What's a Good ACT Score for 2025?

Have you taken the ACT recently or are registered to take it soon? If so, you probably want to know what a good ACT score for 2025 is. What ACT score should you aim for, and how can you know if it'll be enough to get you into your dream college?

In this guide, we'll explain three ways you can define good ACT scores for 2025. We'll also take a look at how the definition of a good ACT score has changed in recent years.

What's a Good ACT Score for 2025 Overall?

A good ACT score for you will always be one that's high enough to get you into the colleges you're applying to. But if we want to figure out what a good ACT score for 2025 is more generally, then we need to consider how high a particular score is compared with the scores of other test takers. By this definition, the more test takers you scored higher than, the more impressive your ACT score is.

The two most common ways people compare their ACT scores are by looking at averages and looking at percentiles.

We'll start with the average ACT scores. As a general rule, if you scored in the top half of all test takers, your ACT score is considered good. The higher above average you score, the better. Similarly, a score that places you in the bottom half of test takers can be considered not good. The further below average your ACT score is, the worse you did on the exam compared to other students.

According to data released by ACT, Inc., the 2024 average composite ACT score is 18.5 (out of 36). The average for each individual ACT section is as follows:

• English: 17.8
• Math: 17
• Reading: 19.5
• Science: 19

With this data, we can say that any ACT score that is 19 or higher can be considered a good score.

But what about percentiles? Percentiles tell you what percentage of students you scored the same as or higher than on the ACT. For example, if you earned a score in the 64th percentile, this would mean that you did the same as or better than 64% of test takers.

The chart below shows how ACT percentiles translate to performance on the test based on how well you did relative to other students:

Source: National Norms for ACT Test Scores

As you can see, you only need to get a 28 out of 36 composite score on the ACT to break into the top 10% of test takers. That means you can get an excellent ACT score without having to stress over getting a perfect 36. You don't even need to get a score in the 30s!

At the other end of the spectrum, a score at 13 or below would place you in the bottom 10% of test takers. This naturally doesn't look particularly impressive on college applications. Even if you were able to raise your score by 3 points, you'd still be in the bottom 25% of test takers, with the vast majority having scored better than you. Therefore, we can say that any ACT score at or below the 25th percentile is not (objectively) good.

But percentiles aren't the only factor to determine what a good ACT score is. What's more important is whether your score is good enough to get you into your dream college.

What's a Good ACT Score for You?

Although averages and percentiles can show you how well you did on the ACT relative to other test takers, what's more important is that you achieve a score high enough to get you accepted to all the colleges you're applying to. At PrepScholar, we call this your ACT goal score. It's the score that's most likely to get you admitted to your dream college(s).

How high your ACT goal score is will depend on the specific schools you're applying to. This means that everyone has their own unique goal score for the ACT, and a good ACT score for one person might be a not-that-great score for somebody else.

For example, if you were applying to Harvard or other ultra-competitive Ivy League schools, a good ACT score for you would be something close to a perfect 36. If you were applying to other, less competitive schools, however, such as Illinois State, then you'd aim for a score around the mid-twenties.

Determining your ACT target score requires you to know the score expectations for each school you're applying to. Keep reading for our step-by-step guide on how to do this!

How to Set an ACT Goal Score for 2025, Step by Step

To set your own ACT target score for 2025, follow these three steps.

Step 1: Make a Chart

Start by making a chart in which you'll list all the colleges you're applying to (you can exclude any safety schools). Feel free to make the chart yourself or download ours by clicking the thumbnail below:

Here's a sample chart with some schools filled in:

Step 2: Find ACT Score Information for Your Schools

Next, it's time to do heavy digging and find ACT score info for the schools in your chart. Specifically, you'll want to find the middle 50% (or average range) of ACT scores for each school; this range consists of the 25th and 75th percentile scores of admitted students.

The most convenient way to do this is to use our PrepScholar college database. Search online for "[School Name] PrepScholar" or "[School Name] PrepScholar ACT." Then, click the link for that college's admission requirements or ACT/GPA page:

After you click the link to that school's page in one of our databases, scroll down to find info on the average ACT scores and 25th/75th percentiles. Here's what this section looks like on our admission requirements page for Beloit:

Write down the 25th and 75th percentile scores for that college in your chart. Repeat this process for every school you're applying to.

If you're having any trouble finding your school in our databases, try browsing the school's official website and looking for information on ACT scores, admissions, student profiles, facts and figures, etc. You could also search for "[School Name] average ACT scores" or "[School Name] ACT scores" to find links to relevant pages on the school's official website.

