How to Calculate ACT Scores: Step-by-Step Guide

College applicants with the highest ACT score hold an advantage over the competition. A good ACT score emphasizes to admissions officers both your strengths and readiness to tackle college-level coursework. Top scorers may also qualify for merit scholarships.

Learning how ACT scores are calculated can help you determine how many questions you can afford to get wrong on test day and what your biggest strengths and weaknesses are.

Keep reading to learn more about ACT scoring and how raw scores translate into scale scores.

The ACT is scored using a multistep process.

First, you’ll get a raw score for each of the four exam sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Raw scores are simply the number of questions you answered correctly.

Incorrect answers do not count against your raw scores. As such, try to answer every question on the ACT, even if you have to guess.

Next, your raw scores are converted into scale section scores on a scale of 1-36.

Finally, your scale section scores are averaged to give you a single ACT composite score, also out of 36. This composite score will appear in the top-left corner of your ACT score report.

How raw scores translate into scale scores varies slightly depending on the test. This is why each official practice test comes with its own ACT scoring chart.

What about the essay? The optional ACT Writing section is scored on a scale of 2-12. Graders use a rubric to judge your essay’s use of language, organization, analysis, and development. Your Writing section score does not factor into your composite ACT score.

You need only a few minutes to learn how to calculate your ACT score. Before starting, you’ll need to find the ACT scoring chart included with your practice exam. This chart will provide the most accurate conversions of raw scores into scale scores.

If you don’t have your practice test’s ACT score chart handy, you can use the sample score chart below to estimate your scale scores.

The first step is to use the answer key that came with your ACT practice exam to calculate your raw score. Award yourself 1 point for each correct answer. Do not deduct any points for incorrect answers.

Take your time grading the English, Math, Reading, and Science sections. Rushing through grading may result in careless mistakes.

Next, you’ll need to convert your four raw scores (one for each section) into scale scores out of 36. To do this, you’ll need your practice test’s ACT score chart.

Find the column on the chart representing the section of the ACT you want to score, and then locate the raw score you earned. Look for the matching scale score (out of 36) in the leftmost or rightmost column.

If your ACT practice test doesn’t come with a scoring chart, you can use an official ACT score chart, like the one below, to estimate how your raw scores may translate into scale scores.

The final step involves calculating your ACT composite score. College admissions counselors see this score first when reviewing your official score report.

You can use a calculator to find the average of your four scale scores. To find the average, add together your four scale scores and then divide the sum by 4.

Your result may include a decimal point. According to ACT Inc., round up to the nearest whole number if the decimal is 0.5 or higher, and round down if the decimal is less than 0.5.

Estimating your ACT Writing score takes more time and effort than calculating your raw score, scale score, or composite score. You must use the same rubric as official ACT graders and consider how your essay develops ideas, organizes thoughts, and uses language.

The official ACT website provides many sample essays, including those with high scores and those with the lowest ACT score possible. It’s a good idea to spend time reviewing these before grading your practice essay.

You might also consider asking a teacher, guidance counselor, parent, or friend to grade your essay for you using the ACT Writing rubric.

The ACT score chart below can help you estimate how many questions you can afford to miss on the ACT and still meet your target score. This scoring table was taken from the 2021-22 official ACT practice exam.

Remember that the conversions between raw and scale scores can vary slightly depending on the test. To calculate ACT scores with 100% accuracy, you must use the ACT scoring chart that accompanies your specific practice exam.

If your practice test doesn’t have an ACT score chart, you can use the table below to estimate your scale scores.

As you can see, you could miss up to three questions on English, two on Math, one on Reading, and two on Science (eight total) and still get a max ACT score of 36.

Even if you miss a few more questions and earn a 35 on two sections, you’ll still wind up getting a 36 composite ACT score since these scores would average out to 35.5 (and thus round up to 36).

Some students are stronger in certain subjects. If this sounds like you, you could try to make up for a lower section score by overperforming in another section.

For example, say your target ACT score is 32 and you’re better at reading and English than you are at math and science. In this case, you might aim for the following: