This April, juniors at our school took the state mandated American College Test (ACT) as part of college preparation. Two weeks later, the scores were released and many soon to be seniors were surprised by their scores. If you didn’t receive the score you wanted or anticipated, that’s completely okay.
The ACT doesn’t define your intelligence and a low score doesn’t mean you are not a good student. The ACT simply measures your college readiness and attempts to measure how well you would do at college based on what concepts and skills you know.
Tip #1. Understanding your score
According to the ACT website, the average ACT score in Missouri in 2024 was 19.8. It is important to remember that your ACT score isn’t a direct reflection of you, and instead it’s oftentimes a reflection of your education. In Missouri, only 51 percent of students met the college readiness benchmark in English, 30 percent in Math, 42 percent in Reading, and 32 percent in Science.
Looking at your own scores, you can click on the “Am I ready for college” button and see if your scores meet the college readiness benchmarks. The benchmark in Math is a 22, Science a 23, English a 18, and Reading a 22.
Many universities like to see that you meet or exceed these benchmarks since it is believed to correlate with your success in college. Colleges don’t like to entirely rely on your GPA for college admissions due to grade inflation and extraneous circumstances involved in maintaining grades. The ACT is a standardized way for colleges to evaluate how ready you are for colleges.
If you know what university you want to apply to next year, it can be helpful to look at what ACT score range they accept. Having an ACT within the score range they require can significantly increase your chances of being accepted.
Another important factor is scholarships. Researching the scholarships you would like to receive and seeing if they require a certain ACT score is necessary when understanding your score and what score you need
After evaluating your current score, it’s time to set a goal score. Make sure it’s reasonable. It’s unreasonable to have a goal score of 36 if you currently have an 18. If you plan on taking it multiple times you can set different goals for each time you take it. Once you set your goal score, you now have to work towards it.
Tip #2 Breakdown the Sections
Look at your score and notice what sections you scored the lowest in. An easy way to increase your score is to practice your weakest sections. For example, if English is your lowest score you can try to increase it by learning grammatical concepts and learning about things such as correct usage of punctuation and understanding elimination of redundancy. If you are unsure of what concepts to review, a practice test can help you with this.
You can use school provided test prep, such as Naviance, or even purchase an ACT prep book to take practice tests. This can help you find what areas you are weakest in and also help you fill gaps in your knowledge.
Another option is to strengthen the areas you are naturally good at. If you excel in math, you can easily raise your score by reviewing or learning different concepts. This can feel a lot less daunting since it’s something you are comfortable with.
Tip #3 Timing
Another way to push your score up is to practice timing. For many students the hardest part of the ACT is the timing. Having enough time to finish all the questions on the test is essential to scoring higher.
A common section to struggle with in terms of timing is the reading section. Only 35 minutes for the 40 reading questions on top of reading the passages can be very overwhelming for test takers. Knowing to allow yourself roughly eight minutes per passage can be helpful. By practicing this more you can get used to the flow of this part of the test. Practicing close reading and techniques can help you remember the content which allows you to easily answer the questions.
Tip #4 Practice, Practice, Practice
Practicing consistently is the best way to get the score you need. This can be very hard due to busy schedules and lack of motivation.
Finding ways that you like to practice is the best way to increase scores. Setting aside a set time each week to study is a tried and true technique. Taking practice tests and reviewing them is an easy way to rack up points.
Tip #5 Take the Real Deal
After practicing, taking the real test is the only way to officially improve your scores. Sometimes you will find that you did better on the real test than you did when practicing. Don’t feel discouraged if your score doesn’t reach your goal, just stay consistent and continue practicing and maintain an optimistic mindset. Sometimes tests can feel easier or harder and sometimes luck can play in your favor.
This summer is the perfect opportunity to focus on improving your ACT score before college applications. The ACT will be having national test days in June and July that you can consider taking and studying for. Ultimately the ACT is a battle that many high schoolers have to face. It is an impressive feat to improve your score even by a few points.
