I Just Took the Enhanced ACT: Here's Everything Parents Need to Know
The ACT just rolled out a completely new test format, and most families are walking into it blind.
As a high school parent, you're probably wondering how these changes will impact your student's college applications and scholarship opportunities. The problem is there's a ton of conflicting information out there, and you don't have time to sort through it all yourself.
I just took the Enhanced ACT firsthand to see exactly what changed. After scoring perfect 36s on this test over a dozen times and coaching hundreds of students to scores above 30, I'm going to cut through the noise and show you exactly what's different, what actually matters, and how to prepare your student for success.
The Three Big Structural Changes
The Enhanced ACT introduced three overarching changes that reshape how students should approach the test.
They shortened the overall test time. The ACT went from just over three hours down to about two hours if your student skips the science section. This wasn't an academic decision—it's pure marketing. The SAT went digital and shortened their test a few years ago, and the ACT wanted to compete by making their test more appealing to a wider range of students.
They slightly increased the time per question across all sections. They're trying to combat their reputation as a rushed test where students don't have enough time. English went from 36 seconds per question to 42 seconds. Math increased from 60 to 67 seconds and also dropped from five answer choices to four. Reading saw the biggest jump from 52.5 seconds to 67 seconds per question. Science went from 52.5 to 60 seconds per question.
Finally—the most significant change—the science section is now optional for composite scoring. The ACT will still give students a science score, but it won't factor into the composite or superscore calculation. Your student's composite is now just the average of English, Math, and Reading.
Most colleges are slowly adapting to this change, and the vast majority aren't looking heavily at the science section anymore.
What Actually Changed: Section-by-Section Breakdown
English Section: More Straightforward, But One Critical Shift
The English section isn't dramatically different from what it's been in the past.
Questions are slightly more straightforward now because they directly tell you what they're looking for. If it's a conciseness question, they'll ask "which answer choice is most concise?" instead of making you figure it out. If it's about redundancy, they'll explicitly ask for the "least redundant" option.
But here's what you need to know: subject-verb agreement questions tripled. I saw these everywhere on the test, and most high school students don't even recognize them. They think these are verb tense questions when they're actually testing subject-verb agreement. Two of our students, John and Cat, messaged us right after their test on Saturday. They told us they got four to five extra questions correct specifically because of subject-verb agreement drills we'd done in the days leading up to the test.
The section also included more transition questions and context-based questions that require students to understand the full passage rather than just jumping to the underlined portion.
Math Section: Higher Variance and Deeper Understanding Required
The math section showed the most interesting evolution.
There's now much more variance in difficulty. Some questions are ridiculously straightforward and can be solved in under 15 seconds. Other questions dig much deeper into true mathematical understanding rather than tips and tricks for eliminating answer choices. This is likely why they reduced from five answer options to four—they're making it harder to game the system.
Here's what specifically changed. Statistics questions expanded dramatically. Instead of basic probability calculations, you're now seeing experimental design questions, normal distribution interpretation, and expected value problems that require conceptual understanding. One question I saw asked how you would design a probability experiment, not just calculate the probability itself.
Math vocabulary became critical. Questions testing knowledge of terms like integer, real number, and imaginary number showed up more frequently than in past tests. Students need to know these definitions cold.
The test also added some less common concepts. I saw a vector question asking for magnitude and direction. There were more advanced geometry problems, like finding the partial area of a circle given only a portion of it. Trigonometry went beyond basic SOHCAHTOA to include unit circle concepts.
The takeaway: students need genuine mathematical understanding, not just formula memorization.
Reading Section: Extra Time Changes Everything
The reading section felt the most different in terms of pacing.
The 15 extra seconds per question was noticeable. This gave students meaningfully more time to find objective evidence in the passage rather than going with what subjectively feels correct. This changes strategy significantly—students should spend more time verifying their answers against the text.
The ACT removed passage type labels. There used to be clear distinctions between literary narrative, social science, humanities, and natural sciences passages. Now there are just three "informational passages" and one literary narrative. The content seemed similar, but the labeling disappeared.
One passage included a data table, which is new for ACT reading. The SAT has done this for years since they don't have a science section. These were basic data interpretation questions asking students to understand information from a chart in the context of the passage. If your student has practiced science section strategies, these questions should be straightforward.
The passages themselves felt easier to digest. Nothing was overly technical or jargon-heavy compared to some past reading passages.
The Three Critical Impacts for Your Family
1. Staying Current Is Non-Negotiable
The ACT is in flux right now.
This is the first nationwide rollout of the Enhanced ACT, and they'll likely continue making small tweaks as they gather data. We don't have years of historical information like we did with the old format. That means expertise about what's actually showing up on current tests is more valuable than ever.
Most prep programs made their adjustments six months ago and called it done. But the test is evolving with every administration.
2. Strategic Planning Became More Important
With only three sections counting toward the composite score, each section now represents one-third of the total instead of one-fourth.
This makes superscoring incredibly powerful if you start early. Instead of spreading prep time across all sections simultaneously, students can focus intensely on one or two sections per test. Get a great English and Reading score in September, then focus entirely on Math for October. Superscore those results together for a composite that would have been nearly impossible to achieve in a single sitting.
This strategy only works if you start as a sophomore or early junior. If you're late in the process, you don't have the luxury of taking multiple focused attempts.
3. Early Adopters Have a Massive Advantage
There's significant uncertainty around this new format right now, and uncertainty creates opportunity.
The ACT is graded on a curve. If your student adapts to these changes while everyone else is still figuring things out, they'll perform relatively better. That translates directly to a higher score. As more students and prep programs catch up to the new format, this advantage diminishes.
The early bird genuinely gets the worm here.
What We Changed in Our Prep (And What You Should Change Too)
We made three specific adjustments to our ACT coaching program based on what I experienced in the testing room.
Timing Adaptations
We're not giving students the full benefit of the extra time during practice.
We want them practicing under slightly tighter time constraints so the real test feels manageable. When test day nerves hit, those extra seconds become a buffer. If students practice with all the extra time, they'll feel rushed under actual testing conditions even though they technically have more time than before.
Content Updates
We're updating our lessons weekly, not yearly.
Specifically, we've added extensive subject-verb agreement drills for English. We're building new worksheets for the expanded statistics concepts in math—experimental design, expected value, normal distributions, and conceptual understanding of standard deviation. We're also adding advanced trig concepts beyond basic SOHCAHTOA.
These aren't major curriculum overhauls. They're targeted tweaks based on current patterns.
Continuous Testing and Adjustment
Most tutors work off secondhand student reports about what's on the test. We adjust based on firsthand experience sitting in the testing room. This is how we caught the subject-verb agreement shift early enough to drill our students before their tests.
What This Means for Your Student Right Now
If your student is taking the Enhanced ACT in the next few months, here's what you need to do.
First, update your prep materials. Anything from six months ago doesn't reflect current reality. Make sure whoever is helping your student prepare has taken the Enhanced ACT themselves or is working directly with people who have.
Second, adjust your timeline. With only three sections counting toward the composite, strategic planning around superscoring becomes crucial. If you haven't already, map out which test dates make sense for focusing on specific sections.
Third, focus on the high-value changes. Make sure your student is drilling subject-verb agreement for English. Add conceptual statistics problems for math. Practice using extra time on reading to verify answers against objective textual evidence.
Most families will wait until after a disappointing test result to adapt their approach. By then, they've already lost time, money, and scholarship opportunities.
The smart move is adapting now while there's still uncertainty in the system. That's how you turn these Enhanced ACT changes from a threat into an advantage.
The bottom line: The Enhanced ACT isn't harder—it's just different. Different requires a different approach. Students who adapt first will have a measurable edge over those still using 2023 strategies in 2025.
If you want more detailed information about specific Enhanced ACT strategies and exactly what to adjust in your student's prep, I've put together additional resources on our YouTube channel where I break down the test section by section with specific examples.
The families who treat ACT prep like a living system rather than a static checklist are the ones who'll see the biggest score improvements and unlock the most scholarship opportunities. That starts with understanding exactly what changed and why it matters for your student's specific situation.
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