What is a Good ACT Score? | Guide to ACT Scores | Test-Guide (2023)

FAQs

What is a good score for ACT average? ›

Looking at this from a different angle, a score of 23 on the ACT puts you at the 68th percentile, meaning that you scored higher than 68% of test takers, something that colleges and universities know and appreciate.

A score of 23 on the ACT is above the current national average and will make you a strong applicant at many universities, but it may fall below the average score for accepted students at more selective colleges. The higher your ACT score, the more options are open to you.

Is a 27 ACT Score (85th Percentile) Good? A 27 ACT score puts you a good deal about the national average (20.8) and makes you eligible for acceptance at a vast majority of schools. It also makes you competitive at some selective institutions, as well as eligible for merit aid!

Is 26 ACT Score Good? With a score of 26, you are in the 83th to 85th percentile of all test takers. More likely than not, with a score of 26, you'll often be in or near the commonly accepted range at selective colleges. The exception may be the most selective colleges and the Ivy League.

Should I Retake the ACT with a 34 Score? There's no need to retake the ACT with a score of 34. A 34 makes you eligible and competitive for all colleges and universities, which is the goal! For juniors, remember that most colleges weigh ACT scores and GPA about equally.

A 32 ACT score puts you at the 97th percentile — that means you scored higher than 97% all test takers! Congratulations!

Earning an 18 on the ACT puts you at the 38th percentile, meaning that you scored higher than 38% of all test takers.

In general, a good ACT score is any score in or above the 75th percentile — at least a 24. Students should aim to hit or exceed the middle 50% of ACT scores at their chosen colleges.

A score of 24 on the ACT certainly makes you an eligible candidate, as well as competitive! To put this another way, a 24 ACT score puts you at the 73rd percentile, meaning you scored higher than 73% of all test takers — which is definitely something to be proud of!

How many questions can you miss and still get a 36 on the ACT? ›

Use your practice test's ACT scoring chart to see how your raw scores translate into scale scores. You can miss 1-3 questions on each ACT section and still earn a 36 composite score.

Earning an ACT score of 25 puts you above average, making you eligible at a wide variety of schools and competitive at some selective institutions. To put this accomplishment in another light, a 25 ACT score puts you at the 75th percentile — that means you scored higher than 75% of all test takers.

As your SAT score goes up, the required class rank goes down—students with a 1200+ SAT score or 25+ ACT score may receive a scholarship at a top 30% class ranking, and students with a 1400+ SAT or 31+ ACT score may receive a scholarship at a top 40% class ranking.

Percentage of All Test Takers

Unsurprisingly, a full 36 is the rarest score of all—just 0.313% of all test takers earned a perfect ACT score. Roughly three times more students earned the next-highest score of 35; however, this is still a very rare score that just 0.925% of test takers earned.

A score that means you scored better than 80% of test takers. While that's good, it's still not admission worthy for elite colleges like Harvard and MIT.

18 ACT Score Standings

Out of the 1.91 million test-takers, 1225478 scored the same or higher than you. You can apply to 104 colleges and have a good shot at getting admitted. You have a very low chance of getting into 1395 schools with this score.

In general, many US colleges and universities accept applicants with 16 or 17 ACT scores. In fact, an ACT score of 16 or lower is accepted by 33 schools.

What percentile is a 27 ACT score? A 27 ACT score puts you at the 85th percentile, meaning you scored higher than 85% of test takers.

Average ACT: 34

The 25th percentile ACT score is 33, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 35. In other words, a 33 places you below average, while a 35 will move you up to above average. There's no absolute ACT requirement at Harvard, but they really want to see at least a 33 to have a chance at being considered.

What's the Lowest ACT Score You Can Get? The ACT is scored on a scale of 1-36, meaning that the absolute minimum ACT score you could get is 1. This composite score is calculated by taking the average of all four section scores (English, Math, Reading, and Science) and rounding (so anything ending with a .

How can I raise my ACT score fast? ›

33-36 (2020–21)

Harvard University / Typical ACT scores

In general, students applying to competitive colleges should plan to take the ACT once in the spring of junior year and once in the fall of senior year. For example, you might take the exam in June of your junior year.

Average ACT score for Harvard University (With Writing)

The average ACT score for students who get accepted into Harvard is between 32 and 35. This is well above the national average of 21.

Should I Retake the ACT with a 35 Score? An ACT score of 35 is a demonstration of excellence in all academic fields at the high school level. There's no pressing reason to retake the ACT, especially with a score so close to perfect.

Not many students will be able to keep up with this plan, but if you're set on increasing your baseline score by 4-6 total points, you'll need to prep for at least 80 hours, or about 20 hours a week. Here are your options for prep schedules: 5 hours, four times a week. 4 hours, five times a week.

In most colleges, a high GPA may compensate for low ACT/SAT scores. Put extra time into writing an exceptional admission essay that will impress the judges and sway their decision in your favor, regardless of your test scores.

The average ACT score is 20.6, which is at the 50th percentile. The scores follow a normal distribution in that most test-takers score a little below or a little above the average test score.

The top 100 US colleges and universities consider ACT scores from 17 to 36 good. The majority of highly selective schools prefer applicants with ACT scores of 30 and higher. On the other hand, many high-ranking US schools that are not that selective accept students with ACT scores of at least 18.

