Understanding your ACT percentiles - Student-Tutor Education Blog

ACT percentiles is a metric that tells you how you perform compared to other test takers. It is an important indicator that admission counselors use to determine how you measure up to others.

It lets you know the percentage of test-takers who performed worse or better than you.

If you scored the exact average on the ACT, then your percentile would automatically be 50. When you have a 70^th percentile, this means that you perform better or the same as 70% of the test takers.

On your ACT score report, you would find your ACT percentiles for both US rank and state rank.

Your US rank compares your score to other ACT takers in the US, while your state rank only compares you against test takers from your state.

The highest you can get is 99^th percentile and the lowest is 1^st percentile. There is no 100^th percentile because that would mean that your score is higher than yourself (which makes no sense!)

It is important that you understand your ACT percentile because some students often confuse it with their overall grade or percentage for the exam.

Your ACT percentile is not the percentage of the answers that you got right on the exam. When you get an 85^th percentile, it does not mean that you got 85% of the questions correct. An 85^th percentile just means you score 85% higher than other test-takers.

Having a better understanding of the ACT percentile would essentially come in handy, especially if you are preparing for your college admission and you are still debating what is a good ACT score that you should try to aim for.

Table of Contents

ACT percentile chart

The ACT scores and their corresponding percentiles do not necessarily experience drastic changes every year. ACT percentiles tend to have minimal changes year after year.

To further illustrate how the relationship between the scores and percentiles does not drastically change over the years, we have included this table from magoosh.

ACT Composite Score	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	ACT Composite Score
36	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	36
35	99	99	99	99	100	100	100	100	100	100	35
34	99	99	99	99	99	100	100	100	100	100	34
33	98	98	98	98	99	99	99	99	99	99	33
32	97	96	97	97	97	98	98	98	98	98	32
31	95	95	95	96	96	96	97	97	97	97	31
30	93	93	93	94	94	95	95	95	95	95	30
29	91	91	91	92	92	92	93	93	93	93	29
28	88	88	88	89	89	90	91	90	91	91	28
27	85	85	85	86	86	87	87	87	87	88	27
26	82	82	82	83	82	83	84	83	83	84	26
25	78	78	78	79	78	79	79	79	79	79	25
24	74	74	73	74	73	74	75	74	74	74	24
23	69	69	68	69	68	68	69	68	68	68	23
22	64	64	63	64	62	62	63	62	62	62	22
21	58	58	57	58	56	56	56	55	55	55	21
20	52	52	51	51	50	50	50	48	48	48	20
19	46	46	44	45	43	43	43	41	41	41	19
18	40	40	38	39	37	36	36	34	34	35	18
17	33	34	31	32	30	30	30	28	28	28	17
16	27	27	25	26	24	24	24	21	22	22	16
15	20	21	19	19	18	18	18	16	16	16	15
14	14	15	13	14	12	12	12	11	11	11	14
13	9	9	7	8	7	7	8	6	7	7	13
12	4	4	3	4	3	4	4	3	3	3	12
11	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	11
10 & below	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	10 & below

Apart from your percentile for your composite score, your ACT report card would also show you your percentile for your subscores. These subscore percentiles are your performance compared to other students on subjects like Math, Science, Reading, and English.

For your easy reference, we have included the corresponding percentiles for your scores. This chart is reported during the year 2020-2021 by the ACT.

Score	English	Math	Reading	Science	Composite	STEM	Score
36	100	100	100	100	100	100	36
35	99	99	98	99	99	99	35
34	96	99	96	98	99	99	34
33	94	98	94	97	98	98	33
32	92	97	91	96	96	97	32
31	91	96	89	95	95	96	31
30	89	94	86	93	93	94	30
29	88	93	84	92	90	92	29
28	86	91	82	90	88	90	28
27	84	88	80	88	85	87	27
26	82	84	77	85	82	84	26
25	79	79	74	82	78	80	25
24	75	74	71	77	74	75	24
23	71	70	66	71	70	70	23
22	65	65	61	64	64	65	22
21	60	61	55	58	59	60	21
20	55	58	50	51	53	54	20
19	49	54	44	45	47	48	19
18	45	49	39	39	41	41	18
17	41	42	34	32	35	33	17
16	37	33	29	26	28	26	16
15	32	21	24	19	22	18	15
14	25	11	19	14	16	11	14
13	19	4	14	10	10	5	13
12	15	1	10	7	5	2	12
11	11	1	5	4	2	1	11
10	7	1	3	3	1	1	10
9	3	1	1	1	1	1	9
8	2	1	1	1	1	1	8
7	1	1	1	1	1	1	7
6	1	1	1	1	1	1	6
5	1	1	1	1	1	1	5
4	1	1	1	1	1	1	4
3	1	1	1	1	1	1	3
2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Importance of ACT percentiles

ACT percentiles sort of matter in your college application. I say sort of because it does not necessarily hold a lot of weight in the college admission process.

