Are you a college admissions officer or employer wondering how to use ACT scores to select the best applicants? Standardized test scores are often used to predict a person’s intelligence and probability of future success; however, many inferences that are based on ACT scores are often inaccurate.
Keep reading to learn what information ACT scores can tell you, what information they can’t tell you, and how to use them to your best advantage.
Who Uses ACT Scores?
Standardized test scores are required for many applications, and I’ll discuss three of the most common groups who use them below.
Colleges
College admissions officers are the most common users of ACT scores, and many schools require applicants to submit standardized test scores as part of their application. ACT scores can be useful to colleges because they give admissions officers a standard way to estimate an applicant's intelligence.
Other ways of measuring a student’s academic abilities, such as GPA and class rank, can vary widely between schools . A student who gets an “A” in her high school’s chemistry class may only have gotten a "B" or a “C” if she had done just as well at a different school due to factors such as class curves, how hard the teacher grades, and grade inflation.
Colleges and universities have students applying from a huge number of high schools around the world, and using ACT scores as part of their application gives them a more efficient way to evaluate applicants.
Employers
Employers do not use ACT scores to the same extent as colleges, but they are still used, particularly in the fields of consulting, software engineering, and investment banking. Like colleges and universities, these companies want a fast way to estimate an applicant’s intelligence and probability of success.
ACT scores can be particularly useful for large companies who receive a lot of applications, as well as companies hiring recent graduates who don’t have a lot of work experience.
Scholarship Committees
Many scholarships require students to submit standardized test scores as part of their application. Like colleges and employers, scholarship committees use ACT scores as a way to measure intelligence and predict future success.
Many scholarships are used to help pay for college, and these committees often want to award scholarships to students who are most likely to put them to good use and do well in college. ACT scores can help predict who these students will be.
How Shouldn't You Use ACT Scores?
There is some information that ACT scores can’t always correctly estimate. Four inaccurate ways of using ACT scores are listed below, along with an explanation for each as to why it doesn’t give completely accurate information.
Bad Use #1: As a Complete Indicator of Intelligence
The ACT is often used to estimate how intelligent a particular person is, however; there are three problems with using scores this way.
The first problem is that the ACT only tests a narrow set of skills and knowledge. The ACT can help estimate how good someone is at reading comprehension, scientific reasoning, and solving certain math problems, but in no way can a multiple-choice test with an optional essay measure every type of intelligence. There are certain forms of intelligence that the ACT simply cannot test for. ACT scores can't measure a test taker's creativity, interpersonal skills, ability to learn a new language, and more.
The ACT favors students with the types of intelligence they can test while putting students with types of intelligence that are more difficult to measure at a disadvantage.
The second problem that ACT scores can't definitively measure intelligence is because studying beforehand can significantly raise a test taker's score.
At PrepScholar, we know that a student can significantly improve his or her ACT score if they study enough. If one student gets a 34 on the ACT without studying and another raises his grade from a 31 to a 34 after 50 hours of studying, is one smarter than the other? Some may say the first student is smarter, but the decision to prepare for an important test like the ACT is also a measure of intelligence, so the answer is not really clear. Instead of measuring just intelligence, the ACT measures both intelligence and motivation.
The third problem is that factors that are unrelated to intelligence often have a strong impact on how well a student performs on the ACT.
Multiple studies have shown that there is a significant gap between the ACT scores of rich and poor students. Students from wealthier families are often found to score higher on the ACT than students who come from poorer backgrounds.
Students who come from wealthier backgrounds likely have schools and parents with more resources for test prep, and they often receive more pressure to do well on the ACT. Therefore, using the ACT as a measure of intelligence can discriminate against students from poorer backgrounds, who are also more likely to be minorities.
Bad Use #2: To Find a "Genius"
A person who scores perfectly on the ACT might be assumed to be a genius, good at everything, and guaranteed to succeed at whatever they do. However, the truth is that a person who gets a perfect score on the ACT may in fact be very intelligent, but they may also have put a lot of time into preparing, gotten lucky that day, or a combination of those scenarios.
