In the Spring of 2025, the brand new ACT Test will have the number of questions reduced, more time added to some sections, shorter Reading passages, and a Digital Test format option added. The Science section will also be optional

How reliable will the new ACT be? How will concordance tables between the SAT and ACT be affected, as well as the scoring averages? Will the new ACT be just as valid as the current ACT?

The private equity company Nexus Capital purchased ACT three months ago, and the company is trying to keep up with SAT which went digital in March '24. Thus, this is why we will see these updated ACT test format changes.

I suspect it will take ACT at least a few rounds of testing to calibrate their scores and difficulty levels properly, so that hopefully there's more consistency on future ACT tests.

Here's an example of how a student of mine took advantage of the same "old/new" SAT format change situation a year ago. In the fall of '23, she prepped for the "old" SAT administered in Dec. '23. She scored 1540, which surpassed her earlier new Digital PSAT score significantly. Since both "old/new" SAT test scores are acceptable to colleges at this time of applying to colleges in the fall of '24, she chose to not take the more challenging unfamiliar New Digital SAT at all. Instead, she took the paper-pencil format ACT and recorded a 35 Composite Score. She now has both a 99th %ile "old" SAT score and current ACT score to submit on her college applications.

The same gameplan is recommended for current sophs and juniors in the Fall of '24. Consider taking the more predictable, reliable, acceptable, current ACT Test during this first semester, and choose later when/whether to take the new ACT in '25, which may have questionable reliability, acceptability, and changes with uncertain implications.

It is very likely, that most, if not all colleges, will accept scores received and submitted from both the "old/new" ACT tests. However, they also very possibly may look more favorably upon a higher score received on the current full length ACT when considering not only admission, but also scholarship grants.

Ken Krueger