What Is a Good ACT Score? 2026 Percentiles and Targets

ACT score chart: percentiles and what is good

• Above average: 19 and up, better than half of test takers.
• Good: 23 and up, the top quarter.
• Very good: 28 and up, the top 10%, competitive at many selective universities.
• Excellent: 33 and up, the top 2%, in range for the most selective colleges.

A good ACT score is one that sits in or above the middle range of the colleges on your list. Percentiles show where you stand nationally. Have a practice test? Turn your raw scores into a composite, percentile and SAT match with the calculator.

Is your score good? Check your exact ACT score

Choose your composite. Each page answers "is it a good ACT score" for that one number, with its percentile, the gap to the national average, the SAT match and what one more point takes on a practice test.

ACT scores explained: range, percentiles, average and highest

Every ACT section and the composite run from 1 to 36. The national average composite was 19.2 for the class of 2026, according to ACT, and the middle score is about 18. The top quarter starts at 23 and the highest possible score is 36, earned by well under 1% of test takers each year. The table gives the percentile for each composite and the SAT total it matches on the official concordance.

How to plan your target

Note the 25th and 75th percentile ACT scores of each college on your list, then aim for the 75th percentile of the one in the middle. Because the composite is a rounded average, raising one section by two or three points can lift the composite by one; the ACT calculator shows exactly how many section points the next composite needs. Plan your practice tests with the real clock, too: here is how long the ACT takes, section by section.

Not sure whether the ACT or the SAT suits you better? Take one practice test of each, score them with the two calculators and compare the percentiles, or use the SAT equivalent column above. Colleges accept both equally.