SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

No college application is complete without test scores. But sending scores to colleges doesn't have to be a confusing and frustrating process! Read this article to understand all the options for sending out your ACT scores, to get help with the many decisions you will have to make, and to know what to do if you run into problems.

I'll describe the basic process of how to send ACT scores, how to take full advantage of the ACT's individual score reporting, when to send scores, and how to make sure your scores don't get lost. At the same time, I'll go through the pros and cons of every option and suggest a recommended course of action.

How to Send Your ACT Scores: 2 Methods

You can send your ACT scores either when you take the test or any time after you get your scores.

Method 1: Use Your Four Free Score Reports

From the time you register for the ACT until noon Central Time the Thursday after your test date, you have the option of sending out four free score reports to colleges or scholarship programs. However, this means you'll be sending your scores without having actually seen them.

Whether you should take this free reports offer really depends on your circumstances:

• Pros: These four reports are free, so you'll save some money.

• Cons: You won't be able to take advantage of the ACT score choice policy (more on this later). In other words, instead of getting to pick and choose which of your scores colleges will see, your test results will be sent to colleges even if you do worse than you expect.

Recommendation: I recommend using the free reports to send scores to colleges that require you to send all your ACT scores.

Method 2: Order Additional Score Reports

You can also send your ACT scores any time after you receive them by logging into your ACT account. In your account, you can see your scores from all ACTs you've taken and create reports of these scores for colleges to see.

Here's our advice about whether you should send ACT scores after you've seen them:

• Pros: You can customize each score report to have only the test dates you want to send to colleges. This lets you take advantage of ACT score choice (again, I'll tell you all about this a little further down).

• Cons: Each score report costs $18.50 (students with fee waivers are not required to pay for additional score reports). For example, sending one test score to 10 schools costs $185, while sending four test scores to one school costs $64. If you request these score reports over the phone rather than electronically or by mail, there's an additional $74 phone fee, too.

Here are some of our recommendations on when to send additional score reports:

• Send scores with your best section results to colleges that superscore the ACT. These schools will make a new composite score for you using your best English, Math, Reading, and Science scores from any ACTs you took.

• Send your single highest score to colleges that neither superscore nor require all your scores, to ACT scholarship programs, and to the NCAA if you are going to play college sports.

Can You Send Old ACT Scores?

To send ACT scores from any test taken before September 1, 2020, you have to request them from the ACT archives. Each regular archived report costs $40 (including a nonrefundable $30 archived scores fee).

To order older ACT scores, your only option is to request your scores online by creating an ACT account. ACT, Inc. no longer offers the option to order score reports via mail or by phone.

Pro Tip: Some Q&A websites claim that you can print out your scores from the ACT website and mail or fax them to colleges as a way of sending scores for free. If only! Unfortunately, the vast majority of colleges only accept score reports sent by ACT, Inc. What's more, most colleges only accept electronic scores through ACT's special service.

Having hearts pop out of your score envelope isn't going to win you extra points. (It's cute, though!)

Can You Choose Which ACT Scores to Send?

Because of the way the ACT score ordering process is structured—you get to pick which score or scores to send to which colleges— their policy ends up being almost identical to the College Board's Score Choice policy for the SAT . (The ACT doesn't call it Score Choice, but I will for the sake of simplicity.)

Let's say you took the ACT twice. The first time you took it you were getting over the flu and having a terrible day. The basic idea of ACT Score Choice is that you can send just your second test score to your target colleges and pretend your first test didn't even happen.

Additionally, ACT, Inc. now provides an automatically calculated superscore to all students who have taken the ACT more than once since September 2016. When you select schools to receive your official score reports, you’ll have the option of sending either score reports from one specific exam date or you can choose to send your automatically generated superscore!

Here are some of the major pros and cons of ACT Score Choice:

• Score Choice is awesome for colleges that don't want to see all your ACT scores.

• Automatic superscoring is also perfect for colleges that superscore—you can send your schools just those test dates that have your highest section scores.

• It's also the best way to send your highest score to scholarship programs and the NCAA.

• You have to be careful and read your target colleges' score submission policies carefully. Failing to send all your ACT scores to colleges that require all of them could jeopardize your application!

• Because each score report can only have one college and one score on it, sending out many reports can get really expensive fast.

The hot, new "make it rain" rap video montage accessory? A stack of envelopes from ACT, Inc.

When Should You Send Your ACT Scores?

Now, let's talk about the best times to send your ACT scores to schools.

Should You Send ACT Scores Early?

Some students have heard that sending ACT scores early (maybe even in your junior year!) shows colleges that you're a very interested applicant.

It's true that there is such a thing as demonstrated interest —admissions committees sometimes want to see proof that an applicant sincerely wants to go to their school. But demonstrated interest only comes into play after your full application has been submitted, usually as a way to move someone up on a waitlist.

In any case, sending ACT scores early will not give you an edge or constitute demonstrated interest. Generally, if you send scores to a college but haven't applied there yet, the admissions committee will simply save them under your name in a general file until your application shows up. They don't keep track of whose scores get there first.

