{"id":6720,"date":"2016-05-18t11:41:16","date_gmt":"2016-05-18t18:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=6720"},"modified":"2017-11-15t17:55:10","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16t01:55:10","slug":"passing-score-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/","title":{"rendered":"what is a passing score on the act?"},"content":{"rendered":"

whether you’re waiting for your act scores, have just received your act scores, or are looking over your practice exams, you’ll probably wonder at some point, “am i passing the act? what is<\/em> a passing score on the act, anyway?” you may even start to look at your dream schools and ask…
\n <\/p>\n

\"what<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

fear not! in this post, we\u2019ll talk about what a “passing score” on the act really means. no matter where you currently are in your act studies, let\u2019s find some numbers to help you progress.<\/p>\n

passing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

the act has no official \u2018pass\u2019 score<\/strong>. unlike your teachers, the act doesn\u2019t give letter grades. it doesn\u2019t leave notes in the margins. it just gives you a set of numbers with very little commentary. in fact, many first-time test takers have more questions than answers after seeing their scores.<\/p>\n

the truth is that everyone has his or her own unique “passing” score. though everyone takes the same act, every person\u2019s plan for the results is different. if you don\u2019t have your own passing score on the act, let\u2019s figure yours out.<\/p>\n

your passing score on the act<\/strong><\/h2>\n

taking the act is one of only many steps in preparing to apply for college. to come up with your individual passing score, you need to have a good idea of the types of colleges you might apply to your senior year. you don\u2019t have to have the final college list<\/a> ready a year in advance, but a general idea helps.<\/p>\n

with that long list of potential colleges, look up each college\u2019s \u2018middle 50%\u2019 act score range<\/a>. create an average of all the different score ranges for schools you’d like to apply to.<\/p>\n

and voila! there’s your individual passing score on the act—anywhere within that score range.<\/p>\n

don\u2019t i want to do better than \u2018middle 50%\u2019?<\/h2>\n

you want to do the best you can. if your score is better than the \u2018middle 50%\u2019 range, that\u2019s awesome. it puts you in a great position when you apply. also, more scholarship opportunities<\/a> open up with higher act scores.<\/p>\n

that being said, at ultra-competitive schools across the country, the only score above the \u2018middle 50%\u2019 is a perfect 36<\/strong>. scoring anywhere in the \u2018middle 50%\u2019 will keep your application in the \u201cmaybe\u201d box long enough so that admissions counselors<\/a> can get to know the real you. besides, not obsessing over getting the perfect 36 gives you more time to focus on your grades, extra curricular activities, volunteer work etc. <\/p>\n

at the end of the day, an admission counselor would much rather admit a well-rounded applicant with a \u2018middle 50%\u2019 act score rather than an applicant with perfect test scores and\u2026that\u2019s it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

final thoughts<\/h2>\n

put a little time into creating your own passing act score, and the results will pay off later. you\u2019ll have a challenging yet reasonable goal to work towards. also, your study plan<\/a> will benefit from having a target score range.<\/p>\n

that\u2019s all for now, magoosh readers. good luck with your test preparation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

though there is no official passing score on the act, learn about the score you need in order to achieve your goals after high school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[22],"ppma_author":[24915],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nwhat is a passing score on the act? - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"though there is no official passing score on the act, learn about the score you need in order to achieve your goals after high school.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"what is a passing score on the act?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"though there is no official passing score on the act, learn about the score you need in order to achieve your goals after high school.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-18t18:41:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-16t01:55:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/files\/2016\/04\/ozmm7.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"thomas broderick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"thomas broderick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"thomas broderick\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/0a42ebf95f4c3aaf08c7f83b3ca64abe\"},\"headline\":\"what is a passing score on the act?\",\"datepublished\":\"2016-05-18t18:41:16+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2017-11-16t01:55:10+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/\"},\"wordcount\":521,\"commentcount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"act scores\"],\"articlesection\":[\"act\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/act\/passing-score-act\/\",\"name\":\"what is a passing score on the act? 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