Once you've finished researching, your chart should look something like this:

Step 3: Determine Your ACT Goal Score

The final step is to figure out what your ACT goal score is. To do this, simply look for the highest 75th percentile score in your chart; this will be your target score, as it's the one most likely to get you admitted to all the schools you're applying to.

In our example above, the highest 75th percentile score is 31 (for Beloit). So your goal score for the ACT would be 31—that's a very high score in the 95th percentile!

If your goal score feels like a huge reach for you, you can lower it slightly by aiming instead for the second-highest 75th percentile score in your chart or a score in-between your highest and second-highest 75th percentiles. In this example, that would bring your goal score down to a 26 (for Carthage College) which may feel more obtainable. 

How Will the Digital ACT Affect What's a Good Score?

ACT Inc. recently announced that a new digital version of the ACT will begin rolling out in spring 2025. This new version will be nearly an hour shorter than the current ACT, contain fewer questions, and the Science section will be optional, among other changes.

These are big changes, and right now we don't know how they will affect what counts as a good ACT score. It's likely average and good scores won't shift much because, as you'll see in the next section, ACT scores remain fairly consistent through the years. 

However, knowing about these changes (which impact the digital version of the ACT about six months before the paper version) can help you choose the exam you'll do better on. For example, you may always do poorly on the ACT Science section. In this case, you may want to not take it once the section becomes optional. You may feel more comfortable with paper tests vs. digital or vice versa. For much more information on your options, check out our guide on taking the paper vs digital ACT.

Going forward, it’s important to keep an eye out for new info from ACT Inc., especially about digital ACT score averages and percentiles. We’ll also update this article as new info becomes available! 

Have Good ACT Scores Changed? 2025 vs Past Years

So far we've looked at a few different ways we can define good ACT scores for 2025. But how has the definition of good ACT scores changed over the years?

The truth is, it hasn't really. Even though average ACT scores and percentiles tend to shift a bit from year to year, it's usually not by much. So what's considered a good ACT score will stay fairly consistent over time.

This chart shows how average section and composite ACT scores have changed over the years: 

Sources: ACT Score Reports

As you can see, there has been a dip in scores in the past few years. 2022 was the first year the average composite score dropped below 20, and 2024 was the first time that score dropped below 19. This change is too recent to fully understand, but it's believed to be due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on schools. Before 2022, you can see that average ACT scores had barely changed in the past six years. The biggest shift was just 0.5 points, which is very nominal. 

Now, let's look at percentiles. Remember that percentiles show you what percentage of test takers you scored the same as or higher than on the ACT.

This chart shows past and present ACT score percentiles from 2015 to 2024:

*Estimated score based on available percentile data

Unlike ACT averages, ACT percentiles really haven't changed much over the years. In fact, most percentile scores stayed pretty much the same, with only a 1-point shift at most. We can thus say with confidence that the definition of good ACT scores (using percentiles) hasn't changed much since 2015—and likely won't for a while!

Recap: What's a Good ACT Score for 2025?

There are three primary ways you can define good ACT scores for 2025.

The first is to look at the national average. Currently, the average composite ACT score is 18.5. Any score above this average, or in the top half of test takers, can be said to be a good score, since it means you did better than the majority of test takers.

The next way to define good 2025 ACT scores is to consider ACT percentiles, which compare your performance with those of other students. The higher your percentile, the better you did. Typically, ACT scores in the 50th percentile (18-19) are considered average, while scores in the 75th percentile (23-24) and 90th percentile (28) are considered good and excellent, respectively.

The final way you can determine good ACT scores is to figure out what kinds of scores you need based on the colleges you're applying to. In other words, what's your ACT goal score? To answer this question, you'll need to research the ACT score expectations of all the colleges you're applying to. The highest 75th percentile for your schools will be your goal score, that is, a good score for you and you only.

Once you know your target score, you can get started with your own ACT study plan!

What's Next?

Aiming for a high ACT score? Get help using our expert guides to getting a perfect 36 (written by our resident full scorer) and the best ACT prep books. Our ultimate ACT prep guide can also teach you everything there is to know about the exam, from topics to strategies.

What's a bad ACT score, nationally and by college? Learn all about the types of ACT scores you should avoid getting.

Having trouble understanding what your ACT score means? Then read our explanation of the ACT scoring system and see how raw scores convert to scaled scores out of 36 points.