How is the ACT scored?
Each ACT section is scored from 1 to 36. Your Composite score is the average of English, Math and Reading, rounded to the nearest whole number: below one-half rounds down, one-half or more rounds up. Science is optional and no longer counts toward the Composite. Your score is based only on correct answers, and there is no penalty for wrong ones.
Scoring works in two steps. First, ACT counts your correct answers in each section, your raw score. Then it converts each raw score to a scale score from 1 to 36. The conversion differs slightly between test forms, so a 25 means the same thing on any test date. Not every question counts: English has 40 scored questions plus 10 field-test items, Math 41 plus 4, Reading 27 plus 9 and Science 34 plus 6.
Science used to be part of the Composite. ACT dropped it for national online tests in April 2025 and for all tests in September 2025. If you take Science, you still get a Science score and a STEM score, the average of Math and Science. If you take the optional Writing test, it is scored separately from 2 to 12 and does not change your Composite.
Your Superscore is the average of your best English, Math and Reading scores across all your test dates, so a retest can only help your best mix. Science is left out of the Superscore too. For context, the national average Composite was 19.4 in 2024.
| Score | Range | How it is built | In the Composite? |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 1-36 | 40 scored questions | Yes |
| Math | 1-36 | 41 scored questions | Yes |
| Reading | 1-36 | 27 scored questions | Yes |
| Science (optional) | 1-36 | 34 scored questions | No |
| Composite | 1-36 | Average of English, Math, Reading | - |
| STEM | 1-36 | Average of Math and Science | No |
| Writing (optional) | 2-12 | Essay, scored separately | No |
- 1Write down your English, Math and Reading scale scores.
- 2Add them up. Example: 25 + 23 + 23 = 71.
- 3Divide by 3. Here 71 / 3 = 23.67.
- 4Round to the nearest whole number. A fraction of one-half or more rounds up, so 23.67 becomes a Composite of 24. With 70, you get 23.33, which rounds down to 23.
- 5If you took Science, average Math and Science for your STEM score.
- 6For your Superscore, take your best English, Math and Reading from any test dates and average them the same way.