If your student is studying from an ACT book that's more than a year old, here's the uncomfortable truth: they're preparing for a test that no longer exists.
In 2025, the ACT rolled out the biggest redesign in its modern history — what it's calling the "Enhanced ACT." The changes started with online national testing in spring 2025 and reach school-day testing in spring 2026. Most families have heard a vague rumor that "the ACT got shorter." Very few understand what actually changed, and even fewer prep companies have updated their materials to match. That gap is exactly where prepared students pull ahead.
Let me walk you through what really happened — and why it matters more for Louisiana families than almost anywhere else.
Science is now optional — and your composite proves it
This is the headline change. For decades, the ACT tested four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. On the Enhanced ACT, Science is optional, and your Composite score is now the average of just three sections — English, Math, and Reading. If a student does take Science, it's reported as a separate score, not folded into the Composite.
Shorter test, fewer questions — but don't mistake that for "easier"
The Enhanced ACT trimmed the core test to roughly two hours, down from three, and cut about 44 questions overall. The new core is 50 English questions, 45 Math, and 36 Reading. More time per question sounds like a gift — and it can be — but here's the catch the brochures skip: many of the easiest questions were removed. The questions that remain trend a little harder on average. Fewer questions does not mean a softer test; it means each question carries more weight, and a careless mistake costs more.
The hidden questions that quietly eat your time
The ACT used to bundle its experimental questions into a separate "fifth section." Not anymore. On the Enhanced ACT, unscored field-test questions are sprinkled directly into each section — and they look identical to the real ones. A student who doesn't know they exist can burn precious minutes agonizing over a question that was never going to count. A student who's been trained for it simply keeps moving. That single piece of awareness can be worth points.
A few smaller shifts that add up
- Math questions now offer four answer choices instead of five, and the wordy "story problems" are trimmed.
- English and Reading passages are shorter, which rewards students who can read efficiently and find evidence fast.
- The 1–36 scoring scale is unchanged, so a 24 still means what a 24 always meant.
Why this is good news for families who prepare
Every test change creates a window. For a year or two, a chunk of students will walk in with old habits and old materials, caught off guard by the new pacing and the embedded field-test items. The students who prepared for the test as it actually is — three sections that count, smarter pacing, no panic over experimental questions — will quietly outperform them.
That's the whole idea behind how we teach: master the content, see the patterns, and execute with a plan. The test changed. The method for beating it didn't — it just got more important to use the current playbook.
The families who win this window aren't the ones who study the hardest. They're the ones who study the right test.