With the ACT announcing significant changes to its test, many students, parents, and educators are wondering how, exactly, the new scoring system will impact Superscores for college admissions.

Beginning in April 2025, all students taking the National Online ACT will find their score reports different from previous administrations. The ACT composite score will only include the English, Math, and Reading sections. Starting in September 2025, this will apply to both online and paper-based tests.  So, how will colleges use scores pre-April 2025 when Superscoring with scores post-April 2025?

Most schools with a policy of Superscoring will likely create a Superscoring from the English, Math, and Reading sections of all tests, reserving any Science score as a separate score. Since Science is now optional, that score will be reported separately and combined with Math for a separate STEM score.

College applicants should note that not all schools Superscore, so they should not just assume that all of the colleges on their list will adopt this policy. Some notable schools that do not Superscore (as of the date of this blogpost) include: Penn State, U of Illinois, Ohio State, UT Austin, U of Wisconsin, and Georgetown. We suggest contacting Admissions at each school to determine their current test policies.