The grading process begins with your raw scores — the number of questions you got correct in each section. You get 1 point for every correct answer, and 0 points for wrong or omitted answers. The highest raw score you can get on the math section, for example, is a 60, because there are 60 questions.
Next, your raw scores get converted to scaled scores. A raw score of 60 converts to a scaled Math section score of 36. The scale shifts slightly for each test to account for variations in difficulty. So, on some test forms a raw score of 59 or 60 would convert to a scaled score of 36.
Last but not least, your four section scores are averaged together to obtain your composite score out of 36.
In order to further understand your ACT scores, it's helpful to examine them in contrast to the national averages. The following information comes from the ACT as part of their annual publication.
| Section | Score Range | Average Score |
|---|---|---|
| English | 1 - 36 | 19.9 |
| Math | 1 - 36 | 20.2 |
| Reading | 1 - 36 | 21.2 |
| Science | 1 - 36 | 20.6 |
Furthermore, understanding how your score relates to your demographic can also be of great use when determining your course of study.
| Score | Remark |
|---|---|
| > 30 | You are golden! |
| > 25 | Excellent |
| 20 - 21 | Good |
| < 16 | Low Score |
Based on the breakdown above, if your goal is just to get into “a college,” an average score of 21 will be enough. You will get in somewhere. If you hope to get accepted into private and renowned public universities, you should aim for a 25 or higher. And if you are an overachiever, a good score for you is 30 or higher. It is easy to get wind up between good/bad scores. But, please keep in mind that the ACT is a component that colleges consider when admitting students; it is not the deciding factor. So, even though you should study hard, and take practice exams to get the highest score possible, it is also important to not stress about it too much and too often. Remember, you are more than just your ACT score.
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.
While you don't need a perfect score of 36, that should be your goal. Scoring anything from 34+ will put you in a position to catch the attention of college admissions officers.
| College | Average Score | Minimum Score |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard | 34 | 32 |
| UC Berkeley | 32 | 29 |
| University of Texas, Austin | 29 | 26 |
| University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill | 29 | 27 |
| Columbia | 34 | 32 |
| Duke | 35 | 33 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 35 | 32 |
| University of Tennessee – Knoxville | 31 | 25 |
There may be many scholarships you qualify for with ACT scores in the low 20's. It depends on which colleges you are looking at. Many colleges assess you on your score range. For instance, scholarships by ACT score with common ranges are below. There are many more, but this shows that at each range, scholarships exist. Therefore, ACT scores from 26 to 30 may open up avenues that a range of 18-21 may not. Or, they may enable you to be eligible to receive more funds. Taking the ACT may help boost your chances of winning a scholarship from colleges and scholarship organizations. Unlike a loan, you do not have to pay back ACT scholarship funds. Though you do have to abide by their terms. You should also strive to maintain a specific GPA.
A chart that shows whether or not your scores meet their College Readiness Benchmarks for each test. They'll give you a breakdown of each section and how you did in particular subcategories. If you're taking the ACT again, this breakdown for each test will give you vital info on what skills you need to work on. You can find a sample student report here.
ACT scores are released in waves. Some students will get their scores within ten days of taking the test, the next batch of students will have to wait about a week longer than that, and the next batch will have to wait even two weeks longer. Some students will have to wait patiently for up to eight weeks after sitting for the exam.
The first step is to give yourself time to improve. Make a schedule and stick to it. Acing your ACT test requires effort. If you're not willing to put in the time and effort first, then there's no point in taking the test. No matter how long there is until you take the test, one year, one month or even one week, make a commitment to study at regular intervals and stick to it. Even if it's just 15 minutes a day, your score will improve out of sight.
Taking ACT practice tests is the best way to improve your score. You'll learn about the structure of the test, understand where your strengths and weaknesses lie and improve your ability to ace the test under the time pressure.
One easy tip to help increase your overall score is to pinpoint the content areas you require help in and focus on them. There's no point receiving intensive tutoring for your math content areas if you're achieving a score of 34+. The key to this is taking practice tests and identifying where you're struggling.
Knowing that in the English section you need to answer a question in 40 seconds. You get one minute to answer a Math question. You get slightly less than a minute to answer a question in Reading and Science sections. If you can't figure out the answer, move on after your allocated time and start crushing the next questions. This strategy is not only good for time management, but it's also good for your confidence moving forward in the test. Getting bogged down on one difficult question can ruin your strategy moving forward.
In each test there's always a few questions in there to catch you out. The incorrect multiple choice answer will be designed to match the misread question. So make sure you're reading each question slowly and understand exactly what it's asking before you answer. On the ACT, there's no penalty for incorrect answers. So even if you don't have a clue as to what the answer may be, just give it a crack. Because each question is multiple choice, by picking A, B, C or D at random, you have a 25% chance of choosing the correct answer. Although not exact a strategy, educated guessing is better than leaving an answer blank. Essentially, filling in the same circle when taking the test is more likely to improve your score than leaving it blank.
This strategy will increase your chances of selecting the right answer. Guessing might sound like a cop-out, but it's actually a powerful strategy! If you guessed on 10 of the reading questions and got 3 of them right, you could boost your reading score by 2 points. That's right, guessing could be the difference between a 21 and a 23.
For the Reading section, you will most likely need to learn how to skim a passage effectively. Some students like to read the entire first paragraph, the first and last sentence of the body paragraphs, and the entire concluding paragraph. Other students simply read the first and last sentence of every paragraph. Try different strategies on your practice tests to see which works best for you.
Some of the science questions can be answered without even reading the passage. Definitely go straight to the questions to see if you can answer them using only the informational graphics provided.
While it can be disconcerting to read a question and not have any idea about the answer right away, you can take heart in knowing that the answer is always right there in front of you on a multiple choice test. On the ACT, there are four or five answer choices for each question. This means that even without reading the question or the answers, you have a 20% to 25% chance of guessing correctly.
By using the process of elimination on questions that you can’t solve completely, you increase your chances of guessing correctly. By eliminating just one answer choice, your chances of guessing correctly increase to 25%. By eliminating two answer choices, you have a 33% chance of guessing correctly, and by eliminating three answer choices you have a 50% chance of guessing the correct answer. Those are pretty good odds for getting credit on a question that you couldn't solve.
But some content does lend itself well to rote memorization, and you should take advantage of this. For the math and grammar content on the ACT, simple, old-fashioned memorization can give you a big head start.