You want details about the ACT changes?                 We got you!

You want details about the ACT changes? We got you!

From the Author News SAT vs. ACT Tests

We’ve been busy making sure we have all the up-to-date information about the big changes coming to the ACT. We have another blog post if you want the highlights or recommendations for each grade of high schoolers. If you, however – intrepid soul – want all the nitty gritty, we can hook you up! Read on about the “Enhanced ACT.”

Format

  • Fewer questions, shorter passages, more time per question, less time per section will characterize the new English/Math/Reading (Core EMR) sections.
Current Section TimeEnhanced ACT Section TimeCurrent Section QuestionsEnhanced ACT QuestionsCurrent Time per QuestionEnhanced ACT Time per QuestionIncrease in Time per Question
English45 min35 min75 Q50 Q
(10 Exp.)
36 sec42 sec+ 17%
Math60 min50 min60 Q45 Q
(4 Exp.)
60 sec67 sec+ 11%
Reading35 min40 min40 Q36 Q
(9 Exp.)
53 sec67 sec+ 27%
Science35 min40 min40 Q40 Q
(6 Exp.)
53 sec60 sec+ 15%
5th Section (Experi-mental Ques-tions)20 minNA12 – 28 QNANANA
Writing40 min40 min1 Q1 Q
Totals195 min

235 min w/ Writing




125 min

165 min w/ Science

205 min w/ Science & Writing
227 Q –
243 Q
(excluding Writing)




131 Q

171 Q w/ Science

(all excluding Writing)
  • Science will be optional and will NOT be included in the composite calculation beginning as soon as a student takes a test in the “Core EMR/Enhanced ACT” format (see timing below).  
    • PREVIOUS composites WILL NOT be recalculated.  
    • Superscores AFTER an Enhanced ACT/Core EMR test attempted only include EMR data.
  • One passage in English (10 questions), one passage in Reading (9 questions), one passage in Science (6 questions), and 4 questions in Math will be experimental. The former 5th section will no longer exist. (And the crowd goes wild!)
  • Paper will continue to be offered for the foreseeable future. No guarantees forever though.
  • The Enhanced ACT will continue to be linear; it will NOT be adaptive in any way.  Both digital and paper will be the same test, just different formats.
  • English will have question stems for ALL questions, leveling the playing field for many accommodation types.
  • English will now have an argumentative essay rather than the current all non-fiction feast.
  • Math will only have 4 answers choices instead of the current 5 answer choices.
  • Math will have proportionally fewer higher level questions and lower the overall word count in questions.
  • Reading will have a more diverse set of passages.
  • Science will now always include one passage addressing engineering and design topics.

Timing and Cost

  • April 2025 – First offering of the Enhanced ACT for national test dates DIGITAL format only.
  • September 2025 – All national test dates, PAPER & DIGITAL, will be in the Enhanced ACT format.
  • Spring 2026 – State, District, and School Day testing will finally be in the Enhanced ACT format.  If schools require both Science and Writing, they will be able to opt for 2-day testing for everyone.  NOTE: Composites for all testing will start to be calculated based only on EMR starting in September 2025 even though the test’s format won’t change until Spring 2026.
  • Expected pricing for Enhanced ACT will be less than current four section ACT.

What do colleges think?

  • ACT has been working with colleges (including test blind colleges) to understand how they use composites in their processes.
  • ACT’s research shows that the EMR-only composites closely track overall composites, supporting their move to make Science optional.

Practice material updates?

  • ACT’s first plan is to issue an addendum to the “Preparing for the ACT Guide” to highlight differences between the current and Enhanced ACT; however, the is timeline unclear.
  • Keep checking back – we’ll let you know as soon as we know!

If you’d like to see how these changes might or might not mean anything for you, please let us know. We love helping families develop a testing plan.  Always at no charge.

Changes are coming to ACT!

Changes are coming to ACT!

From the Author SAT vs. ACT Tests

Updated July 24th

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water, now that the Digital PSAT and SAT are old news, here comes ACT with changes of its own!

NOTE: THESE CHANGES WILL NOT AFFECT RISING SENIORS AT ALL! See below for recommendations for all classes.

Our hot take:

  • Students will appreciate – strike that – love that the ACT is shorter and has more time per question.
  • In the near term, selective colleges will require Science. Plan to still take Science.
  • So much uncertainty!  See below for our top questions, but we’re buckling up for a bumpy ride with ACT starting in spring 2025.

Here’s the short summary on what’s changing and when.

What’s Changing?

  • Significantly more time per question.
    • English and Math questions get 12% and 17% more time, respectively.
    • Reading and Science questions get 28% and 27% more time, respectively.
    • Shorter passages —> less text to process.
  • Science is optional.
  • Shorter overall timing for the test, especially if the student opts out of the Science section —> now shorter than the Digital SAT timing!
  • Experimental questions (formerly Section 5) will now be part of the regular sections: reduces overall testing time AND improves data.
  • Composite scores will now be calculated ONLY on the English, Math, and Reading scores.

What’s NOT Changing?

  • Scoring will remain the same: each section ranges from 1 – 36 and the composite is an average of those sections.
  • For now, students can still choose between paper and digital formats.
  • Writing is still optional.
  • Students will still NOT be able to use their own device for digital testing.

When is this happening?

  • The changes above will be introduced first in April 2025 in the digital format ONLY.
  • The changes will be incorporated into PAPER beginning in September 2025.
  • The changes will be incorporated into School Day testing in “Spring 2026.”

Our current recommendations by class year:

  • Seniors (Class of 2025) – No impact here.  You can continue to test in the current format throughout your senior year.
  • Juniors (Class of 2026)
    • Still consider the ACT by taking a practice test of both SAT and ACT. Evaluate the impact of uncertainty of being able to re-test at the beginning of your senior year and the availability of practice materials for that.
    • Plan to take Science.
    • Do NOT take the digital version of the ACT. Until or unless we know a lot more, the formatting of the digital ACT works against most students.
  • Sophomores (Class of 2027)
    • Wait and see.  We will learn a lot between now and when you need to start making choices on which test to take.

Questions. We have questions!

  • Practice materials! Given what seems to be a required increase in individual question difficulty to maintain any kind of scoring parity, will any old practice materials be usable? And more, when will ACT release new practice materials so we can all see what’s up?

If you’d like to see how these changes might or might not mean anything for you, please let us know. We love helping families develop a testing plan. Always at no charge.

How to Choose Between the Digital SAT and ACT?

How to Choose Between the Digital SAT and ACT?

From the Author SAT vs. ACT

Now that college admissions is moving back into more of a test-preferred environment, students don’t have to struggle with the choice of whether or not to take a college entrance exam but rather which one. In a recent industry podcast, Test and the Rest: The College Admissions Industry Podcast, Woodlands Test Prep Founder Susan Powers weighs in on the important factors in choosing between the digital SAT and the ACT.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

  1. Why should students give thought to which test they want to take?
  2. How are the ACT and digital SAT different?
  3. How does the ACT Science section play into a decision about which test to take?
  4. Should you prepare for both the ACT and digital SAT?
  5. Are there any general rules for what types of students are better suited to either test?

SAT vs. ACT?

SAT vs. ACT Tests

Check out our Guide to PSAT scores!

Need to compare an ACT score? We can help you take one at home any time for free!

Click here for all the scoop that you need for the Digital SAT!


Which one should I take?

It’s junior year; the time has come.

Time to start considering the college admissions process. A big part of that process is taking the SAT or ACT to apply to college. So the questions loom: 

Understanding the answers to these questions is your first strategic decision in your college admissions process. Here are a few important points to consider:

  • All colleges accept both tests. This is great. Having the freedom to submit either test to your college of choice allows you to pick the test that works best for you.  
  • You should prep only for the test that suits you best. Most students do better on one test or the other. You can figure out which one is better for you by taking a practice and then comparing it to your PSAT or SAT results. Use our handy comparison tables (below) to compare your results.
  • Each test has a different feel. The ACT is on paper, takes longer, and is more straightforward, but much more quickly paced. The Digital SAT is on a computer, gives significantly more time per question but takes much less time overall, but it’s wordier and uses more complex vocabulary. The ACT tests all types of math; whereas the SAT focuses primarily on Algebra. The SAT gives all students access to Desmos – a built-in graphing calculator; it’s a game-changer! The ACT includes a Science Reasoning section which tests data analysis skills more thoroughly than those skills are tested on the SAT. Pick the test that aligns best with your personal style and gives you the highest score.

