- Since September 2025 the ACT Composite is the average of English, Math and Reading. Science is reported as its own score and, if taken, combined with Math into a STEM score.
- Take Science if any school on the list requires or recommends it, or if the intended major is engineering, computer science, a natural science, nursing or pre-health.
- A handful of colleges still require it when an ACT is submitted. Policies changed between 2025 and 2026 and differ by school, so check each admissions page.
- The section adds about 40 minutes and a small fee. It comes last on test day, so it can’t hurt the three Composite sections.
- Undecided juniors should take it on the first sitting. A good Science score is a free strength; a weak one is no longer in the Composite.
If your student’s college list includes any engineering, nursing, pre-health or natural-science program, or any school that still asks for the section, take ACT Science. If the list is business, humanities, arts or undecided-with-no-STEM-leaning and no school on it mentions Science, skipping it costs nothing in the Composite and saves 40 minutes on test day. That is the short version. The rest of this guide is the decision tree, the schools that still care, and the one case where we tell undecided students to take it anyway.
The confusion is understandable. ACT made the biggest change to its test in decades, families got conflicting advice from counselors still working off the old format, and the policies at individual colleges shifted between the 2025 and 2026 admissions cycles. Start with what the test actually does now.
What changed, exactly
ACT, Inc. describes the changes at act.org. The test is shorter, the Science section is optional, and the Composite score is now the average of English, Math and Reading. Students who take Science receive a separate Science score on the same 1 to 36 scale and a STEM score that combines Science and Math. ACT states the new Composite calculation applies to all testers from September 2025 on, and that Composites from earlier tests are not recalculated.
Four consequences follow for your decision:
- A weak Science score can no longer lower the Composite. Under the old test, a 22 in Science sat inside a 28 Composite and dragged it down. Now it sits beside it.
- A strong Science score can no longer raise the Composite either. Students who used to carry a 34 Science as ballast lose that.
- Science comes after Reading on test day, so taking it does not change how the student performs on the three sections that count toward the Composite. Fatigue only affects Science itself.
- Superscoring at ACT now uses English, Math and Reading. Science is tracked separately [verify how ACT reports a superscored Science].
The section itself is 40 questions in 40 minutes, with Data Representation, Research Summaries and Conflicting Viewpoints passages, and ACT describes it as emphasizing reasoning over recall. It is optional at registration, not on test day, so the choice is made when you book.
Decide before you register.
The decision tree
Work down this list and stop at the first line that applies.
1. Does any school on the list require ACT Science when an ACT is submitted? Take it. A few do; see the next section. Submitting an incomplete ACT to a school that requires the section is the one way to turn a neutral decision into a problem.
2. Does any school recommend or “encourage” it, especially for a specific program? Take it. “Recommended” in admissions language means the reader notices its absence, and the programs that recommend it are usually the competitive ones (engineering, nursing, combined medical programs).
3. Is the intended major engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, biology, nursing, pre-med, pre-dental, pre-vet or pre-pharmacy? Take it, even if no school on the list asks. The STEM score exists for these readers, and a good Science score is corroborating evidence next to the science grades on the transcript. Scholarship programs tied to STEM majors may also look at it [verify for each program].
4. Is the student genuinely undecided? Take it on the first sitting. The downside is 40 minutes and a small fee. The upside is information: a Science score at or above the Composite is a strength you can show, and the student learns whether the section is worth preparing for a second time.
5. Is the major business, economics, humanities, social science, arts, education or communications, with no school on the list asking? Skip it. The time is better spent on the three Composite sections, and the Composite is what those readers weigh.
6. Has the student already taken Science once and scored well below the Composite? Skip it on the retake unless a listed school requires it. Prepare the Composite sections instead, and send the later date.
Which colleges still ask for it
Policies vary, and this list is a starting point for your own checking, not a substitute for it. Everything below is marked for verification because these pages change.
| School | Policy as last reported | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Pomona College | Requires Science if an ACT is submitted | [verify] |
| Boston University | Requires Science if an ACT is submitted | [verify] |
| Georgetown University | Reported as requiring by some sources and recommending by others | [verify] |
| George Washington University | Requires for the combined BA/MD program | [verify] |
| Duke University | Encourages Science, particularly for STEM applicants | [verify] |
| Pepperdine University | Recommends for nursing applicants | [verify] |
| MIT, Caltech, Dartmouth | Reported as not requiring it, though one source lists MIT as requiring | [verify] |
A survey of highly selective colleges published in spring 2026 found the large majority leaving Science optional [verify]. For Texas public universities, we have not found a requirement for the Science section at UT Austin, Texas A&M, UT Dallas or Texas Tech, but confirm on each school’s freshman admissions page before you decide [verify].
The pattern across schools is consistent even where the specifics aren’t. Schools that require or recommend the section tend to be ones with competitive STEM, nursing or medical pathways, or schools that have historically asked for the most testing information. Schools that are test-optional across the board tend to be neutral on Science as well.
