The ACT Announces Fundamental Changes

by Onsen EducationACT's CEO Janet Goodwin announced two major changes to the company’s flagship test: 

1. The Science section will become optional. The remaining three sections (English, Reading, and Math) will remain “core” sections of the test; they will continue to be scored out of a possible 36 points and will be averaged to calculate a student’s composite score.
2. The overall length of the online version of the test will be shortened considerably – by “up to one-third.” The new test will clock in at just over two hours in total, several minutes shorter than the digital SAT. The Reading and English sections will include shorter passages and there will be fewer questions (44 fewer in total); students will also have more time per question. 

The first Saturday administration of the revised test will be in the Spring of 2025; the first school day administration for the revised test will be Spring 2026.Takeaways:Details beyond the ACT’s initial announcement are still sparse, but, if the new online version of the test mirrors the online version that was piloted this June (and notably contained 44 fewer questions), the new test (without the optional Science section) will give testers 2 hours and 5 minutes to complete 171 total questions. The need for strict time management has long been a concern for many ACT testers, and this timing adjustment will amount to an additional 22 percent time per question over the current model.As of this writing, students will be able to choose whether they take the online version or paper-and-pencil version of the ACT. It is not yet clear, however, if – or by how much – the paper version will be shortened. Unofficially, we’ve heard that the paper-and-pencil test will initially not change at all, keeping the current timing structure and the science section as mandatory; subsequently, starting in September of 2025, the paper version of the test will eventually incorporate the same updates as the online format.Obviously, big questions remain, leaving stakeholders eager for concrete answers. How will admissions departments reconcile two separate ACT tests? Will students who take both the paper-and-pencil tests and the shortened digital exam have the opportunity to superstore? Will these changes make it even harder for students to find seats at nearby test centers? Will the staggered rollout of the shortened digital exam and the fact that students will be able to choose between two different tests further confound the already tenuous concordance between the ACT and SAT?At this point, counselors and tutors should be in a holding pattern until more information is released. Expect us to take a deeper dive into the ramifications of a shortened digital ACT as we get more clarity on this breaking development.