Whatever the reason, the ACT tests only a specific set of skills, and a person who gets a perfect score on the ACT won’t automatically be amazing at everything else. As mentioned above, the ACT only tests certain types of intelligence, which also means that a person widely considered to be intelligent may not get a perfect score or even do very well on the ACT at all.
It also shouldn’t be assumed that people with perfect ACT scores are more intelligent than those who didn’t receive perfect scores, which introduces our next point.
Don't expect ACT scores to automatically find you a genius.
Bad Use #3: To Compare People With Similar Scores
The ACT should also not be used to compare the intelligence of people who received similar scores, about 3 points or less in difference. A person with a composite score of 32 and a person with a score of 31 likely had only a small difference between the number of questions they answered correctly.
The person who received the 32 shouldn’t be assumed to be smarter than the person who received the 31. Their differences in score could simply be due to normal variation in ACT results. If they both took the ACT again, it’s completely possible that the person who got the 31 gets the higher score this time.
A person's ACT scores can vary from one test to another, and people can get questions right or wrong by mistake, which doesn’t necessarily reflect their intelligence. When two (or more) people have similar ACT scores, it’s not possible to determine who is more intelligent simply by looking at the slightly higher score.
Bad Use #4: To Determine Specific Areas of Expertise
The ACT also should not be used to judge a person's skill level or knowledge of a specific subject. For example, someone who got a perfect score on the essay may not know how to write a research paper, and someone who does well on the science section may not know anything about microbiology.
If the results you're given include subscores, they may provide more details on how well the applicant did in certain subjects, but this information should still not be used to make assumptions about specific skill sets and knowledge areas.
How Should You Use ACT Scores?
So how can ACT scores be used correctly and accurately? Three ways are listed below. In general, all involve using test scores to make general inferences that can be further supported by additional evidence.
Good Use #1: To Estimate IQ
ACT scores are definitely not a perfect way to measure a person's intelligence, but there is a relationship between someone's IQ and the score they get on the ACT. While IQ only tests a certain type of problem-solving, (specifically the ability to solve problems based on the information you are given), it is still often used as a measure of intelligence.
Meredith C. Gray and Douglas K. Detterman, two researchers at Case Western Reserve University, conducted rigorous studies to understand the relationship between standardized test scores and intelligence. From their research, they have found that, even though the correlation between IQ and SAT is stronger, there is still a relationship between IQ and ACT score. That means if someone scores well on the ACT, then it is more likely, although not guaranteed, that they have a high IQ as well.
A lot of colleges and employers want to admit or hire people with a certain level of intelligence in order to ensure they can handle the work. While there are types of intelligence that neither the ACT nor IQ exams test for, using ACT scores can be a good way to estimate IQ and intelligence if you have many applicants you don’t know much about.
Other information, such as GPA and letters of recommendation, should be used to support assumptions based on ACT scores. A student with a high ACT score, excellent GPA, and a history of high impact in her extracurriculars has done well in high school and seems likely to continue that success. However, a student with a low ACT score should not necessarily be discounted, especially if they are strong in other areas, such as a good GPA and strong letters of recommendation. They may have had a bad test day, get nervous during standardized tests, or excel in other areas not tested by the ACT.
ACT scores can't correctly estimate how smart every person who takes the exam is, so when reviewing applications, all of a student’s application materials should be taken into account. Personal statements and letters of recommendation, in particular, can often provide more information about an applicant’s strengths and personality.
Good Use #2: As an Indicator of Broad Strengths and Weaknesses
As we mentioned earlier, you can't use ACT scores to determine if someone is knowledgeable in a very specific subject area, such as poetry or microbiology. However, it is sometimes possible to make inferences about what broad subject areas the test-taker is stronger and weaker in.
The ACT has four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science, along with an optional essay. If a person has large differences in scores between these sections, it may be possible to determine which areas they are most skilled and comfortable in. For example, someone with a perfect score of 36 for the Math section, but a 27 in Reading, may be stronger in the math and sciences.
