What's a Good Score on the ACT Test?

Question: What's a Good Score on the ACT Test?

Answer: Every college has a different understanding of what constitutes a "good" ACT score, and there's usually not a fixed cut-off point required for admission. Admissions committees will also be looking at your high school GPA, so think of your GPA and ACT score as complementing each other. A high ACT score can act in your favor to make up for mediocre grades, and in reverse, some schools may accept lower ACT scores if you've earned a great GPA throughout high school.

Your ACT score will be the average of your scores on each section of the test, and it could be as low as 1 or as high as 36. If you score a 20 on the ACT, you're right in the middle of the pack - 50% of all testers in the US have scored above you and 50% have scored below you. But you'll need to do better than average to be a competitive candidate for college admissions and scholarships.

To set a target ACT score, your first step should be to research the average ACT scores of the students who were accepted into the specific colleges and universities you're interested in. Most schools publish these numbers online. Generally, public state universities report that their students scored in the low 20s on the ACT; small liberal arts colleges and selective public universities like UVA report that their students averaged in the upper 20s on the ACT; and the most competitive U.S. schools report average ACT scores above 30.

Once you find out the average ACT score for students accepted into the schools you're interested in, target your test prep to match or beat that score. This is a surefire way to make yourself a more competitive candidate for college admissions.