Enhanced ACT Science: What Teachers Need to Know
Every Tuesday on The Scoreboard, we share practical, high-impact strategies to help teachers integrate ACT prep directly into Tier I instruction. Designed for Alabama educators and beyond, Tuesday Playbook connects strong classroom teaching to ACT College Readiness Benchmarks—turning daily lessons into measurable growth. From grammar warm-ups to critical reading routines, these easy-to-run “plays” help teachers build ACT-ready classrooms where every move counts.
If your students are preparing for the ACT in 2025 or beyond, it’s time to sit up and pay attention because the English section has gotten a makeover. The new 'Enhanced ACT' keeps the same 1-36 scoring scale, but with fewer questions, slightly more time per question, and a stronger emphasis on language usage and rhetorical clarity. In short, time is still tight, but the margin for error just got smaller. In this post, we’ll walk through what’s changed, why it matters, and how you can tweak your instructional and test-prep approach to help your students shine.
Enhanced ACT Science: What Teachers Need to Know (and How to Adjust Instruction)
The ACT Science section has always been misunderstood. Despite its name, it’s never been a content-heavy science test—and with the Enhanced ACT, that reality is even more pronounced.
The updated ACT Science prioritizes reasoning, data analysis, and efficiency over memorized facts. For teachers, this is good news. The skills students need to succeed already live inside strong Tier 1 instruction—we just have to surface them intentionally.
Here’s what’s changed, where students struggle, and how to align classroom instruction to the Enhanced ACT Science.
What’s Actually Being Assessed on Enhanced ACT Science
ACT Science continues to focus on scientific reasoning, not advanced content knowledge. Students are evaluated on their ability to:
Interpret graphs, tables, and charts
Analyze experimental design
Compare and evaluate competing hypotheses
Draw conclusions based on provided evidence
The Enhanced ACT leans even more heavily into clarity and logic, rewarding students who can locate relevant information quickly and ignore distractions.
Where Students Lose Points (and Why)
Most ACT Science mistakes are not caused by weak science knowledge. Instead, students struggle because they:
Read the passage before reading the questions
Spend too much time decoding unfamiliar science terms
Fail to connect questions to specific figures or tables
Overthink answers instead of trusting the data
These habits slow students down and increase anxiety—especially under timed conditions.
Instructional Shift #1: Teach Students to Start With the Question
On the Enhanced ACT Science, questions drive the reading, not the passage.
In the Classroom:
Model reading the question first, then locating only the necessary data
Practice identifying which figure or table answers the question
Use short, timed practice sets (1–2 questions per graph)
Teacher Language to Use:
“The question tells us where to look.”
This simple shift improves efficiency and confidence immediately.
Instructional Shift #2: Treat Graphs as Text
Graphs on the ACT Science function like informational text. Students must read them, not just glance at them.
Instructional Moves:
Ask students to describe trends before answering questions
Use sentence frames:
“As ___ increases, ___ decreases.”
“The control group shows…”
Require written explanations during practice—even for multiple-choice questions
This mirrors both ACT expectations and classroom assessment rigor.
Instructional Shift #3: Normalize Strategic Skimming
The Enhanced ACT Science rewards students who know what to ignore.
Teach Students To:
Skip background paragraphs unless referenced
Focus on labels, axes, units, and variables
Avoid getting stuck on unfamiliar terminology
Classroom Strategy:
Have students mark what information is useful versus nonessential in a passage. This builds discernment and speeds up processing.
Instructional Shift #4: Teach Conflicting Viewpoints Like Argument Analysis
The Conflicting Viewpoints passage is essentially claim vs. claim.
Align With Existing Instruction:
Identify each scientist’s claim
Note points of agreement and disagreement
Match evidence directly to viewpoints
Note: The scientist’s argument comes in the very first sentence of the paragraph or response.
This aligns perfectly with CER frameworks, argument writing, and rhetorical analysis already taught in many classrooms.
Instructional Shift #5: Reinforce Logic Over Prior Knowledge
Students do not need outside science knowledge to succeed on ACT Science—and relying on it can actually hurt them.
Classroom Messaging:
“Everything you need is in the passage.”
“ACT Science is an open-note reasoning test.”
“The best answer is supported by the data—not memory.”
Practice this explicitly using unfamiliar topics so students learn to trust their reasoning skills.
What This Means for Classroom Instruction
The Enhanced ACT Science confirms what effective instruction already emphasizes:
Data literacy
Logical reasoning
Evidence-based conclusions
Efficient processing
When classrooms consistently ask students to analyze, explain, and justify using provided information, ACT Science scores improve naturally—without turning class into test prep.
Teacher Takeaway
Strong ACT Science performance isn’t built through memorization or extra worksheets. It’s built through intentional instruction that teaches students how to think, not what to think.
When students trust the data, read with purpose, and reason with confidence, the score follows.
