david recine

how to get a 27 on the act

your act score doesn’t need to be perfect to be good. a common act benchmark is 27—get a 27 act score or higher, and many doors will open to you. now, why would you want to get a 27 on the act?

if this post caught your eye and you’re reading it now, you may already know the value of a 27 on the act. you may even have a few schools that require that score in mind…

in this post, i’ll show you how to score at least a 27 on the act, as well as telling you about the benefits of a 27 act score.

to get a 27 act score, get inspired

motivation is one of the key factors in pushing yourself to get that higher score! for example: if you get a 27 on the act, you’ll maximize your chances of acceptance at literally hundreds of colleges.

don’t believe me? take a look at the median 50% act scores (25th-75th percentile) of the top 100 u.s. universities. you’ll see that an act score of 27 places you right smack in that golden range for more than half of them. (quick tip: you can sort the table by act scores by clicking on the box labeled “25th percentile scores.”)

liam got a 35 on the act. get a higher act score with magoosh.

college act score range for the top 100 universities

college ranking college name 25th percentile scores 75th percentile scores
1 princeton university 34 35
2 massachusetts institute of technology (mit) 34 36
3 harvard university 34 36
4 stanford university 34 35
5 yale university 33 35
6 (tie) california institute of technology (caltech) 35 36
6 (tie) duke university 34 35
6 (tie) johns hopkins university 34 35
6 (tie) northwestern university 33 35
10 university of pennsylvania 33 35
11 (tie) cornell university 33 35
11 (tie) university of chicago 34 35
13 (tie) brown university 34 35
13 (tie) columbia university 34 35
15 (tie) dartmouth college 33 35
15 (tie) university of california, los angeles (ucla) 29 34
17 university of california–berkeley 27 35
18 (tie) rice university 34 36
18 (tie) university of notre dame 33 35
18 (tie) vanderbilt university 34 35
21 (tie) carnegie mellon university 34 35
21 (tie) university of michigan at ann arbor 31 34
21 (tie) washington university in st. louis 33 35
24 (tie) emory university 32 34
24 (tie) georgetown 32 34
24 (tie) university of virginia 32 34
27 (tie) university of north carolina, chapel hill (unc chapel hill) 30 34
27 (tie) university of southern california (usc) 32 35
29 university of california–san diego 26 33
30 (tie) new york university (nyu) 33 35
30 (tie) university of florida 28 33
30 (tie) university of texas, austin (ut austin) 29 34
33 (tie) georgia institute of technology (georgia tech) 28 35
33 (tie) university of california, davis (uc davis) 25 31
33 (tie) university of california, irvine (uci) na na
33 (tie) university of illinois, urbana-champaign 30 34
37 (tie) boston college 33 34
37 (tie) tufts university 33 35
39 (tie) university of california, santa barbara (ucsb) 26 33
39 (tie) university of wisconsin madison 28 32
41 (tie) boston university 32 34
41 (tie) ohio state university 29 32
41 (tie) rutgers university 28 33
44 (tie) university of maryland–college park 32 35
44 (tie) university of rochester 31 34
46 (tie) lehigh university 31 33
46 (tie) purdue univesity-west lafayette 27 34
46 (tie) university of georgia 27 32
46 (tie) university of washington 30 34
46 (tie) wake forest university 32 34
51 (tie) case western reserve university 32 35
51 (tie) texas a&m university–college station 25 31
51 (tie) virginia institute of technology (virginia tech) 27 32
54 (tie) florida state university 27 31
54 (tie) northeastern university 33 35
54 (tie) university of minnesota–twin cities 27 31
54 (tie) college of william and mary 32 34
58 (tie) north carolina state university–raleigh 28 32
58 (tie) stony brook university (suny) 28 33
58 (tie) university of california–merced 17 22
58 (tie) university of massachussetts-amherst (umass amherst) 29 33
58 (tie) villanova university 32 34
63 (tie) brandeis university 31 34
63 (tie) george washington university 31 34
63 (tie) michigan state university 26 31
63 (tie) pennsylvania state–university park 27 32
63 (tie) santa clara university 30 33
63 (tie) tulane university 31 33
63 (tie) university of miami 30 33
70 (tie) rennselaer polytechnic institute 31 34
70 (tie) university of connecticut 29 33
70 (tie) university of pittsburgh–pittsburgh campus 29 33
73 (tie) binghamton university 29 34
73 (tie) indiana university–bloomington 27 32
73 (tie) syracuse university 28 32
76 (tie) colorado school of mines 29 33
76 (tie) stevens institute of technology 31 34
76 (tie) university at buffalo 27 32
76 (tie) university of california–riverside 22 29
80 (tie) clemson 28 32
80 (tie) pepperdine university 26 32
80 (tie) rutgers university–newark / /
80 (tie) university of illinois–chicago 24 31
84 (tie) new jersey institute of technology 25 32
84 (tie) university of california, santa cruz 23 30
86 (tie) drexel university 27 33
86 (tie) howard university 22 28
86 (tie) marquette university 26 31
86 (tie) university of delaware 27 31
86 (tie) worcester polytechnic institute / test-blind
91 (tie) american university 29 32
91 (tie) baylor university 27 32
91 (tie) fordham university 30 33
91 (tie) loyola marymount 29 32
91 (tie) rochester institute of technology 29 33
91 (tie) southern methodist university 30 34
91 (tie) university of south florida 24 29
98 (tie) florida international university 20 26
98 (tie) gonzaga university 26 31
98 (tie) rutgers university–camden 18 26
98 (tie) temple university 23 30
98 (tie) university of colorado boulder 27 32
98 (tie) university of iowa 22 28
98 (tie) yeshiva university 28 33

