In July 2025, the last ‘classic’ ACT test will be issued out to high school students. Just five months from now, a new ACT, the ‘core ACT,’ will be phased in with one, very significant change: an optional science section.
The core ACT will consist of three subsections — writing, math and reading — all of which have minor changes to them. The total time will be just over two hours, a substantial decrease from the three hours it took to complete previously.
However, with the optional science section, the time is just 10 minutes short of the old one. Composite scores will not factor in the science section, whether the student takes it or not.
“The ACT took away the one thing that sets them apart from the SAT: the fact that they have a science section,” Associate Director of College Counseling Phoebe Butler said.
For many years, the ACT and its counterpart, the SAT, have been on equal standing — a 50-50 split between students. However, since January 2024, with the advent of the Digital SAT, students have preferred taking the SAT instead, widening the chasm between the two standardized tests. The online, adaptive nature of the test was popular among high school students.
At its core, the ACT is a company, so in order to garner more attention, the ACT revamped and are also providing a digital version. Unlike the SAT, it won’t be adaptive — the digital version will be identical to the paper version. The predicted outcome of this competition between testing companies suggests an unpromising future for the ACT. Private test prep companies speculate that these changes may drive more students towards the SAT nonetheless.
“They tried to replicate the same success as the SAT, but when you become too close to your competitor, it gets confusing,” Butler said. “A lot of people liked that ACT was its own thing, and the SAT was its own thing.”
With these considerable changes to the ACT, many students are left lost and confused, as there is no clear path to take. Unfortunately, college counselors and universities are just as clueless.
“Both (college counselors) and students are like: What do I sign up for?” Butler said. “What do the colleges want? What if it ends up being okay? We can only guesstimate right now.”
Butler and the other college counselors recommend taking the optional science section, as some colleges may start requiring students to provide a score. But the first tests have yet to be issued and taken. For now, students and universities alike must wait patiently to decide whether this important test in the college admissions process will be viable.
