November 17th, 2024

New ACT for 2025

Attention Juniors–A New ACT Is Coming.

Many high school juniors who have not started their preparation for the SAT or ACT will want to get started right after the holidays. The first decision they need to make is which of the two tests they will work on. That question is a little more complicated this year since 2025 will bring a new ACT, and we only have partial information about the new test at this point.
What we know – in brief
•    The new test will be digital, i.e., will be taken on the computer.
•    For the Saturday, April 5, 2025 test, students will have the option of the new digital test or the paper test.
•    Tests given on school days will use the paper test until 2026.
•    The Science section will become optional. The Composite will become the average of English, Reading, and Math.
•    The digital test duration will be two hours, 5 minutes (without Science), as compared to the 3 hours, 5 minutes of the current test.
•    The amount of time allowed per question will increase from 0.84 minutes to 0.95 minutes. So, Digital SAT in comparison will still have 44% more time per question.
•    Preparation materials are expected to be available about the first of the year.

What we don’t know
•    Will the digital test be available at all of the April 2025 test centers?
•    Will test takers use their own or a provided computer/tablet
•    Will there be an integrated calculator for math?

Advice to Students– 
While we’ve not seen all the details about the new ACT, the test maker has said that the new test will continue to be based on the same subject matter. Changes described thus far appear to be minor (except for science being optional). So, I believe students can reasonably decide whether the ACT or the SAT will be the best test for them. As has been true up to now, recent PSAT and PreACT scores should be reliable predictors of SAT and ACT scores. If those are not available, the factors that are usually predictive are whether the student is stronger in math or verbal skills, and whether the faster pace required for the ACT is a problem for the student.

If students or parents have questions about these tests or preparing for them, they can feel free to contact Perry at [email protected] or 910-528-5595.

If you have friends who may find this information helpful, please forward a copy of this to them.

Perry Youngblood Tutoring
“Helping Students Succeed since 2002“