Did you know that the ACT is about to undergo a massive transformation? Specifically, eight elements of this major standardized test will be overhauled. Wowza! What’s going to change? And when? And what does it all mean for YOU?!
Don’t worry. As a test prep expert with 14+ years of experience in the field, I’ve quickly familiarized myself with the forthcoming new ACT, and am going to break it all down for you in a series of three posts.
Today’s installation, the first in the series, will break down the eight elements of the ACT that will look different soon.
ARTICLE CONTENTS
1. Watch this article as a video
2. When is the new ACT coming out?
3. What will be different about the 2025 ACT?
A. Science section becomes optional
B. Composite score no longer includes Science
E. …But more time per question
F. Shorter English and Reading passages
G. “Experimental" questions distributed throughout instead of just in one section
4. Conclusion
Video version of this article:
When does the new ACT come out?
The newly minted ACT will debut somewhere from Spring 2025 to Spring 2026—depending on which version of the test you take.
For students who take the test online, the changes discussed in this post will take hold in April 2025.
If you are a paper and pencil test-taker, this change is going to occur in September 2025.
And if you are planning to take the ACT in school, you’ll encounter this shift in Spring 2026.
What will be different about the ACT in 2025?
1. Optional Science section
If you were going to take the ACT right now—before the makeover—you would take the test in four multiple-choice sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. You'd be required to complete all four of these sections because your composite score would average your score of all four parts. And if you wanted to complete the essay (also known as the Writing section), that would be optional.
Well, big change #1 is that soon the Science section will no longer be required, either.
So beginning as early as April of 2025, the new format of the ACT will only require a core of three sections: English, Math, and Reading. So you would be required to do those three, but you will only take Writing and/or Science if you want to complete one or both of them and have specifically signed up for them.
2. Composite score will not include Science
Change #2 follows from change #1. In 2025/2026, your composite score (out of 36) will no longer take into account how you did on Science questions. The only three sections that count towards your composite score will be English, Math, and Reading. If you opt to take the soon-to-be-optional Science or Writing sections, you will receive separate score reports for those sections.
3. The new ACT will have fewer questions!
44 fewer questions total, to be specific. Sounds awesome, right? I don’t think I’ve met many students who leave the ACT testing center saying, “Shucks, I sure wish I’d had to answer more questions on that already-hours-long test!”
Now, let's talk about how these questions will be distributed. In terms of the core three sections that are going to matter in the new iteration of the test—English, Math, and Reading—the questions are currently allocated like so:
75 questions for English
60 questions for Math
40 questions for Reading
175 questions total
Whereas on the revised test, those three sections will give you:
50 questions for English
45 for Math
36 for Reading
131 questions total
So unless you’re taking the optional Science section, the new test will be slimming down from 175 to 131 multiple-choice questions—a difference of 44 Qs!
4. Shorter testing time
The fourth big change with the new format of the ACT is that your total testing time is going to be reduced. And that’s not just true for those people who decide to opt out of the Science section, thus cutting down the total number of sections you sit for.
That’s right: the period of time it takes to complete each of the remaining required sections—English, Math, and Reading—will also be shorter:
If you take three sections only, you’ll be taking a two-hour test—literally 120 minutes on the dot—if you're a regular-time test taker.
If you add on the optional Science section, your test will be two hours 40 minutes.
If you add Writing (but not Science), it would also be two hours 40 minutes.
And if you decide to sign up for BOTH of the optional sections—the main test plus Science plus the essay—then that would be 3 hours 20 minutes for a regular time test taker.
5. More time per question
The fifth change of the new format of the ACT is that the test will no longer be as fast-paced. As in, you’ll get more time to answer each question.
That’s because the ACT did not reduce the # of questions and the time allotment perfectly in proportion. Between reducing the total time you’re in your seat and reducing the number of questions you have to answer, here’s how it breaks down:
Current ACT (with four required sections): 215 questions in 175 minutes
Roughly 48.8 seconds per question.
New ACT, if you only do the three required sections: 131 questions in 120 minutes,
Roughly 55 seconds per question.
So in 2025-26 you’ll be shifting your pace from a little under 49 seconds per question to 55 seconds per question—a difference of a little over six seconds per question!
6. Shorter English and Reading passages
In addition to the sections themselves being shorter time-wise and containing fewer questions, those two changes will, in turn, affect some sections more than others. The sections that will be affected most dramatically by the slower timing of the new ACT are those that include passages—the English and Reading sections. Specifically, the actual passages themselves will be shorter in both sections.
We don't know yet exactly how the new version of the test will distribute passages and questions across these two sections. As a reminder, here’s how it works on today’s test:
The English section currently comprises five passages each with 15 questions apiece.
The Reading section currently comprises four passages each with 10 questions apiece.
7. "Experimental" questions distributed throughout
When you currently take the ACT, about half the time, you end up being given a fifth section (the "experimental section"). At which point you’re probably like, “What?! My tutor didn't tell me about this! What’s with these questions that I have to spend 20 minutes doing??”
Well, that’s because the ACT wants to test out potential future test questions to assess their difficulty level—before the exam actually incorporates those questions and start counting them towards real scores.
But the problem with that is…I mean, you can probably guess. Students are ALREADY tired after they finish their test. They don't want to answer even more Qs! So even though I would tell my students, “Hey, don't phone it in on that last section, because it's going to help the ACT make accurate grading rubrics for future tests!” I know that many of them probably would phone it in anyways. I can’t really blame them—you're dog-tired after three hours of bubble-filling.
The ACT finally came to terms with test-takers’ tendency to slack on the experimental section, and realized they’re not going to get accurate data on those questions if they’re all lumped into one section that everyone knows doesn’t count towards their actual score.
So instead, what the new ACT will do is plant experimental questions inside the actual sections of the test. In other words, the English section—which, if you’ll recall from above, will soon only have 50 questions—will have some real questions and some “tester” questions among those 50. We don't know exactly how many will be counted towards your 36 points and how many will be experimental, but we know that SOME of them will go uncounted.
That means you now have to answer ALL of the questions you come across as if your life depended on it—because you don't know which ones are going to count towards your composite score and which ones aren't.
8. New ACT Format
At this point in this marathon article, I know what you're saying: “Kristina, I get it. There are fewer questions and more time per question on the new ACT. But can you break down the format for me in more detail? As in, how are the questions distributed among the different sections?” Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve prepared a handy little chart that does just that!
Data source: ACT website
Behold, the new structure of the ACT, coming your way sometime between April of 2025 and Spring of 2026, depending on what format you take it in.
Conclusion
If you’ve made it this far, congrats! And allow me to guess the next question you're probably asking yourself: “Okay, those are all the changes—but is anything staying the SAME?”
The answer is yes! And that's what you can learn about in the next post in this three-part series.
By the way, if you're planning to take the ACT this year—before the changes discussed in this post set in—check out my courses and study guides on the ACT. Whether you’re looking to brush up on your grammar or want to make sure you’ve got a hold on what happens in the Science section, my self-directed video and print courses will guide the way!
