On the Enhanced ACT, every section uses four answer choices — Math included, which used to be the lone five-choice section. Small change on paper; it reshapes both the odds and the distractors.
A blind guess used to be worth 20% in Math; now it’s 25%, like every other section. Eliminate one obviously wrong answer and you’re at a coin-flip-and-a-half. There’s no penalty for guessing, so a blank answer is the only truly wrong strategy — on the new form even more than the old one.
The subtler effect is on the wrong answers themselves. Four choices means every distractor earns its place — each one is usually the result of a specific, predictable mistake. Practice that explains why the trap tempted you teaches more per question here than it ever did on the five-choice test, which is exactly how Ribbit’s explanations are written.
The choice count is the visible change; the question mix is the consequential one. Integrating Essential Skills — the grab-bag of earlier-grade arithmetic — fell from roughly 40% of the section to roughly 20%, while Preparing for Higher Math now carries about 80%, with algebra, functions, and geometry at 17–20% each.
In plain terms: the section leans harder on the math being taught in class right now, and less on speed-running arithmetic from middle school. Prep that drills by skill — algebra one day, functions the next, wherever the misses actually are — matches this format; a thousand mixed questions in a row doesn’t. This page is one chapter of the full guide to what changed.
The free 20-question diagnostic includes the new four-choice Math and returns an honest starting range. No account needed.