The ACT: What Is Tested? How Is It Scored?

Guessing for Points to Maximize Hour Score

Scoring on the ACT is very straightforward:

• You get one point for every answer you get right.
• You get zero points for every answer you omit.
• You get zero points for every answer you get wrong.

The ACT is absolutely wonderful in that it doesn't penalize you for wrong answers. (In contrast, the SAT subtracts a fraction of a point for every question you miss.) Therefore, guessing on the ACT obviously works to your advantage. Never leave any question blank. We suggest that you save a couple of minutes at the end of each section just to go through the test and make sure that you've filled in an answer for every single question.

Your Number's Up: Scoring on the ACT

We once had a frustrated student tell us that the scores on the ACT looked a lot like measurements to him: 34, 29, 36. However, the ACT has four scores, which makes for a very strange set of measurements! The ACT scores are nothing like high school scores based on percentages. They're not even like the more familiar SAT scores that range from 200 to 800. Instead, they range from 1 to 36. Scoring on the ACT works like this:

• Each required test (English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science) receives a scale score between 1 (low) and 36 (high).
• The composite score is the average of the four required test scale scores.
• The English, Mathematics, and Reading Tests each receive a subscore between 1 and 18.

Don't assume that the subscores determine the total score. That would be too easy and too logical. The subscores are determined independently and don't necessarily add up to the total score in a section. Subscores show your performance on specific groups of questions within each of the tests that have subscores. For example, if you get Reading subscores of 11 in Social Sciences/Science and 16 in Arts/Literature, you know that you did better on the prose fiction and humanities passages than you did on the social science and science passages. Most colleges don't pay much attention to subscores when they make admissions decisions.

• If you take the ACT Plus Writing (which is the official title for the ACT with the optional Writing Test), you receive a Writing subscore that ranges from 2 (low) to 12 (high). The subscore is the sum of the scores you receive from each of the two people who grade your essay. You also get an additional Combined English/Writing score that ranges from 1 to 36. The ACT weighs this score based on two-thirds English and one-third Writing. The Combined English/Writing score doesn't get averaged into your composite ACT score.
• A percentile score tells you where you rank in your state and nationwide.

Look at the percentiles. Just knowing that you got a 26 doesn't tell you much. You need to know whether a 26 is in the 50th percentile, the 75th percentile, or the 99th percentile. If you get a 36, you have documented lifetime bragging rights because that's a perfect score!

The ACT website, www.actstudent.org/scores/understand/studentreport.html, provides a sample score report that shows you what all these scores look like when you and your colleges of choice receive them.

Repeating the Test for a Better Score

Are you allowed to repeat the ACT? Yes. Should you repeat the ACT? Probably. Decide whether to repeat the ACT based on your answers to the following questions:

• What errors did I make the first time around? If your mistakes were from a lack of knowledge, that is, you just plain didn't know a grammar rule or a math formula, you can easily correct those mistakes with studying. However, if you made mistakes because you were careless or you daydreamed during the exam, you may have a personality quirk that's not as easy to change.
• Why do I want to repeat the test? Is your ego destroyed because your best friend got a better score than you did? That's probably not a good enough reason to retake the ACT. Do retake the exam if you're trying to get a minimum qualifying score to enable you to get into a college or into a scholarship program.
• Can I go through this all over again? How seriously did you take studying the first time around? If you gave it all you had, you may be too burned out to go through the whole process again. On the other hand, if you just zoomed through the test booklet and didn't spend much time preparing for the test, you may want a second chance to show your stuff.
• Were my mistakes caused by factors that were not my fault? Maybe you were in a fender-bender on your way to the exam, or perhaps you stayed up late the night before in an argument with your parents or your boyfriend or girlfriend. If you just weren't up to par when you took the exam, definitely take it again, and this time be sure to get a good night's sleep the night before.

The ACT doesn't automatically send colleges the scores for every time you take the test. It gives you the option of deciding which set of scores you want colleges to see. If you don't want to report the results of all your tests, keep these issues in mind:

• The ACT automatically sends scores to the colleges you list on your test registration form. If you want to wait until after you see your report to decide whether certain colleges can see your scores for a particular test administration, don't list those colleges with your ACT registration.
• Many colleges figure your ACT composite score by averaging the highest scores you get in each section across all administrations of the test. They refer to this practice as superscoring the ACT. If you get a 24 in English, a 21 in Math, a 23 in Reading, and a 25 in Science the first time you take the ACT and a 25, 20, 24, and 24, respectively, the second time, these colleges will figure your composite score by averaging your higher 25 English score, 21 Math score, 24 Reading score, and 25 Science score. Your composite score for each administration would be 23, but the composite score the colleges calculate would be 24. Therefore, you may want the colleges to get reports from all the times you take the ACT so that they can superscore your highest section scores.
• Some colleges require you to report your scores from every test date. Check with the admissions committee at the colleges to which you're applying to make sure they allow you to withhold score reports from particular test dates.