This is certainly not always true, but it can help support an inference if there is other evidence, such as a transcript showing lots of math and science classes and a personal statement describing a passion for biology.
Employers can use this information if they are looking to hire someone with a particular set of skills. For example, a newspaper would likely want their journalists to have strong writing skills but not care as much about math skills. Colleges can use this information in the same way. If a student is applying for a school’s accounting program, admissions officers may be more interested in their Math score than their Reading and Essay scores.
You may be able to use ACT scores to find a person's general strengths and weaknesses.
Good Use #3: To Help Make Efficient Admissions Decisions
Sometimes colleges, employers, and scholarship committees need a way to quickly make acceptance or rejection decisions, especially if they have a lot of applicants. ACT scores provide a quick way to estimate a person’s academic ability, and thus can be very useful.
Most colleges and universities publish the range of ACT scores for their entering class. Half of the class scored within this 25th-75th percentile range. Comparing a student’s ACT scores to the school’s score range can help admissions officers easily identify students far below or above that range and make those admissions decisions easier.
For example, if a school’s 25th-75th percentile range is 23 to 28, a student who scored a 21 on the ACT will likely not be offered admission, while a student with a 32 appears to have an excellent chance of being accepted. However, how a student compares to a school’s ACT score range shouldn't be the only factor admission is based on.
A student with a lower-than-average ACT score may a strong GPA and extracurriculars and be an asset to the school while a student with an excellent ACT score may not have much else to recommend her. ACT scores can help make an initial admission decision easier, but the final decision should take other factors into account.
Can ACT Scores Be Used to Predict Future Success?
Most people use ACT scores to attempt to select people they think will do well at their school or company and beyond. The line of thinking is that people who score well on the ACT are intelligent and/or hard working, and they will continue to use those skills in the future.
Is this true? The short answer is, “sometimes.”
A high school student who scores well on the ACT will usually have at least some intelligence and motivation, but that does not always mean they will do well in college. The student could have spent a lot of time studying for the ACT but then felt like she could coast once he got to college, she may struggle to complete long assignments, she may not adapt well to living on her own, she may not work well in groups, or one of many more potential scenarios.
Different sections of the ACT have been found to be more accurate in predicting success in college. A student’s English and Math ACT scores have a more significant correlation to success in college than the Reading and Science sections. A student’s scores on the Reading and Science sections of the ACT were found to have basically no connection to success in college. One study found that high school GPA is a better indicator of whether a student will succeed in college than ACT scores, which makes sense because a GPA takes into account the grades from four years of high school, as opposed to the scores of one exam.
The relationship between a person's ACT scores and their career success is even weaker. There is a correlation between people with ACT scores and people who end up working in more competitive fields, but ACT scores alone don’t always predict success. There are numerous factors required to be successful in most careers that the ACT can’t test for, such as interpersonal skills and work ethic, not to mention the specific skills needed to do certain jobs well.
Conclusion
ACT scores should never be used as the only indicator of a person's intelligence or chance of future success because they don’t measure a wide enough variety of skills or types of intelligence, and they can be influenced by too many outside factors.
However, studies have shown a correlation between ACT score and IQ, and a person who does well on the ACT is often either intelligent, hard-working, or a combination of the two, which can make them more successful students and employees. Additionally, the ACT Math and English sections are most accurate at predicting future success, so they should be given more weight over the Science and Reading sections.
The use them in the most accurate and effective way, ACT scores should be used as one part of an application that, along with other materials such as GPA, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and extracurriculars, can help identify an applicant's particular strengths and estimate their chance of future success.
What's Next?
Looking for more information on the ACT? We have a guide that gives a complete explanation of the exam as well as information for students and schools.
Are you using ACT scores to try and estimate IQ? Learn whether the ACT or SAT predicts IQ more accurately.
What does the ACT measure? Read this guide to learn whether the ACT accurately measures IQ, wealth, and other factors.
