Enhanced ACT Practice Test 2025: What Changed and How to Prep

Starting in 2025, ACT redesigned its exam and started calling the result the Enhanced ACT. If you took an ACT practice test a few years ago, or you found an old prep book on your shelf, it is testing a different exam than the one you will sit for now. The three biggest changes are fewer questions per section, more time allowed per question, and Science becoming an optional fourth section instead of a required one that automatically factors into your composite score. If you are searching for 2025 practice material, the first thing to check is whether it reflects these changes. A practice test with 75 English questions or a mandatory Science section is testing the old format, and your timing habits, pacing strategy, and stamina training will be off if you build them around numbers that no longer apply.

Under the enhanced format, English dropped from 75 questions to 50, Math dropped from 60 questions to 45, and Reading dropped from 40 questions to 36. Each section also gives you more time per question than the legacy ACT did, which changes the whole feel of the test. It is less of a speed test and more of a test of whether you can apply a skill correctly under moderate time pressure. This matters for practice because pacing drills built around the old per-question time budgets will train you to rush sections you now have room to think through. When you practice, time yourself using the current section lengths and question counts, not whatever numbers show up in an outdated PDF. If a practice test does not clearly state its question counts before you start, do not use it as a timed diagnostic. Use it, if at all, only for untimed content review.

Science is no longer required. Your composite score is calculated from English, Math, and Reading only. If you sit for Science, it gets reported separately and also feeds into a STEM score alongside your Math result, which some programs may look at, especially for engineering, pre-med, or other STEM-heavy majors. This means your practice test strategy should start with a decision: are you applying anywhere that lists a STEM score or a Science score as relevant, or has a specific program that asks for it? If yes, keep Science in your practice rotation so you are not caught off guard by data representation questions, conflicting-viewpoints passages, or experimental design questions on test day. If no, you can spend that practice time deepening your English, Math, and Reading accuracy instead, since those three scores are the ones colleges will actually see as your composite.

Before you trust any practice test labeled "2025" or "Enhanced," check three things. First, confirm the question counts match the current format: 50 English, 45 Math, 36 Reading, and an optional 40-question Science. Second, check whether the answer explanations reference the current scoring structure, meaning composite from three sections rather than four. Third, look at whether the passages and question styles reflect the kind of moderate-pace reasoning the enhanced format rewards, rather than rapid-fire questions clearly written for the old timing. A lot of free material online has not been updated and quietly recycles pre-2025 tests with a new label. Cross-check any practice source against ACT's own published information about the Enhanced ACT before you build a study plan around it, especially if you are timing full sections for a baseline score.

Start with one full, correctly formatted practice test to get a baseline composite and to see how the new timing actually feels in your hands. Score it by section, then look at your weakest section relative to the others rather than just your lowest raw number. Spend the next two to three weeks doing shorter, focused drills: 15 to 20 questions from your weakest section, done under the real per-section time limit, followed by a slow review where you explain out loud why each wrong answer was wrong. Talking through your reasoning, not just checking a key, is what turns a missed question into a fixed habit. Repeat with a second full practice test after two to three weeks to check whether your pacing has improved, then adjust which section gets the most attention for your final stretch. This is also where working with a tutor who can listen to your reasoning in real time helps, which is the kind of practice Crimsora's voice-based sessions are built around: you talk through a problem the way you would explain it on test day, and get corrected on the reasoning itself, not just the final answer.