On July 15th, ACT CEO Janet Goodwin announced that the company’s flagship test will be going through major changes, the two most significant alterations being that the Science section will no longer be required and that the ACT will be widely available in a digital version with a significantly shorter testing time. Since then, we have obtained more concrete details about the characteristics of and timeline surrounding the “Enhanced ACT.”
Key Structural Changes:
Among the most striking differences the Enhanced ACT will have from the current form of the test is that the Science section will become optional. A student’s composite score will, thus, be based on an average of the three remaining mandatory sections: English, Math, and Reading (EMR).
Without the Science section, the ACT will be significantly shorter; additionally, the test makers plan to further trim a total of 15 minutes from the remaining three mandatory sections. With these cuts, the testing time of the Enhanced ACT will be 125 minutes, 70 minutes shorter than the current testing time for National ACT testers – and 9 minutes shorter than the SAT, the ACT’s biggest rival.
A visual of the timing changes is included below:
In addition to decreasing the total testing time, the test makers have modified the structure of the EMR sections to provide students with more time per test question. Historically, the fast-paced nature of the ACT has provided a challenge for many students and has led some to opt to take the SAT instead. By adjusting the average time per question, the ACT has addressed one of the most common criticisms of its test.
A snapshot of the changes in the estimated average time per ACT test question is included below. It is important to note that the pacing on the Enhanced ACT is still more rapid than that of the SAT: the average time per question on the SAT is 82 seconds. Particularly noteworthy is the 27% increase in time per question on the Reading section, where–along with Science–students traditionally struggle the most with timing.
In addition to pivotal section changes, the overall framework of the ACT will shift significantly. Once the Enhanced ACT is fully operational, all U.S students will have the choice to take the test in either a digital or paper-and-pencil format. This choice of platform offers a key differentiator from the SAT, which is offered only in a digital-adaptive format (except in cases where a student has a specific accommodation). Unlike that SAT, the ACT will be a linear, non-adaptive assessment. ACT representatives are emphatic that they have no plans to offer an adaptive test in the future and that there “will always” be a paper-based version of the test.
International Students and Students with Accommodations
For students outside the U.S., however, a paper-based version of the test – as of this writing – will not be an option. Citing supply chain issues, ACT representatives state that international students will only have access to the digital version of the Enhanced ACT, with paper-based tests available solely to international students with specific accommodations.
Most students who test in the U.S. and have accommodations, including those approved for extended time or a screen reader, will have the option of taking either the paper-based or digital version of the Enhanced ACT. However, certain students – for example those who need a braille version of the test– will only have the option of a paper-based test, at least for the foreseeable future.
Changes by Section
Each of the three sections that remain mandatory on the Enhanced ACT will be seeing a redesign. Details are still incomplete, but here is what we know so far:
English:
- Grammar questions will no longer start with “NO CHANGE” as the first answer choice. Instead, passages will likely include blanks and give students four options to include the correct word or phrase. The SAT made a similar change when it switched to the digital adaptive model.
- Certain passages will be reduced in length.
- An argumentative essay will be added to this section.
- Official ACT material states that the English section, along with the Math section, will be most affected by the redesign, but no further concrete information is yet available.
Math:
- The most significant change on this section is that the number of answer choices per question will be reduced from 5 to 4. The current ACT Math section has 5 answer choices, in part to decrease the success of random guessing. By switching to 4 answer choices, the Enhanced ACT will be more closely aligned with the SAT Math section.
- There will be a reduction of the number of questions that cover the following content: Essential Skills, Advanced Math, and Longer Word Problems. This change will likely mean that a greater percentage of the test will now cover foundational Algebra and Geometry.
- As the Math Section now represents one-third of the total mandatory material tested on the Enhanced ACT (versus one-fourth of the material on the current iteration of the test), the argument that the ACT is the better test for students who struggle with math will become slightly more tenuous.
Reading:
- Certain passages will be reduced in length.
- There will be a focus on ensuring that reading section passages feature “authentic diverse perspectives.”