Use these tips when beginning to formulate your testing plan. Creating a testing strategy helps to maximize your results and remove stress from the process. Woodlands Test Prep can help!  Call us at 713.205.1807 today for a free 30-minute consultation on your test prep strategy. 

And click here for our in-depth discussion of PSAT scores and National Merit considerations.

Changes to the ACT

From the Author SAT vs. ACT

The momentous changes to the ACT announced on October 8th, 2019 will change how students choose between tests, how they view retesting, and how colleges look at superscores.  We’ve spent the last couple of weeks, including last Thursday at a webinar hosted by ACT, Inc., learning much more about how the changes will actually work.  

The three changes announced are:

  • Individual section retesting,
  • Optional superscore reporting, and
  • Online testing

While the individual section retesting has received most of the coverage in the press, the other announcements could be just as (if not more in some cases) impactful on how the college admissions’ testing process works for students.  Some of these effects have to do with the details of how all of this will work.  Let’s look at each component to see the details and possible effects.

Individual section retesting

Probably the most important unsaid fact about ACT, Inc. offering individual section retesting is that essentially no colleges have said how they plan to handle those scores.  During the webinar on Thursday, October 24th presented by ACT, Inc. covering all the changes, they announced that Vanderbilt has recently changed their policy to accept superscoring.  The implication is that the individual section retests will also be accepted as part of that.  While the logical assumption is that colleges that currently superscore will also accept the section retests, no colleges have definitively confirmed that they will.  Students in the class of 2021, who would benefit first from the ability to retest in the fall of their senior year, can’t rely on colleges accepting those scores.  

Section retesting is only available for students who have already taken the full test.  Section retesting will only be offered online (much more on that later) and on the seven national test dates.  It is possible, particularly for the class of 2021, that capacity will not be conveniently available to meet the demand for section retesting.  If and when it is, students will be able to take up to three section retests on a single day, essentially making any combination of retesting possible (any combination of one to four sections).  In an interesting twist, ACT, Inc. personnel confirmed that students will likely be able to “retest” just the essay portion of the test, even if they didn’t take it the first time.  In our opinion, this option will eventually eliminate the need to take the essay unless or until students decide to apply to colleges which require or recommend it; there will be no need to take it “just in case” (assuming capacity is available).

To assuage the worries about students for whom retesting is a financial burden, ACT, Inc. is increasing the number of fee waivers from two to four and letting a fee waiver work for either a complete test or up to three retests. Regular pricing for section retests will be different (presumably less) than taking the whole test, but ACT, Inc. hedged on the actual pricing. (“Pricing is still being determined.”)  

While most students (and their tutors) would agree that the order in which one takes sections matters, ACT, Inc. posits that order doesn’t matter.  “We have also conducted research to examine whether the order in which a student takes the ACT subject tests affects their performance.  We find that students perform similarly regardless of test order.  That is, regardless of whether you take the English test last or first, you are expected to earn the same score, which also supports the shift to single-subject retesting.”  This research has not been made available (unlike the research they have presented for the validity of superscores – see below).  Interestingly, ACT has not yet made a decision on whether students will have to take retests in the order in which they occur in a full test or in an order of their choosing.

It is our opinion that the opportunity to retest will be a significant factor in managing fatigue for some students. That being said, we will evaluate each student’s situation on a case by case basis. Often a student’s improvement on a superscore basis comes from sections that he or she did not expect, so focusing on only one section eliminates the possibility of improvement on those sections.  Section retesting will not be a universal panacea.

Our overall, near-term recommendation is for the class of 2021 to continue making their testing decisions ignoring these changes since it is unclear that they will be of benefit in time.  Of course none of these changes affect the class of 2020.

