Exams Know-how

ACT Score Calculator: How to Calculate ACT Scores?

Author_Image
Sumeet Jain
6.3k views

ACT scores play a vital role in determining your admission to different undergraduate courses in colleges abroad. Universities and colleges in USA highly value an ACT score in their admission process. So you must aim to perform exceptionally well in your ACT test and stand out amongst other applicants. For that, prior planning, preparation practice is a must. But how will you measure your growth or performance in the ACT test? It is ofcourse through the scores you achieve in all the sections. 

In this blog we have discussed everything you need to about ACT score calculator. If you are someone still wondering about how to calculate ACT scores, this blog will surely serve your purpose. 

  Table of Contents

  1. ACT Score Calculator
  2. ACT Composite Calculator
  3. ACT Superscore Calculator

ACT Score Calculator

ACT Score Calculator

The ACT exam, or the American College Testing exam, examines both local and foreign students' academic preparedness. It is conducted to examine students' writing, mathematical, verbal, and scientific abilities. Students who want to study abroad, particularly in the United States, can take the test.

The ACT syllabus typically consist of five sections:

  • Science
  • Mathematics
  • English
  • Reading
  • Writing (optional)

Each section is worth 36 points. The ACT score is the average of all the points scored in each section on a scale of 1-36. The scores for the writing section are given individually on a scale of 2-22 points. The average ACT score required for most college applications is 22.

If you opt for the optional Writing component, that will be evaluated on a scale of 2-12. However, your ACT essay score does not impact into your overall ACT score.

Suggested: Books to Prepare For ACT Exam

ACT Composite Calculator

ACT Composite Calculator

The ACT exam comprises 215 questions in total. Here is a breakdown of the questions for each section:

  • 40 points for science
  • 60 points for Maths
  • 75 points for English
  • 40 for Reading.

Each section's weightage in the ACT calculator is one-quarter of the total score. Let us now look at how to compute your ACT composite score, along with how to estimate ACT raw score calculator values and convert them to a point scale: 

Calculate Your Raw ACT Scores for Each Section: First and foremost, you need to calculate your raw scores. The raw score for each ACT portion is just the number of questions correctly answered. In other words, for each accurate answer, you will receive one point. There are no negative points.

For instance, if the total number of questions in the English section is 75 this is your total score for this section. You get 15 of your answers wrong and the rest 60 correct. Therefore, your raw score for the English section is 60.

Suggested: Colleges Accepting Low ACT Scores

Conversion of Raw Scores to Scaled Scores: Using a table that varies for each ACT date, your raw scores are converted into scaled scores, on a scale of 1-36 for each section. The scaling chart is updated to guarantee that each test is balanced; in other terms, it accommodates for differences in subject difficulty.

The scaling changes according to the difficulty level of the papers. If the ACT exam on one test day was more difficult than the ACT exam on another test day then the grading of the former ACT exam will be more lenient than the ACT exam taken on the latter date.

For example, if you get 70 points in your English section on one test and 68 on the other, it may be that according to the scaling charts you might receive a 33 scaled score for the former test in which you scored 70 and 35 scaled score in the test that you gave afterward in which you received 68 raw scores. This is because the exam conducted on the latter-day had more difficult content than the test conducted before.

You won't know the raw to scaled score conversion ahead of time. because the exact conversion changes depending on the test date.

 Suggested: Everything About ACT Registration

Calculate your Composite Score, Average your Scaled Section Scores Together: After you have your scaled scores for each section, you can compute the average of them by simply summing the four scaled scores and dividing them by four. This is the ACT composite score, which is computed on a scale of 1-36.

For example, here is your scaled score for each section:

Sections

Scaled Scores

English

36

Reading

33

Mathematics

33

Science

30

Then you add your scaled score for each section together: 36+33+33+30=132

Then divide the sum by 4: 132/4=33

Hence, 33 will be your Composite Score.

Let's move on to the ACT Superscore calculator now that we've learned how to compute the composite score.

Suggested: What is ACT Exam Eligibility?

ACT Superscore Calculator

You may attempt the ACT exam several times. A superscore is the average of your highest scores in each subject on separate ACT exams.

Let us use an example to demonstrate:

Assume a student takes the ACT three times at different times.

Their results are as follows:

ACT Sections

1st attempt

2nd attempt

3rd attempt

English

34

33

27

Reading

31

30

32

Mathematics

29

36

32

Science

30

29

33

Composite Score

31

32

31

In the example, the students’ composite score for 3 attempts is 31, 32, and 31. But if we calcite their super score it will be: 34 (English-1st attempt) + 31 (reading-1st attempt) + 36 (mathematics-2nd attempt) + 33 (science-3rd attempt) = 34*

*(it is 33.5 but, 0.5 is rounded off as 34)

This is how Superscore is calculated. The ACT superscore demonstrates your strongest qualities. It allows you to improve your score and apply to a better college. According to a recent study, superscoring the ACT displays students' talents better than taking one-time ACT results.

Suggested: ACT to SAT Conversion

So this was all about how to calculate your ACT scores. Now that you know well about ACT score calculator try tracking your scores and overall progress while solving sample question papers. As you do so, you will gain more knowledge and confidence to score high in your actual test. If you need any guidance and assistance for your study abroad journey, do get in touch with our counselors at Yocket

Frequently Asked Questions About ACT Score Calculator

How do you calculate act scores?

What is ACT raw score calculator?

Why do we need to calculate ACT superscore?

Do colleges prefer superscore over composite scores?

Articles you might like