Here is the practical method. Open each school’s admissions testing page, search the page for “Science,” and screenshot what you find with the date. Do it in one sitting for the whole list. If a single school says “required,” the decision is made.
What it costs: time, money and attention
The money is small. ACT’s fee schedule for 2026-27 lists the base test at $70 and Science as a $5 addition [verify at act.org]. Writing is a separate add-on and a separate decision.
The time is the real cost. The base test runs a little over two hours of testing; adding Science puts the student in the room for roughly another 40 minutes plus a break [verify exact schedule]. For a student who tests well late in the morning, that’s nothing. For a student who fades, it matters only for the Science score itself, since English, Math and Reading are already finished.
The attention cost is the one families underweight. Preparing Science well takes a few weeks of figure-first drills. If the student is skipping the section, those weeks go to English rules and Reading pacing, which move the Composite directly. If the student is taking it, the drills are cheap and the section tends to respond quickly, because the skill is narrow.
| Without Science | With Science | |
|---|---|---|
| Sections | English, Math, Reading | English, Math, Reading, Science |
| Testing time | About 2 hours 5 minutes | About 2 hours 45 minutes [verify] |
| Fee | $70 [verify] | $75 [verify] |
| Scores reported | Composite plus three section scores | Composite, four section scores, STEM score |
| Composite affected by Science | No | No |
Nothing in the right column lowers the Composite. That asymmetry is why the tree sends undecided students toward taking it.
The undecided junior: why we say take it once
The strongest argument for an undecided student is that the Composite is now insulated. Before the change, a student who wasn’t sure about Science faced a real risk: a bad section would pull the headline number down. That risk is gone. What’s left is an optional score that can only add information.
For a junior taking a first ACT in December or February, that information is useful in two ways. First, it tells you whether Science is a strength worth showing to STEM programs if the student’s plans drift that way by senior fall, which they often do. Second, it tells you whether the section is worth preparing for a second sitting or whether to drop it and concentrate on the Composite.
If the first Science score comes back at or above the Composite, keep taking it. If it comes back well below and no school requires it, drop it and don’t look back. The one-time cost of finding out is 40 minutes and about $5.
Rick’s note: in the first hour, I run a short timed Science set with any student who hasn’t decided. Most strong students are surprised by how little of it is science. Some discover they’re faster at it than at Reading, which changes the whole plan: a 33 Science next to a 29 Composite tells an engineering reader something the Composite alone doesn’t.
How Science fits a prep plan now
If the decision is to take it, Science gets a defined slice of the program, not an afterthought. In our 14-week ACT program, English rules and the per-section pacing routines come first, Science figure-first drills start around week six, and the weekly proctored full-length tests include Science from the start so the student practices the full test-day duration.
If the decision is to skip it, the proctored tests run without Science and the time goes to Reading, which is where most students in this position have the most Composite points available. Nothing is lost by skipping Science on a practice test when the student won’t take it on the real one.
Either way, the decision should be made once, early, and written down. Students who flip back and forth prepare for neither path well.
What to do this week
- Write the current college list, even if it’s rough, and next to each school note the intended program if there is one.
- Open every school’s admissions testing page, search for “Science,” and record what it says with today’s date. One “required” ends the decision.
- If nothing requires it, apply the decision tree by intended major. Engineering, computer science, natural sciences, nursing and pre-health take it; business, humanities and arts with no school asking skip it; undecided takes it on the first sitting.
- Check ACT’s registration page for the current fee and the add-on deadline for the test date you’re planning, so the choice is made at registration and not under time pressure.
- If the student is taking it, schedule two 6-minute figure-first drills this week with an official practice passage, so you both see what the section actually asks before you commit prep time to it.
Questions people ask
Does the ACT Science score affect the Composite now?
No. ACT states that for tests taken from September 2025 on, the Composite is the average of English, Math and Reading. Science is reported separately. Students who take it also receive a STEM score that combines Math and Science. Composites from tests taken before the change are not recalculated.
Can a college see that my child skipped Science?
A score report for a test date without Science simply has no Science score. Whether a school notices or cares depends on whether it requires or recommends the section. For most schools it’s neutral. For the few that require it, submitting an ACT without Science can mean the ACT isn’t considered complete, so check each policy [verify].
Is Science harder than the other sections?
Different, not harder. It’s a graph-and-table-reading test with a few passages of competing viewpoints and very little content recall. Strong science students often score lower on it than their grades predict because they read too much. Our figure-first guide covers the method.
What does it cost to add Science?
ACT’s fee schedule lists the base test (English, Math, Reading) at $70 with Science as a $5 add-on for the 2026-27 testing year [verify at act.org before registering]. The larger cost is about 40 more minutes on test day.
If we take it once and the score is bad, do we have to send it?
ACT lets you choose which test dates to send to each college, but a sent date includes all sections taken that day [verify]. So a weak Science score travels with its date. A later date without Science, or a later date with a better Science score, can be sent instead.