inspired? is your motivation soaring?

excellent! now let’s look at what you should do to get that 27 act score.

to get a 27 act score, know your weaknesses

getting a 27+ on the act is doable, but if you do really badly in one section, that section could pull your entire score to 26 or lower. don’t let this happen! with study and hard work, you can be strong enough on the exam to get a 27—even if your scores in a section or two are a little below that 27 target.

to reach that goal of 27, take some practice exams from the official act test prepration website or their official book, the real act prep guide. make note of sections or question types that you aren’t doing so well on. and then figure out why you don’t do well  on certain parts of the exam.

for instance, some act test-takers do poorly in math because they struggle with order of operations or make small calculation errors in in act math. other act preppers may fall short on vocabulary for act reading comprehension, or have trouble understanding the charts and graphs in act science. whatever your weak areas are, these weaknesses can be overcome, and improved on enough for a 27 target score.

to get a 27 on the act, know your strengths

everyone has strengths in some act skill or another—you may be really good at math, have a keen eye for writing and grammar, a high confidence with science texts… you get the idea.

good performance in a section of an act is a powerful secret weapon for keeping your composite score at 27 or higher, even if you get a number of questions wrong in other areas on the exam.

so build on your strengths and take advantage of them– think about just how high you could score in a strong area. if you’re a math whiz, that’s a section of the test where you may be able to place in the low or even mid-30s; this can keep your overall composite score nice and high. if you’re good at language arts, you can do well in both act reading and act english. that’s two sections where you can really shine! if you get at least a 30 in both act reading and english, a few missteps in act math and science probably won’t pull your score down to below 27.

to get a 27 on the act, aim for a score above a 27

no matter what your target score is on the act, always aim higher than your goal. this gives you the “wiggle room” you need to make sure you get at least your minimum. and it also increases the odds that you’ll get a score above the minimum goal– always a good thing!

i’ve seen students hope for a 27 and successfully overshoot, getting a 29, 30, 31, or even 32 on test day. i’ve also seen students hit the 27 mark under very bad circumstances, reaching their target score because they overshot. aim for a 30 or more, and if you’re tired, sick, or distracted on test day, you’ll likely still be able to get a 27 or 28 on the act, even under adverse conditions.

author

  • david recine

    david is a test prep expert for magoosh toefl and ielts. additionally, he’s helped students with toeic, pet, fce, bulats, eiken, sat, act, gre, and gmat. david has a bs from the university of wisconsin-eau claire and an ma from the university of wisconsin-river falls. his work at magoosh has been cited in many scholarly articles, his master’s thesis is featured on the reading with pictures website, and he’s presented at the witesol (link to pdf) and nafsa conferences. david has taught k-12 esl in south korea as well as undergraduate english and mba-level business english at american universities. he has also trained english teachers in america, italy, and peru. come join david and the magoosh team on youtube, facebook, and instagram, or connect with him via linkedin!

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