- There will be an increase in “Knowledge and Ideas” questions. This category of question requires students to “understand authors’ claims, differentiate between facts and opinions, and use evidence to make connections between different texts that are related by topic.” Enhanced ACT testers will, therefore, likely need to draw deeper inferences from the text than those taking the current ACT, and, perhaps, navigate more numerous paired passages across which they will need connections.
Timeline for Changes
Pilot versions of both the digital and paper format of the Enhanced ACT will be administered as part of the October 2024 testing date. There will be approximately 8000 seats available – free of charge – to test takers, and scores will be reportable to colleges.
Subsequently, there will be a “soft launch” of the online version of the test during the April, June, and July 2025 test dates. The paper-based test will remain unchanged from its current form for this administration.
The Enhanced ACT will be officially launched in both digital and paper versions for both U.S. National testers (Saturday administration) and International students in the Sept 2025 administration of the ACT.
However, students taking a State or District test (“school-day” testing) will take the Enhanced ACT for the first time in Spring 2026. The reason stated for delaying the changes for school-day testing is that switching in the spring will be less disruptive for students who retake the ACT at school during their senior year.
Scoring Differences
The Enhanced ACT will remain on a 1-36 scale; EMR section scores will be averaged to produce composite scores. All sections of the test will see a “rebalancing (in) reporting categories,” but the ACT has yet to elaborate on further details of this rebalancing.
Superscores for the Enhanced ACT will only include EMR results, even if a student took an iteration of the test for which Science was required. Science scores will continue to be reported for those who choose to take it, but not as part of the composite score. Science scores will, instead, appear on all reports as an individual score and as part of a “STEM score.”
One potential issue with the new scoring format: students sitting for a “school-day” test may be required to take a science section. If the student reports that test to colleges, their (optional) Science score will automatically appear on that score report. This is due to the fact that, although they are able to choose not to submit a whole test, students are not able to omit the scores of an individual section. There are currently no plans to change that policy.
The ACT has committed to keeping scores aligned with previous administrations of the test. For students who take both the current and the Enhanced version of the ACT, composite scores from the previous version of the test will not be recalculated (i.e science will not be removed). Test makers are currently conducting studies designed to ensure consistency in scores from the current ACT to enhanced ACT.
Nonetheless, stakeholders are concerned that adjusting the amount of time per item for students could significantly hamper the ability to accurately compare old and new scores. Surprisingly, ACT representatives assert that they have no plans to adjust the SAT/ACT concordance table. Owing to the fact that the concordance table already exhibits some clear inconsistencies, this is an astonishing announcement, indeed.
Other Noteworthy Changes
Platform and User Interface
The platform that is currently used for international students will be the same one used for the online version of the international and national domestic Enhanced ACT. However, ACT representatives state that there will be a different platform used for school-day testing. The same test administered over two separate platforms seems to carry a degree of technological risk; we will follow any subsequent challenges as we get closer to the Enhanced ACT launch date.
It is currently unclear if and how the user interface will change from the current digital international version to the Enhanced online version. The current UI is a good deal clunkier than that of the digital-adaptive SAT, so we can predict that there will be changes to the design, if not a more comprehensive overhaul. A DESMOS calculator and additional annotation tools will be available in both platforms of the Enhanced ACT, we assume in time for the “soft launch” date.
Experimental Questions
Experimental (“field test”) questions, which are currently taken as a fifth section by domestic national testers) will be embedded in the EMR sections of the Enhanced ACT. Test Information Release (TIR) documents in the Enhanced ACT era will not include any of these embedded field test questions.
PreACT
PreACT tests will also be aligned to Enhanced ACT blueprint, seemingly in time for the Fall 2025 launch
Practice Material
Exact dates for the release of practice materials is currently TBD, but these new materials will be added to the 2024-2025 Prepping for the ACT Guide and in digital format. In an official communication released by the company, current practice materials are described as “by and large…(providing) students with experience on the content of questions that ACT will continue to ask.”