Is a 28 ACT Score (88th Percentile) Good? A score of 28 places you in approximately the 88th percentile of all high school students. With a 28, you're an extremely competitive candidate at a majority of schools, as well as able to consider applying to more selective institutions as well.

Can I get into Yale with a 35 ACT? ›

The middle 50 percent of students admitted to Yale score between 31 and 35 on the ACT. This is the composite score, or the average of all four sections. For comparison, the highest possible score on the ACT is a 36.

No Score Cutoffs

SAT-Math: 740-790. ACT Composite: 33-35.

Is 21 a good ACT score? A 21 ACT score puts you right at the national average, making you eligible to apply to a number of schools. It offers you a slight competitive edge, but won't make you competitive for most selective schools.

As referenced earlier, retesting at least once is associated with increases in average Composite scores when comparing first and second test instances.

Is 19 a good ACT score? A 19 ACT score doesn't make you eligible or competitive at as many colleges and universities as most would want. To improve your eligibility and competitiveness, you'll want to aim for a 20 to 21, which puts you right at the national average.

For those guessing on only a few of the last ten questions, A/F would be the better option. The Safe Bet: Answer choice E/K is the safest choice because it, so far, has always had one correct answer. In fact, E/K has met or exceeded the expected average 82% of the time, making it the most consistent answer choice.

If you're trying to boost your ACT score, the English section is the easiest to tackle. Here's why: there is only a handful of technical grammar content covered and there are really only a handful of rhetorical skills covered.

The ACT Math Test usually breaks down into 6 questions types: pre-algebra, elementary algebra, and intermediate algebra questions; plane geometry and coordinate geometry questions; and some trigonometry questions.

According to percentiles, an ACT score of 30 is quite high. Data collected by ACT, Inc., shows that a 30 corresponds to the 94th percentile. In other words, very few test takers—only 6 percent—score 30 or higher on the ACT, making it a great score to aim for on test day.

What happens if you get a 36 on the ACT? ›

A 36 ACT score is most certainly good — in fact, it's great. It's the best possible score! A 36 ACT score makes you eligible to apply as a competitive candidate at all institutions — this includes elite and selective colleges and universities, as well. On top of that, you can expect a sizable amount of merit aid.

It is possible to get a full-ride scholarship with a 31-35 ACT score. However, this is rare and only happens in exceptional cases. It is more common for students with high ACT scores to receive scholarships that cover most of the cost of college or even all of it.

As a whole, the average ACT scores for the top 20 universities in the US are 34–36 for English, 31–35 for Math, and 33–35 for composite ACT scores. This means that if you hope to apply to the top-tier universities in the US, you should aim for ACT scores in the 30s, ideally in the 34–36 range.

Generally, a composite score of 24 or higher is considered good by national standards. Scores in this range put students in the 74th percentile or higher. In other words, a composite score of 24 means that you're better than 74% of all test takers. Higher scores make students stand out more in ACT score percentiles.

The middle 50% of Harvard's class of 2025 earned SAT scores of 1480-1580 and ACT scores of 33-36. Any score in the middle 50% is good, however, the higher in the range you score, the better your odds of admission are.

What SAT or ACT Scores Do You Need To Get Into Harvard? Students' admitted to Harvard had average SAT scores from 1460 to 1580 points; and ACT scores ranging from 33 to 35.

Average ACT score for Harvard University (With Writing)

The average ACT score for students who get accepted into Harvard is between 32 and 35. This is well above the national average of 21. Considering 36 is the highest you can score, this is a daunting goal.

Even though Harvard likely says they have no minimum ACT requirement, if you apply with a 33 or below, you'll have a very hard time getting in, unless you have something else very impressive in your application. There are so many applicants scoring 34 and above that a 33 will look academically weak.

What is the minimum ACT score for Ivy League? ›

Generally speaking, you need a minimum ACT score of 31 to get into an Ivy League School. The minimum score is 32 at a few of these schools, including Harvard and Yale. The minimum SAT score to get into an Ivy League school ranges from 690 to 730 for the reading section and from 700 to 730 for the math section.

At a minimum, an ACT score of 25 should qualify you for lower-level scholarship money. However, as the amount increases, scholarships become more competitive and the score ranges increase. Again, the barest minimum to shoot for is the 20-25 score range.

In general, a good ACT score is any score in or above the 75th percentile — at least a 24. Students should aim to hit or exceed the middle 50% of ACT scores at their chosen colleges.

Is a 28 ACT Score (88th Percentile) Good? A score of 28 places you in approximately the 88th percentile of all high school students. With a 28, you're an extremely competitive candidate at a majority of schools, as well as able to consider applying to more selective institutions as well.

Average ACT: 34

The 25th percentile ACT score is 33, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 35. In other words, a 33 places you below average, while a 35 will move you up to above average. There's no absolute ACT requirement at Yale, but they really want to see at least a 33 to have a chance at being considered.

Earning an ACT score of 25 puts you above average, making you eligible at a wide variety of schools and competitive at some selective institutions. To put this accomplishment in another light, a 25 ACT score puts you at the 75th percentile — that means you scored higher than 75% of all test takers.

The average ACT hovers just below 21, at a 20.9, making that a great benchmark for all college-bound students. Several colleges will accept an ACT score of 18, but not as many as we'd typically like to see. Re-taking the test and aiming for the 21 score would be ideal.

The average ACT score is 20.

If you've scored 21, then you've scored higher than 50% of test-takers.