On Monday, CEO Janet Goodwin announced two major changes to the ACT exam starting April 2025.
With the stated aim of “offering students more choice and flexibility” after high school, ACT will make the exam’s science section optional. In turn, the “core” ACT exam from which students’ composite scores are calculated will consist of the English, reading, and math sections only.
Like the ACT writing section, ACT science will be offered and scored as an optional additional section. Therefore, students will have the opportunity to take any of the following versions of the exam: the ACT, the ACT + science, the ACT + writing, or the ACT + science + writing.
The second change concerns timing: the core ACT exam will last only two hours, a full 55 minutes less than the current format. “To achieve this,” Goodwin explains, “the test will include shorter passages on the reading and English sections and fewer questions in each section – 44 fewer questions in all – allowing students more time to answer each question thoughtfully.”
ACT’s announcement follows two recent modifications made to the SAT (administered by College Board), wherein the exam was shortened by 45 minutes and is now held digitally. The new “dSAT” has received mixed reviews among test-takers at the Enrichery, with many students finding the exam’s adaptive AI an unfamiliar and stressful feature.
The ACT’s new changes, therefore, may prove quite popular among future college applicants.
“The science section is the least favorite among my ACT students,” one Enrichery coach remarks, “because it’s the trickiest to nail. It should be treated as a second reading comprehension section, but without adequate guidance, students often find the technical terminology and diagrams difficult to interpret. The option not to take the science section, I think, would persuade many college applicants to choose the ACT over the dSAT.”
Goodwin’s statement calls to mind another major transformation the ACT underwent in April of this year: a transfer of ownership to private equity firm Nexus Capital Management. This move triggered a shift in ACT’s status from a non-profit organization to a for-profit public benefit corporation.
Generally speaking, while public benefit corporations are more firmly committed to social welfare than standard businesses, a new incentive to generate profit may have inspired ACT’s forthcoming transformations. Could increased competition between the dSAT and ACT trigger additional changes down the line? Only time will tell.
As far as predicting how universities will respond to this news, Enrichery CEO Sarah Seitz reassures parents: “We are keeping an eye out for updates.”
“For instance, we’re looking into whether taking ACT science might actually benefit some humanities-oriented applicants since succeeding in that section demonstrates strong reading comprehension skills,” Sarah adds.
In the meantime, the Enrichery encourages students and parents not to worry. College applicants looking to enroll in the fall of 2025 will continue studying for and taking the ACT in its standard format. Goodwin’s announcement has given the Enrichery ample time to adapt our program to provide the support needed to our ACT students aiming for fall 2026 enrollment.
The Enrichery offers dSAT and ACT test preparation programs for junior-year students throughout the year. For more information, submit a request to contact us at https://theenrichery.com/contact-us-submission/!