application journey. By 2023, fewer than 1.4 million prospective college students took the ACT. While that figure represents a slight rebound from the nadir of 2021 and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, it pales in comparison to the 1.9 million students who took the SAT last year. With fewer total students applying to college, the ACT needed to do something quickly to remain viable in an already-shrinking market.
- Competition stiffened with the College Board’s most recent update to the SAT. The current digital SAT is perceived to be much shorter and more accessible than the current version of the ACT: the SAT has over 100 fewer questions, runs for 45 fewer minutes, and gives much more time per problem. Given a choice, the vast majority of students opt to take the SAT on these factors alone.
- Money isn’t everything, but it sure does help. In all likelihood, the pressures of the pandemic and the contraction of its customer base contributed to the ACT’s need to pivot in ways large and small. In 2023, the ACT announced that it was selling its Iowa City headquarters and laying off staff. In 2024, ACT, Inc announced that it had been acquired by Nexus Capital Management, a private equity firm based in California. ACT and its new ownership group likely have an incentive for shortening the exam in the year ahead: a shorter test is cheaper and easier to produce, and the exam will feel much more accessible to the testing population (read: consumers).
- The ACT was due for a change. In the last 30-40 years, much in American education and life has changed, but interestingly enough, the ACT has been only incrementally modified since it introduced its Science section in the late 1980’s. In order to best reflect current academic trends, the ACT needed an update, and to its credit, ACT, Inc has announced its plans for doing so.
With that context in mind, we can now get into the changes that the ACT has described in its recent announcement.
What Is Changing?
In short, a lot. The changes detailed in the ACT’s announcement are manifold and include the following:
- An Optional Science Section: The new version of the ACT will retain modified versions of its signature English, Math, and Reading sections. Students will have the option to take the Science section, the fourth section of the exam. This helps to drop the ACT’s test time from north of three hours to just two hours in total.
- Shorter Sections, Fewer Questions: The core sections of the exam–English, Math, and Reading–will comprise a two-hour test. These core sections will feature 44 fewer total questions than the current versions thereof: 50 on the English; 45 on the Math; and 36 on the Reading (down from 75 on the English; 60 on the Math; and 40 on the Reading, respectively).
- Shorter English (Grammar) and Reading Passages: In keeping with the June 2024 pilot test, English passages featured 10 questions per passage (reduced from 15), and Reading passages featured 9 questions per passage (reduced from 10). These changes seem small, but the reduction in the number of questions was complemented by additional time provided per section. On average, test takers were provided 20% more time to answer each question than they would have been under standard time conditions on the current version of the ACT.
- Four ACT Variations: Because the Science and Writing sections will be optional, students will have the opportunity to take four different versions of the ACT. The shortest–called The ACT–will feature only the English, Math, and Reading sections (which, as noted, will have a brisk two-hour run time). Students will also have the choice of taking the ACT Plus Science (which most closely reflects the current version of the ACT), the ACT Plus Writing, and The ACT Plus Science and Writing.
- In Sum: The core sections of the ACT will comprise English, Math, and Reading, and these three sections will formally comprise the ACT as a whole. Science will become an optional section, and the Writing will remain optional, as well. All sections will feature slightly fewer questions than their current versions, and students will have more time per problem in all sections. Happily, the ACT has released a handful of sample problems featuring the test’s new formatting, which you can view here.
When Do These Changes Go Into Effect?
Per the announcement, these changes will be implemented for digital (computer-based) tests starting in April 2025. Notably, district-level, school-based tests will feature these changes starting in the spring of 2026.
ACT, Inc has announced that it will implement these changes in paper-based versions of the ACT starting in September 2025 for national test dates. For now, assume that you may be able to take the new version of the ACT in digital form as of April 2025, depending on your location in the US and proximity to the nearest digital testing site.
What Stays the Same?
Thankfully, a lot of what is found on the current version of the ACT will remain the same. This is important because it does mean that if you are worried about upcoming changes to the ACT, any preparation a student does now will be readily applicable to the new version of the exam. In our experience, every time a testing organization announces “big changes” to their new exams, much remains the same.
- The ACT’s Core Content: The core content of the ACT’s four sections remain unchanged. Even though all sections will have slightly different pacing and fewer questions, the stylization of questions and the types of questions on the new ACT will remain largely the same.
- The Optional Writing (Essay) Section: The ACT will still offer an optional essay at the end of the exam to any students who wish to take it.
- The Science Section: The Science section will become optional, but it is largely unchanged otherwise.
What Don’t We Know?
For now, there are a lot of unknowns, even given the volume of announced changes. It remains unclear in what formats the new ACT will be available and how widespread its availability will be. Currently, students who attempt to register for the digital ACT find test center options to be very limited, often requiring a 70-100 mile drive to the nearest testing site. By contrast (and fortunately), paper-based test centers abound, at least in most regions through much of the academic year.
For now, students can register for the ACT in either paper-based or digital formats until February 2025. The ACT has not yet announced when April, June, and July test dates will be available for 2025, though they’ve given a timeframe ranging from late 2024 to early 2025 for the spring and summer 2025 exams to open.
Finally, we do not know how the ACT has calibrated the new version of its exam. The announcement does note that the ACT’s scoring scale (1-36 in 1-point increments) will not be changing. However, ACT, Inc has not announced how those scores will be derived nor how scores from the current version of the ACT will compare to those of the new version of the ACT. For now, it remains unclear if the proposed changes to the ACT will actually make the exam any easier for test takers either in terms of performance or score improvements.
What should I do now?
All of the above begs the question: what should future test-takers do now? We’ve compiled some helpful guidelines for students who will be testing sooner and later to help.
- Class of 2025: For rising seniors graduating in 2025, these changes will not impact your testing journey or your college application process. The version of the ACT that any rising senior has likely studied for up until now is the one that will be available in September, October, December, and February of senior year. Although the Class of 2025 had to navigate the transition from the paper-based to the digital SAT, graduating seniors won’t have to worry about this one at all.
- Class of 2026: For rising juniors, we would strongly advise that you take a diagnostic ACT (and SAT) as soon as feels comfortable to do so. Depending on your diagnostic test scores, your course selection for next year, and your own preferences, take the test that feels right for you. If you like the current version of the ACT and perform well with it, you can register for the ACT at www.myact.org for test dates through February 2025. Note that the announced changes to the ACT indicate that the exam’s question types will not be changing with the implementation of the new test, so prepare with confidence that what you learn now will be applicable when a newly available version of the test arrives in April 2025. It is possible (and even likely) that the current version of the ACT will be available to test-takers through 2025.
- Classes of 2027 and 2028 (and Beyond): Stay aware of these announced ACT updates. You’ll have the benefit of not being the first classes to go through this ACT transition, and you will have choices aplenty of what version of the ACT you may take in the years to come.
How can Collegewise help?
For over 25 years, Collegewise has helped students navigate the transition from high school to college, and we’re here for this transition, too. In our company’s time, we’ve seen the SAT undergo four complete reconstructions and nearly every major test offered at every level transition from paper-based to digital. Check out our free resources here or book time with us to talk about your student’s journey to come.
About Us: With more than twenty years of experience, Collegewise counselors and tutors are at the forefront of the ever-evolving admissions landscape. Our work has always centered on you: the family. And just like we’ve always done, we look for ways for your student to be their best self - whether in the classroom, the applications, or in the right-fit college environment. Our range of counseling, test prep, academic tutoring, and essay management, all with the support of our proprietary platform, lead to 4x higher than average admissions rates.