Superscoring

In September 2020, ACT, Inc. will begin to give students two choices in how they send their scores to colleges: either choosing test dates (including the choice of all test dates) or superscoring.  While some colleges have superscored the ACT for years, the number of school that do so lags behind schools that superscore the SAT.  Historically, ACT, Inc. opposed superscoring – rather vociferously.  In an about face, they conducted research over the last two years confirming (surprisingly) that superscoring is a better predictor of first year college grades than any other measure (average, last, or single highest test date).  In fact, they found that superscoring actually under-predicted first year grades. They hypothesize (and we concur) that students who are willing to retest are more likely to seek out additional help if needed at college.  One of the (not-so-subtle) subtexts of the webinar is ACT, Inc.’s hope that more and more colleges will now begin to superscore the ACT.  It is worth noting that the NCAA has always used a version of superscoring: the sum of the highest section scores achieved (rather than the average).  As the number of colleges superscoring the ACT increases, it will become more attractive as a testing option for students who score about the same on the SAT and ACT.

For the class of 2021 (and future classes), ACT, Inc. will super-score tests taken from September 2016 forward, including any section retests starting in September 2020.  Section retesting isn’t necessary to use the super-scoring option.

Online Testing

ACT, Inc. will start offering online testing at testing centers on national test dates in September 2020.  Online testers (and their score recipients) will receive their scores in two days instead of about twelve. Many of the changes to the ACT will be driven by the availability, however, of this online testing.  During the webinar, we asked in a couple of different ways how many centers and/or seats would be available for online testing.  When asked how many testing locations they anticipated being available, they said, “ACT is working on establishing the online testing centers. We are beginning with the current sites that offer ACT testing and will expand our search as necessary. When a student logs in to the registration system, it will display how close the nearest center is that offers online testing.”  We were underwhelmed with their certainty that online testing would be widely available.  In some states, online testing has been used for ACT/SAT testing for all juniors. Texas has not been one of those states, and will likely struggle to host enough testing centers with the infrastructure required (including but not limited to computers and high speed, reliable internet access).  Students will, of course, still be able to test with paper and pencil, but they won’t be able to do the individual section retesting.  

ACT, Inc., in fact, states that they don’t have any plans to do away with paper and pencil testing “at this time.”  In the same way that the use (or not) of accommodations is not reported to colleges, whether a student tests online or with paper and pencil will also not be reported.  For accommodations, only students with 50% extra time will be able to test online (and therefore take advantage of section retesting if desired).  Other accommodation modalities will require taking the test with paper and pencil (and will, therefore, make section retesting unavailable).  During the webinar, ACT, Inc. equivocated on whether online testing would be more expensive; we expect that it will be.

Again, the issue of availability is crucial and means that the class of 2021 should not rely on its availability when making testing decisions.

Key Points

  • None of these changes affect the class of 2020.
  • The class of 2021 should proceed as if these changes aren’t happening; we are uncertain that they will actually be accepted by colleges and/or that capacity will be available in the near-term.
  • The Woodlands and surrounding area will likely have a shortage of online testing centers in the near-term.
  • Section retesting will helpful for some, but not all, students.
  • Online testing will ultimately become the testing method of choice.
  • More colleges will likely begin superscoring the ACT.
  • Students with less common accommodations will want to think about what to request early in the testing process.

From a test prep standpoint, the biggest change here is the move to online testing. While the rollout may not have a lot of capacity at first (that remains to be seen), the future is clear: online testing will continue to grow every year given the incentive structure put in place.  Unknowns abound in how the delivery of the online test will look and function.  ACT, Inc. stated in the webinar that online practice is available in ACT Academy, but the look and feel of it does not correspond to the functions described in the webinar (highlighting, etc.).  Navigation tutorials are expected to be made available but the timing for that is unclear.  We will remain on top of how these tests look and function so that as online testing becomes available for our students, we can guide them expertly in the same way we have always done with paper and pencil.

About the Author:  Susan Powers is the founder of Woodlands Test Prep and a renowned test prep expert.  She focuses on delivering the most up to date testing information to students, taking both the SAT and ACT twice a year.