And it's not only that: if you send your scores early but are still planning to retake the ACT, you won't get the full benefit of Score Choice since you won't be able to choose between that early score and ones from later tests.

Sending scores early enough for Neanderthals to receive them won't give you a leg up.

When Should ACT Scores Get to Colleges?

It'll be no surprise to hear that official score reports should be received by each university's respective application deadline. In order to figure out what this means in terms of when to send your ACT scores, let's go through the timing of everything that happens after you take the test.

Step 1: ACT, Inc., Scores Your Test

• This usually takestwo weeks for multiple-choice scores (but can take up to eight weeks).

• It takes an extra two weeks for Writing scores (if you took the ACT with Writing).

• It also takes an extra one to two weeks if you took the test outside the US or Canada (on top of the extra two weeks for Writing).

Step 2: Score Reports Are Posted Online and Processed for Sending

• Scores are posted online as soon as multiple-choice results are ready (and Writing results are added two weeks later when they are finished). However, if you tested through State and District, School, or DANTES Testing, you'll only see your scores online after getting your printed score report in the mail.

• If you registered for the four free score reports, these are sent out as soon as your full score report (multiple choice plus Writing, if you took the latter as well) is ready.

• Any score reports ordered through the ACT website take about one week of processing before being sent to colleges. So don't wait until the last minute to request additional reports!

Step 3: Colleges Receive ACT Scores

• Most colleges get ACT scores electronically. The schools themselves determine how often they receive scores. The least frequent possibility is once every two weeks, though most schools choose to receive scores far more often (for example, UVA gets them daily).

• A small number of colleges receive paper score reports sent by first-class mail. These are usually delivered within a few days.

• Remember that there will be a lag between when a college gets your scores and when it adds them to your application file.

In most circumstances, the math for ordering the test goes like this:

1 week for ordering scores + 1 week for colleges to get and file scores = you need to order at least 2 weeks before the application deadline

Just in case, however, it's best to send ACT scores as soon as you're done testing and are sure which schools you're applying to.

Your last possible test-date math looks like this:

2 weeks for scoring multiple choice + 2 weeks for scoring Writing + 3 weeks for ordering tests = take your last test no later than 7 weeks before the application deadline

Sending your scores is the synchronized swimming of college applications: to do it well, you have to master perfect timing.

What If Your ACT Scores Arrive After the Application Deadline?

What happens to applications when ACT scores are received late ultimately depends on each college's individual policy.

Some schools have a hard-and-fast rule that late application materials disqualify applicants. For example, the University of Texas's policy even overrides the guaranteed admission this state school offers to any in-state students in the top 10% of their class.

At some schools, late ACT scores are a gamble —you're betting that your application won't be considered until further into the process, so your scores might have a chance to get there.

For example, MIT is very clear about the deadlines for their test scores:

In order to apply for first-year admission, you must take the required tests before November 30 for Early Action, and before December 31 for Regular Action. We will also accept English language proficiency test scores for RA applicants through the January test dates.

Meanwhile, the University of Florida points out what happens if your scores are late:

 If your test scores are not received by the December 1 deadline, your application will be moved into the space-available applicant pool. Applicants who self-report scores and are admitted to UF must submit official test scores by May 1.

Finally, some schools judge each application on a case-by-case basis. This means that an otherwise excellent application might be put aside until ACT scores arrive, while an application that's clearly not a good fit for the school might be rejected even before scores arrive.

How Can You Make Sure Your ACT Scores Don't Get Lost?

The top reasons colleges can't find your ACT scores are as follows:

• You entered the wrong ACT college code
• You forgot to send your scores to that particular college

If you registered for the four free score reports, you can check your own score report for the code numbers you put in and confirm they're correct. If you ordered reports from the ACT website, go to your account and double-check the college codes there.

A good rule of thumb is to wait three weeks after your sending date to check whether your scores have been received. Usually, this info will be available on the college's application site. In other cases, colleges might contact you to let you know which application materials have not yet arrived.

If you get a notice from the college that your ACT scores are missing, don't panic: it can take a few weeks for received application materials to be logged. Chances are, the school has indeed received your scores but simply hasn't filed them yet. Feel free to call the admissions office and calmly and respectfully ask them to check whether your scores have arrived.

If your ACT scores don't turn up—whether because they got lost in the mail, were somehow electronically derailed, or were simply misfiled—you can still resend your scores by ordering new reports from the ACT website.

If she's facing away from Lost, does that mean she's going to Found? Deep thoughts.
(Tibet Nation / Wikimedia)

What's Next?

Is your ACT score good enough? Learn what an excellent ACT score is for your top-choice schools , and get a first-person guide to getting a perfect 36.

Studying for an ACT retake? Learn how to stop running out of time on Math and Reading, and check out our complete guide to ACT Science.

Want to blow off a little steam? Here are five fun facts about the ACT. Maybe one will help you win that coveted pink Trivial Pursuit wedge!