How the New ACT Compares to the Digital SAT

Over the past 8 years, as the SAT has undergone two massive updates, the ACT has generally remained static in the turning world of college admissions. Any changes to its format have been comparatively minor, making it relatively straightforward to prepare for. But, as of July 15th, 2024, the ACT has announced some fairly extensive changes that will be rolled out in 2025-26. In this article, we will summarize those changes and consider how they might impact a student’s decision to take the ACT vs. the SAT.

UPCOMING CHANGES TO THE ACT

The new ACT was announced as prioritizing a "Focus on Flexibility" and starting next year students will have several new options to choose from as a part of a "core test" that will only be two hours in duration rather than the current three-hour exam.

• Students will be able to choose whether to take the science section as it will be offered (like writing currently is) as an optional section. The new ACT itself will consist only of the English, math, and reading sections; students’ composite scores will be calculated by finding the average of those three sections’ scores.
• Students who are signing up for the ACT will have four options: the ACT, the ACT plus science, the ACT plus writing, or the ACT plus science and writing.
• Students can also choose their preferred exam format: they can take the ACT online or on paper.

Five WAYS ACT changes COUld affect students

These changes could impact students’ decision-making in a number of ways, but ultimately, the testing landscape might not end up changing very much in the long term.

1. (Even) more students could choose the ACT over the SAT.
   
   • The main factors that would traditionally cause students to choose the SAT over the ACT were that they felt intimidated by the science section and that they felt uncomfortable with the very tight timing of the exam. Since the SAT’s transition to its digital format over the past year, students also might be attracted to the SAT because it offers a shorter test: this might appeal to students with certain learning differences or simply to students (particularly those with 1.5 or double time) who would find themselves struggling to battle test fatigue. By making the science section optional, making the test shorter, and relieving some of the time pressure, the makers of the ACT are very clearly trying to appeal to those students and encourage them to choose the ACT over the SAT.
   • Many students have already been choosing the ACT over the SAT since the digital SAT revamp because the ACT is a better-known entity with many more high-quality practice materials available, making it easier to predict and to study for. I imagine that this will continue to be the case, and that the ACT will continue to take more ground in the never-ending battle of the college admissions tests.
2. The science section will offer choice… and possible confusion
   • The fact that students now can choose whether to take the science section or not might be a huge boon to students who really struggle with this section and would benefit from not factoring it into their composite score.
   • On the other hand, the existence of so many choices might be confusing for students. It will be tough to tell what the best option is: should someone take the ACT with the science section, so colleges can see that they put in the extra effort? Should they focus only on perfecting the core sections of the test as much as possible? For students applying to STEM-based programs, it’s likely that the science section will be required or recommended, so they should still plan to take it. In general, though, we really need to wait and hear from college admissions officers to see what their policies will be regarding the ACT science section; that should offer much more clarity to students.
   • I imagine that, for high-performing students applying to top colleges, the science section will still be encouraged, since it offers those students one more way to distinguish themselves from other top-level applicants. For those students, the optional nature of the science section likely won’t change very much, since it will still effectively be required.
3. Preparation might become trickier for a period of time
   • It is not entirely clear what the newest version of the ACT will look like, which makes preparation a bit trickier for right now. It sounds as though the overall content will remain fairly consistent, but we don’t yet know much about how the format, question types, or difficulty level of questions might change. In the slightly longer run, it should be possible to adapt the huge amounts of practice materials currently in circulation for the ACT and use those to prepare for the redesigned ACT. But, in the shorter run, this aspect might cause students to feel a little uncertain about the ACT, or to choose the digital SAT instead if they feel more certain about its format and structure.
4. Paper versus online testing will be worth considering (for now)
   • The ACT, unlike the SAT, still does offer paper and pencil testing. It isn’t clear for how much longer that will be the case – but, for now, it’s a worthy consideration for students who are choosing between those tests. Some students do equally well on paper and online, but some find it easier to read or to take in information when they work on paper. For those students, the ACT will be a clear winner.
5. Ultimately, it’s likely that not much will change.
   • As discussed above, the choice aspect for the science section – though important and helpful for some students – will likely not be hugely impactful for a large number of students, since they might continue to treat that section as a “recommended”/required section anyway. The changes to the timing and format of the test might drive some students away temporarily because of the challenges to test preparation, but ultimately those changes will likely attract more students to the ACT rather than the SAT, continuing the overall trend of more students choosing the ACT over the SAT in recent years. As the tests get more and more similar to one another, it will become increasingly easier for students to prepare for both at the same time or to switch from one to the other, which might take more pressure off of the whole SAT vs ACT decision to begin with.

Of course, this information is still very new, and we’ll keep you updated as the situation keeps developing and as we continue to learn more. Overall, though, in any circumstance, the best thing you can do is to plan to prepare with test prep professionals who keep an ear to the ground and know how to help you prepare for any and all upcoming changes. Here at MyGuru, we’ll be ready to help students prepare with customized ACT tutoring or Digital SAT tutoring to help students excel at whichever test is best for them!