As we all know, the SAT has made major changes to their platform. It is digital and shorter and in the longrun it was to have been more efficient. The shortened test is a welcome change.
The ACT has a new format rolling out Spring of 2025 (April to be exact). In April, domestic students who choose an online platform will take the shorter test. The other piece of this information will be the Science section is optional. The paper option appears to remain with the same enhancements- Science section will be optional. Who should take the Science section? Those who hope to focus on Stem in university. Particularly those who are going abroad and their major must be declared in that specific arena.
The length of the test without Science will run two hours, with Science- an additional 40 minutes will be necessary (students taking this section will remain in the room while others are dismissed). There is still an option to take the writing section, but, so few universities ask for this that it is important to make sure the university a student is interested in requires this section.
There will be a new composite score a bit different from the past. And, what remains uncertain is how or if there will be a concordance chart with the SAT- that will be a wait and see. Superscoring will still happen.
One hope is that for international students, there will be more availability for the ACT. Internationally, the ACT is less available. Fingers crossed for this population.
Why the option not to take the Science section? One can only guess. My educated guess and speculation is that science curriculum varies so vastly from school to school, curriculum to curriculum.School requirements vary- some students take two years of science, others require three. Also, students who are firm in their knowledge that they aren’t going near another lab again in their life, why would they subject themselves to this section?
A couple of great resources to read in further detail:
Straight from the horse’s mouth: ACT.org
Applerouth Test Prep: applerouth.com
Article: Explainer: What We Know So Far About the Recently Announced ACT Updates