ACT Scoring System

Main Types and Ranges of ACT Scores Reported

The broadest measure of overall ACT performance is the composite, or total, score, reported from 1 to 36. The composite is the average of the three required section scores—English, Math, and Reading—each reported on that same 1-to-36 scale. Science and Writing are optional and are reported separately; neither counts toward the composite. Every multiple-choice section also carries reporting category scores, shown as a raw count (x correct out of y questions in the category) and as a percentage (6 of 8, for instance, is 75%). The 1-to-36 scale also underlies the STEM and ELA scores: STEM averages the Math and Science scores, and ELA averages the English, Reading, and Writing scores, so each is available only when the relevant optional section is taken.

Scoring for ACT English, Math, Reading, and Science

These sections are entirely multiple choice, so scoring is electronic. Each section score sits at the top of the report, with a graphic beneath it comparing the result to ACT's College Readiness Benchmark for that section. English and Science each have three reporting categories, and Math has eight. Reading has three standard categories plus a fourth measure, Understanding Complex Texts, reported not as a number but as one of three ratings: below, proficient, or above. For every standard category, the report shows the student's result numerically alongside a graphic indicating whether it fell within ACT's Readiness Range. Bear in mind that Science is now an optional add-on, so its section and reporting category scores appear only for students who choose to take it.

Scoring for ACT Writing

Writing, also optional, is scored by at least two trained readers, each rating four domains on a 1-to-6 scale. That produces four domain subscores of 2 to 12, and the total Writing score is the average of the four, likewise on a 2-to-12 scale. Writing has no benchmarks or readiness ranges, but a student's essay performance is still ranked at the state and national levels.

National and State Ranks

Score reports carry percentile rankings that compare a student's results with recent high school graduates in the home state and across the country. (ACT doesn't spell out exactly who counts as a "recent high school graduate," though its scoring data is generally reported across three testing years at a time.) Percentiles are provided at the state and national levels for as many as eight areas—Composite, Math, Science, STEM, English, Reading, Writing, and ELA—with the Science, STEM, Writing, and ELA figures appearing only when those optional components are taken.

ACT Averages for All Test-Takers

For years the national Composite has hovered in the low 20s, and the English, Math, Reading, and Science section averages have clustered in that same range, with the Writing average landing in the single digits on its 2-to-12 scale. Those familiar figures, though, come from ACT's pre-2025 reporting, when every student sat for Science and Writing and the Composite averaged four sections rather than three. They sketch the general shape of national performance, not a current benchmark: participation shifts from year to year, Science and Writing are now optional, and the group behind each average differs. For the current published averages, consult act.org.

ACT Scores at Top Universities

At the most selective American universities, a Composite in the low-to-mid 30s is a realistic floor. The middle-50% ranges reported by the Ivy League and schools like MIT typically start in the low 30s and reach the top of the scale, while the strongest flagship state universities—the so-called "public ivies," such as the Universities of Virginia, California-Berkeley, and Michigan—usually run a notch below that, with ranges in the high 20s to low 30s. These profiles move from one admissions cycle to the next, and many top schools are now test-optional, so treat any such range as a rough gauge and confirm the current figures in the school's own Common Data Set.

ACT College Readiness Benchmarks and Intended Undergraduate Majors

Students taking the ACT are asked questions about their college plans when they register for the test, one of which concerns their intended college majors. This allows ACT to connect interest in academic subjects with attainment of ACT College Readiness Benchmarks. The intended majors with the highest percentages of students meeting all four section benchmarks—English, Math, Reading, and Science, from cohorts measured when Science was a standard part of the test—include chemical engineering (64% of test-takers declaring this major met all four benchmarks), aerospace/aeronautical engineering (58%), biochemistry and biophysics (55%), general finance (54%), and computer science and programming (50%). The lowest percentages of benchmark attainment were associated with students claiming interest in medical assisting (10%), criminology (14%), athletic training (15%), and nursing (15%).

The ACT Scoring System and Student Assessment

The ACT scoring system provides students and educators with a large amount of information. With composite scores, section scores, reporting category scores, percentile rankings, and benchmark indicators, college admissions officials are able to thoroughly review their applicants in terms of general and specific academic skills. Students learn their academic strengths and weaknesses, which can help them make informed choices about which fields of study to pursue. The ACT scoring system also contributes to educational policy. In many states, the ACT is given to all high school students, which allows policymakers to closely track student performance in the subjects tested. The complex scoring system helps administrators identify areas in need of improvement and evaluate the success or failure of policy initiatives. Though there are legitimate criticisms of the ACT and standardized testing, the ACT scoring system is helpful to many aspects of secondary and postsecondary education.

ACT Scoring Validity

Independent researchers have examined how well ACT scores predict college grades. A 2015 study conducted at the Northwest Missouri State University, for instance, used 200 randomly selected students to examine correlations between high school grades, ACT scores, and college grades. The researcher concluded that while both high school GPA and ACT scores were linked to college GPA, high school grades were a more reliable predictor of performance in college courses (correlation coefficient of 0.639 versus 0.383 for ACT scores). ACT has admitted that this type of research does appear to show that high school GPA more accurately predicts college GPA than ACT scores. ACT nonetheless maintains that test scores add predictive value on top of high school GPA, and that in the most selective, high-achieving applicant pools they can forecast college grades more accurately than grades alone. In the final analysis, both sides are probably at least partially correct, and postsecondary institutions benefit from as much relevant information about their applicants as possible.

ACT Scoring, Race, and Socioeconomic Status

Bias in standardized testing is a well-documented issue. ACT's own pre-2025 national data—reported when Science was still a required section that counted toward its benchmark—showed white and Asian American students meeting the College Readiness Benchmarks far more often than Black and Hispanic students, with gaps running to tens of percentage points across English, Reading, Math, and Science alike. ACT has also studied the effect of what it calls "underserved criteria," a set of risk factors covering low household income, limited family education, and minority status. The pattern there is stark: students who met all three criteria were overwhelmingly likely to clear no more than one benchmark, while students facing none of them typically cleared at least two. These distributions predate the 2025 redesign, but the disparities they document are long-standing and well corroborated.

State-Level ACT Scoring Trends

Mean ACT scores vary widely from state to state, and much of that spread reflects who is tested rather than how well any state educates its students. Where the ACT is universal—given to essentially every high school student—state averages sit lower, because the pool includes many students who are not college-bound. Where testing is optional and only a small, self-selected slice of college-bound students sits for the exam, state averages run several points higher. In ACT's pre-2025 reporting, statewide averages spanned from the high teens in universal-testing states such as Nevada and Mississippi to the mid-20s in low-participation Northeastern states such as New Hampshire, where fewer than one in five students tested. The lesson holds even as the exact figures change: a state's average says as much about its participation rate as about its schools, so compare states cautiously and only within the same testing year.

2016 Changes to the ACT Writing Test Scoring System

Before September 2016, the ACT Writing test was scored on the same 1-36 scale as every other section. The change to the current 2-12 scale was likely motivated by vast discrepancies between Writing scores and composite scores, as well as substantial score changes for students who requested rescoring of their essays. In a June 2016 statement, ACT attributed the change partly to students being confused by the essay results and to broader problems with how the old scores were perceived.