What to Know About ACT Science

Starting with the Enhanced ACT, Science is no longer a required section. That’s a real decision for families now, not a footnote, and it comes with more questions than just “take it or skip it.” Here’s what actually matters.

What changed

Science used to be required on every ACT. On the Enhanced ACT, it’s optional, and students choose whether to include it each time they register for a test date, so the decision isn’t locked in once and done. A student can take it on one date and skip it on the next. It’s 40 questions across 6 passages and takes 40 minutes.

Does it affect the Composite?

No. The Composite score is calculated from English, Math, and Reading only, whether or not a student takes Science. If a student does take it, that score is reported on its own, and it’s combined with the Math score into a separate STEM score.

The case for taking it if a student is STEM-leaning

For a student aiming at engineering, pre-med, computer science, or another data- and lab-heavy major, Science is worth more than a passing data point. It’s the one score that feeds directly into the STEM score, which is the kind of specific, subject-relevant evidence a quantitative program is more likely to care about than a general Composite. It also gives a student a chance to show they can read data, interpret an experiment, and reason through conflicting findings under time pressure, which is a real preview of what those majors actually ask for.

The case for taking it even outside STEM

For a student with no STEM intentions, the case is simpler: it costs very little. Since Science doesn’t touch the Composite, a strong score is a genuine extra positive data point with almost no downside to the score that matters most. It won’t carry the same weight it does for a STEM-bound applicant, but it never actively works against a student either, as long as the attempt is a reasonably good one.

How colleges are actually treating it

This is still shaking out, because the format is brand new, but a few patterns have emerged. Some schools have said outright that Science is fully optional and won’t factor into their review at all. Others recommend it, especially for applicants to quantitative or lab-based programs. A smaller number still require it, sometimes only for a specific scholarship or program rather than general admission. Many schools simply haven’t published a clear policy yet. One fact worth knowing regardless of where a student is applying: ACT’s own Superscore report doesn’t include Science, so even a student’s best-attempt summary defaults back to the English/Math/Reading Composite.

Because this varies school by school and is still settling, the right call for a given student depends on their actual college list, not a blanket rule. Check the admissions pages of the schools under serious consideration rather than assuming.

My take: use an early attempt as a free look

Given how little it costs, I generally tell students to take Science on one of their earlier official attempts rather than skip it outright or agonize over the decision upfront. A test date a family ends up sending to colleges is usually not automatically every date a student sits for, since families typically choose which test event’s report to send. So using an early attempt to find out whether Science is worth keeping in the rotation costs very little, because that date usually isn’t the one that ends up in front of an admissions office anyway. If the score turns out weak, drop it on later attempts. If it’s strong, keep taking it.

One nuance worth knowing: taking Science isn’t entirely risk-free once a family decides to send that test date’s report. ACT doesn’t let you hide one section while sending the rest of a given date’s scores, so a low Science score is still visible on that report, even to a college that doesn’t require or use it. That’s the real reason to stop taking it once a student already knows it isn’t helping, rather than taking it every single time out of habit.

Science going optional doesn’t remove a decision, it just moves it earlier, from “how do I handle this section” to “should I take this section at all.” Treated as a low-cost early data point rather than an automatic skip or an automatic include, it’s one more place where paying attention to the data actually pays off.