2025 ACT Changes: Key Differences from the SAT

You’re standing at the crossroads of college admissions. Two paths stretch before you: one leads to the SAT, the other to the ACT. Which should you choose? At The Best Test Prep, we don’t do guesswork. We train professional test-takers. Let’s break down the new ACT 2025 changes and key differences from the SAT.

What is the ACT?

Like all standardized tests, the ACT is one of endurance that assesses your ability to answer questions quickly, easily, and correctly for a long period of time. The ACT measures your skills in up to five sections:

• English
• Math
• Reading
• Science (optional)
• Writing (optional)

Each section is scored on a scale from 1 to 36, and your composite ACT score is the average. If you’re aiming for a competitive school, you need at least a 30, and for elite universities, you want to nail at least a 34.

How is the ACT Changing in 2025?

The ACT is getting a makeover in April 2025, and the changes are big:

• Shorter Test Duration – The required sections have shrunk from nearly 3 hours to just over 2 hours.
• Optional Science Section – Known as a grueling section near the end of the test, Science is now optional. However, if you’re choosing the ACT to impress admissions officers, it’s still a good idea to take it.  More about that later.
• Fewer Questions – The ACT is cutting down from 215 to 171 questions.
• Math Gets a Makeover – There are fewer answer choices in Math (four instead of five), which means your odds of guessing correctly just got slightly better.
• New Composite Score Formula – Your final ACT score will be based on English, Math, and Reading. The Science section, if taken, will be reported separately.

The bottom line? A shorter and faster-paced ACT is now possible. However, it defeats the main purpose of taking the ACT instead of the SAT. Read on.

SAT vs. ACT: The Key Differences

Both tests can get you into college, but one might suit your situation better than the other. Here’s how they compare:

Which Test Should You Take?

Clearly, the ACT is a broader test that covers more subject areas. While the SAT yields only two sections scores, the ACT provides five, giving more opportunities to impress college admissions officers. On the other hand, the SAT takes a little less time, effort, and money (if professional instruction is used) to prepare for.

Take the SAT if:

• You already have a very strong college application package, e.g., GPA, recommendation letters, extracurriculars, etc., for the universities and scholarship programs you want to apply for.
• You want to spend a little less time preparing, so you can focus on other things.
• You’re on a tight budget.

Take the ACT if:

• Your college application package has some weak spots, e.g., your GPA is a little lower than ideal, you haven’t had student leadership positions, etc., for the universities and scholarship programs you’re targeting, and you would like opportunities to strengthen it.
• You’re willing to spend a little more time, effort, and possibly money to prepare.

Of course, some students start out with better baseline scores on one test than the other, so be sure to take a practice test for each and see how you perform on them. We prepare students for both.

The Best Test Prep Difference

Other companies hire 18-year-olds who just took the SAT or ACT themselves, are still students, and have their own classes to worry about.

Not us.

We hire only experienced, full-time, professional instructors who know the test inside-out, upside-down, and backwards. We eat, sleep, and breathe standardized test preparation, all day every day. It’s all we do. We turn bright, motivated teenagers into professional test-takers.

Our results speak for themselves—every thank-you letter is is a trophy that adorns our office walls.

Need Help Preparing for the 2025 ACT Changes or the SAT?

Laugh all the way to college with a scholarship. To get a leg up on the competition, call The Best Test Prep at (844) 672-PREP today, and let’s turn you into a professional test-taker.