What To Expect on the Enhanced ACT Science Test (2026)
The ACT Science Test is an optional section of the ACT. Students who choose to take it are assessed on their ability to interpret scientific information, reason with data, and apply scientific knowledge in context. The test is passage-based and draws on content from a range of scientific disciplines, including biology, and chemistry, physics.
Students have 40 minutes to answer 40 total questions.
ACT Science Passages
Passages Types and Formats
The ACT Science Test consists of six operational passages (scored) and one field test passage (unscored). There are three distinct passage formats, each of which emphasizes different aspects of scientific reasoning.
Passage Formats
- Data Representation (DR) passages present scientific data primarily through tables, graphs, or charts.
- Research Summaries (RS) passages describe one or more scientific investigations, including experimental design, hypotheses, and results.
- Conflicting Viewpoints (CV) passages present a scientific topic alongside two or more competing explanations or models.
ACT Science Passage Format Breakdown
- Total passages: 7
- Operational (scored) passages: 6
- 2 Data Representation | 10–12 questions total
- 3 Research Summaries | 16–20 questions total
- 1 Conflicting Viewpoints | 6–7 questions total
- Field test (unscored) passages: 1
- 1 passage from any of the 3 format categories | 6 questions total
ACT Scientific Content Areas
The ACT Science Test draws from four primary scientific disciplines. Students will always see at least one passage from each discipline on test day.
- Biology and life science: 2 operational passages
- Physics: 1–2 operational passages
- Chemistry: 1–2 operational passages
- Earth and space science: 1–2 operational passages
The field test passage can fall into any of these content categories. On test day, the maximum number of passages that students will see from a single discipline is three for life science and two for all other content areas.
In addition, up to 3 passages per test incorporate a focus on Engineering and Design Thinking, meaning the passage centers on applying science to real-world problems. These passages can overlap with any of the primary disciplines above.
ACT Science Reporting Categories
ACT Science questions are organized into three reporting categories that reflect the transferable science skills students need for college and career readiness. The Science Test is designed to reward careful reading and reasoning, not memorization. Most questions can therefore be answered using only the information provided in the passage. A small number of questions (5–8 per test) do require some basic scientific background knowledge, but nothing beyond what students encounter in standard high school coursework.
Interpretation of Data (IOD)
Interpretation of Data questions assess students’ ability to read, analyze, and draw conclusions from scientific data presented in tables, graphs, and diagrams. Students can expect 13–17 operational questions in this category.
Data Representation passages are the primary home of Interpretation of Data questions, though students will also encounter these questions in Research Summaries passages.
Skill Areas:
- Locating and Understanding (LU): Questions ask students to identify specific data points and interpret features of scientific graphs (such as units, legends, axes, and table headings).
- Inferring and Translating (IT): Questions ask students to look across one or more graphs and make sense of what the data show, whether that means spotting a relationship, making a comparison, or reframing the information in a new visual format.
- Extending and Reevaluating (ER): Questions ask students to use trends in data to make predictions beyond what is directly shown.
Scientific Investigation (SIN)
Scientific Investigation questions assess students’ understanding of how scientific experiments and studies are designed and conducted. Students will see 6–11 operational questions in this category.
Research Summaries passages are the primary home of Scientific Investigation questions.
Skill Areas:
- Locating and Comparing (LC): Questions ask students to find and compare information across one or more experiments.
- Designing and Implementing (DI): Questions ask students to evaluate how an experiment was set up, including the choice of methods, tools, variables, and controls.
- Extending and Implementing (EI): Questions ask students to think beyond the experiment at hand, predicting results of future experiments or identifying steps that could improve an experiment.
- Engineering and Design (ED): Questions ask students to consider the practical challenges, goals, and tradeoffs involved in a scientific experiment or design problem. This is a new skill area on the enhanced ACT as of 2025.
Evaluating Scientific Arguments and Models with Evidence (EMI)
Evaluating Scientific Arguments and Models with Evidence questions assess students’ ability to judge the validity of scientific claims, evaluate competing models, and draw conclusions supported by evidence. Students will see 8–13 operational questions in this category.
Conflicting Viewpoints passages are the primary home of Evaluating Scientific Arguments and Models with Evidence questions, though students will also encounter these questions in both Research Summaries and Data Representation passages.
Skill Areas:
- Inferences and Results: Evaluating and Extending (IE): Questions ask students to evaluate the strength of a scientific claim and support their conclusions with evidence.
- Models: Understanding and Comparing (MU): Questions ask students to compare and contrast two or more scientific models. These questions only appear in Conflicting Viewpoints passages.
- Models: Evaluating and Extending (ME): Questions ask students to evaluate competing models and use evidence to form predictions or hypotheses. These questions only appear in Conflicting Viewpoints passages.
- Engineering and Design Thinking (ED): Questions ask students to evaluate whether a proposed solution works, consider alternatives, and identify what evidence supports or undermines a design’s effectiveness. This is a new skill area on the enhanced ACT as of 2025.
Should I Take the ACT Science Test?
Yes. We recommend taking the Science section at least once.
Check with your target schools first. Colleges and universities set their own policies on whether they require or consider the Science score. Since policies can change — especially in the years following a major update like the shift to the enhanced ACT — it is better to be prepared now than to have to retake the test later just to add the Science section.
A strong Science score is another data point in your favor. If you are applying to a STEM program, it is a meaningful way to demonstrate readiness. But even if you are not, it is a chance to show well-roundedness. The ACT Science Test rewards strong reading skills, so it may play to your strengths even if science is not your strongest subject.
Students who take the Science section will receive a STEM score, which is an average of their Science and Math scores. The Science section does not affect the composite score, which remains an average of English, Math, and Reading.
It builds on skills you are already developing. The Science Test rewards careful reading and logical reasoning, the same skills you are strengthening as you prepare for the Reading Test. Preparing for one naturally supports the other.
Your Guide to the Enhanced ACT
This post is part of our comprehensive series on the 2025/2026 ACT updates. Explore our guides for every section of the new test:
- What To Expect on the Enhanced ACT English Test
- What To Expect on the Enhanced ACT Reading Test
- What To Expect on the Enhanced ACT Math Test
- What is the Embedded Field Test? (Coming Soon)
Sources
ACT. Design Framework for the ACT Enhancements. February 2026.
ACT Science Practice
Get ready for the enhanced ACT Science Test with full-length practice tests and targeted practice questions.
Sara Laszlo
Sara Laszlo has nearly ten years of experience in private tutoring. An opera singer by training, Sara is especially interested in exploring better ways to practice and improve skills, whether musical or test-related. She holds a B.A. in Classical Civilization from Duke University and a Certificate of Merit in Voice from the New England Conservatory of Music.