Pricing
Exact pricing for the Enhanced ACT is also not yet available, but ACT’s intention is for the “core” EMR Enhanced test to be less expensive than the current four-section test. There will be additional fees for optional science and writing sections. Fee waivers for eligible students still apply.
Predictions and Takeaways
The justification behind no longer requiring the science section is that it has been shown to have little overall impact on student composite score. An internal study found that there was only a 0.1 difference between composite scores with all 4 sections versus those with EMR sections only.
Similarly, looking at college admission trends, there was found to be only a 0.1 percent difference when comparing scores with and without the science section across a variety of higher education institution types.
At Onsen, we conducted our own internal study, analyzing nearly 500 official test scores from the past 6 years. We compared the standard composite scores, which average all four section scores, with the new Enhanced composite score, which averages only English, Math, and Reading. We found an average composite point difference of +0.16 without Science—essentially, our students’ scores increase by about ⅙ of an ACT point when we remove Science, which is often the most begrudged section of the test. While ⅙ a point is may seem inconsequential on its own, and our data set may be too small to be statistically relevant, this increase, taken together with the increasing discordance between SAT and ACT scores, may make the ACT a more attractive test for high-reaching students.
If the current Science section is, in terms of scoring and admissions, a relatively extraneous feature of the test, then what purpose then will the new, optional Science section serve?
Will certain universities or programs require Science in a STEM capacity? This seems unlikely as the current Science section tests data analysis, rather than specific STEM skills. In the Enhanced version, the Science section will include an engineering and design passage and a greater number of questions will require background knowledge based on “subject areas in which students are most likely to be exposed.” Even with this shift, however, there is no indication that the section will deviate significantly from its data analysis roots.
Even if the Enhanced Science section were to incorporate a drastically greater number of STEM topics, it is not likely that it would be a widely-required part of the application process. For instance, Pepperdine University and George Washington University, which boast strong journalism programs, do not require the optional ACT Writing Section.
With all of these factors in mind, our conclusion is that the ACT’s long-term plan is to phase out the Science section.
As for the claims that there “will always” be a paper-based test for U.S. students, we are skeptical. The digital SAT has generally been a success, especially when it comes to user feedback, with “84 percent of students and 99 percent of staff reporting a better experience” versus the paper version. We imagine most test takers will also end up preferring the online version of the Enhanced ACT. Moreover, the ACT has conceded that there will be material access challenges for certain U.S. districts, predicting difficulties in administering both tests to all students. In time, these factors will likely outweigh the intention of providing students with choice in format, and may soon lead to a full shift to online testing.
With a sea change on the horizon, ACT representatives are, understandably, highlighting things that will stay constant during this transitional period. According to Andrew Taylor, Vice President of Product for the ACT, the new test will continue ACT’s mission to “show preparedness for the first year of a four-year college program.” That being said, declarations that the SAT/ACT concordance will not change seem premature. Especially in light of the recent SAT redesign, there will be mounting pressure to reevaluate the tests’ scoring metrics to ensure consistency and fairness for all students.
Stay Tuned
The Enhanced ACT represents a significant shift in the standardized testing landscape. By making the Science section optional and shortening the overall testing time, the ACT aims to adapt to changing student needs and reclaim some lost market share from its competitor. The redesign of the EMR sections could result in an interesting alternative to the SAT. Moreover, giving students the choice of both digital and paper formats offers flexibility and differentiation – although the paper version’s long-term viability remains uncertain.
Questions still remain, especially surrounding specific updates to EMR content, but we now have a much clearer picture of the Enhanced ACT. We will continue to follow the developments of this story leading up to the pilot test in October, the launch dates next year, and beyond.
Written by
Zachary Adler
Since 2010, Zach has been helping students achieve their college readiness goals, specializing in all sections of the SAT, ACT, PSAT, and SHSAT. Prior to joining Onsen, Zach worked for a global investment firm, as well as in various roles in the education space. He has served as a youth mentor and has run college readiness information sessions for students in under-resourced communities. Additionally, Zach is a writer and filmmaker. He is an International Baccalaureate scholar and a graduate of Boston University.