Starting in April 2025, students who choose to test online will have more flexibility and choice, experience a shorter test, and get more time to respond to each question.

Beginning with the September 2025 test, all students testing on a Saturday, either online or on paper, will experience these benefits. Schools and districts will have these options starting in spring 2026.

Online ACT: What’s staying the same?

• The Composite score scale will remain 1-36.

Online ACT: What’s changing?

• The ACT will be shortened from 195 minutes to 125 minutes.

• The Science section will be optional.

• The Composite score will include only English, Math, and Reading.

• The score report will include a Science score and a STEM score if a student takes the Science section.

• The test will have 44 fewer questions.

• Students get more time per question.

• The number of math answer choices will be reduced from 5 to 4.

The paper test will reflect these enhancements starting in September 2025.

Students will always have the choice to test online or on paper!

Strong STEM students should take the Science section.

The Science section is required for Florida’s Bright Futures Scholarship.

If you’re prepping for the ACT in its current form, don’t switch to the online version. Take the test you’re familiar with enough times to achieve your goal score by July 2025. Whenever a standardized test changes, it brings instability and unknowns with the change. If you’re uncomfortable with the Science questions (which are mainly on data interpretation and understanding experiments), then consider taking the online ACT starting in April 2025.