The ACT Science Section: Just Do It

The ACT Science section is now optional. And like most policy changes, this one is causing confusion. We’ve been having more and more conversations with parents – and college counselors -who are wondering just how “optional” that Science section really is and whether their students should take it. Read on to learn what the Science section is really about and whether it might make sense for you to give it a try. (Spoiler alert: It likely does!)

ACT Science: What is it?

Many students who choose the ACT do so because it feels like the more straightforward test that isn’t “messing with them” like the SAT. And that’s valid. But the least straightforward thing the ACT has ever done is to call the Science section the Science section: a better name for it might be the Reading Charts and Graphs section, because that’s what it is. Much like the Reading section won’t test students on The Great Gatsby or The Grapes of Wrath or anything else from their school reading lists, the Science section won’t ask students detailed questions about biology, chemistry or physics, and for the same reason. These standardized tests must be fair for students across the country taking vastly different sets of classes, so the Reading and Science sections instead test students’ abilities to understand and assimilate information presented to them in passages and experiments respectively. Students – especially those who attend public schools – have generally seen this before.

Pretty much every standardized test they’ve ever taken has a “Hey kid, Read this and now answer these questions” reading comprehension section. But the ACT science section is likely the first time they’ve seen it done with technical information including data and experimental procedures. While it may seem unfamiliar to students the first time or two, those who don’t like science shouldn’t be afraid of this section and those who do won’t necessarily find it a slam-dunk, though they are likely better prepared to understand the experiments they’ll encounter. In the final analysis, however, the ACT Science section, much like the Reading section, largely tests your ability to find information instead of whether or not you know information.

What are colleges saying about ACT Science requirements?

Few students take standardized tests just for the fun of it! These are admissions tests and should always be viewed through that lens, so what are colleges saying about the newly optional Science section? Not much as it turns out. There are only a few schools that *require* the Science section: Georgetown (who has a long history of wanting all your testing!), Boston University, Pomona, and the US Service Academies. That’s it. And the list of schools that “recommend” it isn’t much longer, consisting of Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Duke, and CalTech. Students with any of those schools on their college lists will obviously want to check out the Science section, but what about everyone else?

As always, the answers to admissions testing and college admissions questions tend to be individualized and nuanced, but here are the questions you should be asking yourself:

Will taking the Science section help my chances for admission? 

The college admissions process is full of unknowns and options. While your dream school may not require or recommend the science section, it likely also doesn’t require or recommend internships or summer programs or a commitment to community service. But that didn’t stop you from doing all those things, did it? You’ve been trying to do everything in your power to present yourself as a qualified applicant, and the Science section is no different. Doing well on the Science section will likely help an application just like doing well on the ACT overall helps an application. True, a good Science score can’t ever change your Composite score, which remains an average of English, Math and Reading, but it’s still visible to schools. A strong Science score will almost certainly be more beneficial to a STEM major looking at a competitive program than a humanities major applying to their local community college, but how are students to know whether a particular score will help their specific applications? They really can’t, to be honest. So instead of focusing on how colleges view the Science section, I encourage my students to focus on what they can control.

Can I do well enough on the Science section to potentially help my application?

This one is actually a “yes” for many students. Why? That science section, while novel and initially maybe a little intimidating, is highly preppable. In fact, we’d say that besides the English section, which tests the same two handfuls of grammar errors over and over, the Science section is actually the easiest section to improve on the timescale of test-prep. Moreover, it’s maybe the most “ACT-ish” of the ACT sections: Most students who choose the ACT over the SAT do so because they like how straightforward, predictable, and concrete the test is compared to the SAT. The SAT reading section is nuanced and can require extensive close reading to unpack. The ACT reading section does not require that sort of close reading, but it does require a certain processing speed (or an extended time accommodation), which students who prefer the ACT typically have. The ACT Science section is highly emblematic of the ACT as a whole: it’s fast paced, yet very concrete and predictable. So if your student preferred the ACT to the SAT, then the Science section is likely a better fit for them than they think and they should just give it a try!

Many students and parents are surprised by what we have learned in working with students for over twenty years: students’ ACT Science scores tend to track their Reading scores more closely than they do Math scores. That alignment really does make sense, however, since both sections test the same skillset of efficiently assimilating information and finding answers within it – one that’s a perfect encapsulation of what the ACT requires of students.

If you’re considering the ACT but are put off by the uncertainty that the Science section represents, we encourage you to give it a try on your next practice test. If it turns out that the Science section is clearly not for you, that’s no problem and you can tell Georgetown to go jump off a cliff. But if you’re serious enough about your test prep to be asking these questions, you should be serious enough to give that ACT Science section a try – you might be surprised how well-suited you are for it!