The College Board recently released information about its new Enhanced ACT, comprising a plethora of improvements to the traditional ACT experience. According to the official ACT website, the test has been shortened both in duration and number of questions, while simultaneously allowing more time per question. Each section is different, so the time per question varies by section.
Whereas improvements in time per question look small, the original ACT had 75 English questions, 60 Math questions, 40 Reading questions, and 40 Science questions, so the test itself will largely be smaller and less exhausting. However, this decrease in the number of questions warrants caution, as it means that each question is more heavily weighted than those on the original ACT.
The College Board has also reduced the number of choices on Math questions from 5 to 4 shortened the passages in the Reading section, introduced online options for the ACT, and made the Science section optional. According to the Front Office, both the Writing and Science sections will be required for Huntsville High School students’ ACT in the Spring, so the latter changes will not affect Huntsville High students’ ACT in the Spring, but the others will. Furthermore, the changes will affect those students who choose to retake their ACT outside of HHS.