The ACT percentile found in your report card is only an indicator of where you stand and how you perform in the tests compared to other students. Admission counselors use this to assess how you stack up against other students who also took the ACT.

But in the grand scheme of your college application, your composite score and whether it fits into the average percentile of the school you are applying for is what truly matters.

Rather than aiming for a specific ACT percentile, try to aim for the standard ACT score range of your chosen school. This way, you would have a better chance of getting accepted.

Apart from that, it is also worth noting that ACT percentile should be used with caution.

Since there are several factors that come into play when ranking students across the country, average scores vary dramatically across different states.

For instance, if you are in a state where test-takers score lower than the Nation’s score, then your state rank would ultimately be higher than your US rank.

That does not necessarily mean that you would automatically get admitted to your school of choice, but rather, it would give you an edge over other students competing for admission slots as well.

You can read our article on the ACT score release dates to find out whether score live up to these universities.

What ACT percentile should you try to aim for?

As much as possible, try to aim for an ACT percentile above 50. This way, you would have more school options to choose from.

Keep in mind that scoring 50^th percentile on your ACT report does not lock in your chances of getting admitted to your school of choice.

Scoring above 50 just means that you have more school choices and your score is competitive to many schools.

Other colleges and universities have a certain standard that you need to reach. Sometimes, having a 50^th percentile is just not enough for you to get in.

For instance, in an ivy league school like Harvard, having a 50^th percentile would not cut it. Most of the students admitted to Harvard have more than 90^th percentile in their ACT report card.

So rather than focusing on your ACT percentile, my best advice is to research the school you want to go to. Research about the average ACT scores of the students who already got admitted.

This way, you would have a better chance of getting admitted and you can plan out the ACT score you need to reach before you take the exam.

Aside from that, you should answer several ACT practice tests, read a few ACT prep book, and even practice with your ACT calculator before the exam. This way, you would know how to study for the ACT more effectively.

Why do colleges have their own 25th and 75th Percentile?

The reason is rather simple. The percentile found in your ACT report card is not an accurate representation of the type of students who usually got admitted to their school.

Let us take Harvard again as an example. If you look at their website, you would see that they mainly focus on the score and not the percentile.

Rather than using the ACT percentile found in your report card as a metric, their website says that 25th percentile of admitted students scores 33 and the 75th percentile score 35 on their ACT instead.

Colleges and universities are just mainly doing this for a more accurate representation and to avoid confusion among applicants.

For your easy reference, we have included the top 50 schools that admit high ACT scorers from a list excerpted on the Compass Education Group website.

School	ACT Score of the 25^th percentile	ACT Score of the 75^th percentile
California Institute of Technology	35	36
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	34	36
Brown University	33	35
Carnegie Mellon University	33	35
Columbia University	33	35
Duke University	33	35
Harvard College	33	35
Harvey Mudd College	33	35
Johns Hopkins University	33	35
Northwestern University	33	35
Princeton University	33	35
Rice University	33	35
University of Chicago	33	35
University of Pennsylvania	33	35
Vanderbilt University	33	35
Yale University	33	35
Cornell University	32	35
Dartmouth College	32	35
Northeastern University	32	35
University of Notre Dame	32	35
Pomona College	32	35
Stanford University	32	35
Washington University in St. Louis	32	35
Williams College	32	35
Hamilton College	32	34
Haverford College	32	34
Middlebury College	32	34
Tufts University	32	34
Washington and Lee University	32	34
Georgetown University	31	35
Swarthmore College	31	35
Willamette University	31	35
Amherst College	31	34
Barnard College	31	34
Boston College	31	34
Bowdoin College	31	34
Carleton College	31	34
Claremont McKenna College	31	34
Colby College	31	34
Colgate University	31	34
Emory University	31	34
Grinnell College	31	34
Stevens Institute of Technology	31	34
University of Michigan—Ann Arbor	31	34
University of Southern California	31	34
Vassar College	31	34
Villanova University	31	34
Wellesley College	31	34
Wesleyan University	31	34
Tulane University	31	33

Keep in mind that aside from the composite scores cited above, there are also other colleges that superscore ACT.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you managed to have a better understanding of your ACT percentiles.

Given that we have listed a few references and school-specific percentile, we do hope that you now know the importance of your ACT percentiles and how admission counselors use it to measure your performance on your ACT.

Just to recap, we discussed

So as you as look for the best high school graduation gifts and start preparing for college, you should also do some research and look at the percentile of the school you are aiming for.

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Hello! My name is Todd. I help students design the life of their dreams by ensuring college, scholarship, and career success! I am a former tutor for seven years, $85,000 scholarship recipient, Huffington Post contributor, lead SAT & ACT course developer, host of a career exploration podcast for teens, and have worked with thousands of students and parents to ensure a brighter future for the next generation. I invite you to join my next webinar to learn how to save thousands + set your teenager up for college, scholarship, and career success!

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