Free Live Calculators

ACT Score Calculator — Composite Score & SAT Concordance

Calculate your ACT Composite score (Enhanced or Legacy) and convert it to an equivalent SAT score using the official 2018 ACT/SAT concordance tables.

Composite Score Calculator

Enhanced ACT: Science is optional and reported separately — it is combined with Math into a STEM Score below, but does not affect the Composite.

Enhanced ACT Composite
29 (raw average 29.33)
≈ SAT 1340 (comparable band 1330-1350)
STEM Score (Math + Science, reported separately)
29.00

ACT ↔ SAT Concordance Lookup

Look up any ACT Composite or SAT Total independently using the official 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables (covers ACT 9-36 / SAT 590-1600).

SAT 1280 (band 1260-1290)

ACT Composite 28 (comparable SAT band 1300-1320)

Composite = average of section scores, rounded using ACT's own rule (fractions below 0.5 round down, 0.5 and above round up). The Enhanced ACT (current since 2025) drops Science from the Composite — Science is optional and reported alongside a separate Math+Science STEM Score. There is no universal raw-answers-correct-to-scale-score table because each ACT test form is curved individually; this tool never fabricates one. The SAT concordance figures come directly from the official 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables (ACT, Inc. & College Board, ~600,000 students, class of 2017) and only cover ACT 9-36 / SAT 590-1600 — the range the official study itself covers.
90% found this helpful

Reference Values

Last verified:
Category Range What It Means Status
Enhanced ACT Composite Formula (current, 2025+) ★ Average of English, Math, Reading only The current 'Enhanced ACT' (online since April 2025, paper since Sept 2025) composite excludes Science. Science is optional and reported separately, combined with Math into a separate STEM Score — it does not factor into the Composite. ★ Best
Legacy ACT Composite Formula (pre-2025) Average of English, Math, Reading, and Science The retired four-section composite formula used on every ACT administration before the Enhanced ACT rollout. Still relevant for anyone comparing an older score report. Good
Composite Rounding Rule Fractions below 0.5 round down; 0.5 and above round up ACT's own published rounding convention, applied to the raw section average to produce the whole-number 1-36 Composite score. Okay
ACT 36 ★ SAT 1590 (band: 1570-1600) Highest ACT/SAT concordance band — a perfect 36 concords to a near-perfect SAT range. ★ Best
ACT 35 ★ SAT 1540 (band: 1530-1560) ★ Best
ACT 34 ★ SAT 1500 (band: 1490-1520) ★ Best
ACT 33 ★ SAT 1460 (band: 1450-1480) ★ Best
ACT 32 ★ SAT 1430 (band: 1420-1440) ★ Best
ACT 31 ★ SAT 1400 (band: 1390-1410) ★ Best
ACT 30 ★ SAT 1370 (band: 1360-1380) ★ Best
ACT 29 SAT 1340 (band: 1330-1350) Good
ACT 28 SAT 1310 (band: 1300-1320) Good
ACT 27 SAT 1280 (band: 1260-1290) Good
ACT 26 SAT 1240 (band: 1230-1250) Good
ACT 25 SAT 1210 (band: 1200-1220) National average ACT composite is close to this band. Good
ACT 24 SAT 1180 (band: 1160-1190) Good
ACT 23 SAT 1140 (band: 1130-1150) Good
ACT 22 SAT 1110 (band: 1100-1120) Okay
ACT 21 SAT 1080 (band: 1060-1090) Okay
ACT 20 SAT 1040 (band: 1030-1050) Okay
ACT 19 SAT 1010 (band: 990-1020) Okay
ACT 18 SAT 970 (band: 960-980) Okay
ACT 17 SAT 930 (band: 920-950) Okay
ACT 16 SAT 890 (band: 880-910) Poor
ACT 15 SAT 850 (band: 830-870) Poor
ACT 14 SAT 800 (band: 780-820) Poor
ACT 13 SAT 760 (band: 730-770) Poor
ACT 12 SAT 710 (band: 690-720) Poor
ACT 11 SAT 670 (band: 650-680) Poor
ACT 10 SAT 630 (band: 620-640) Poor
ACT 9 SAT 590 (band: 590-610) Lowest composite officially covered by the 2018 concordance tables — ACT does not publish concordance data below this point. Poor

Source: 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables (Table A2: ACT Composite to SAT Total), jointly released by ACT, Inc. and College Board, derived from a linking study of over 600,000 students in the high school graduating class of 2017 who took both exams. Official PDF: act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/ACT-SAT-Concordance-Tables.pdf. These are the only official concordance tables currently endorsed by both organizations (the pre-2018 tables were retired). The published table only covers ACT Composite scores 9-36 / SAT Total 590-1600 — scores below that range are not part of the official concordance.

Worked Examples

Enhanced ACT Composite (Science Not Counted)

English
28
Math
31
Reading
29
Mode
Enhanced ACT
Composite 29

(28 + 31 + 29) ÷ 3 = 88 ÷ 3 = 29.33 → rounds down to 29 (fraction below 0.5). Science is not entered into this average under the current Enhanced ACT.

Legacy ACT Composite (Science Included) With a Rounding Edge Case

English
25
Math
26
Reading
24
Science
27
Mode
Legacy ACT (pre-2025)
Composite 26

(25 + 26 + 24 + 27) ÷ 4 = 102 ÷ 4 = 25.5 → rounds up to 26 under ACT's own rule that exactly 0.5 rounds up, not down.

ACT → SAT Concordance Lookup

ACT Composite
20
SAT 1040 (band 1030-1050)

Direct lookup from Table A2 of the official 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables — an ACT Composite of 20 concords to an SAT Total of 1040, with the full comparable band spanning 1030-1050.

SAT → ACT Concordance Lookup

SAT Total
1220
ACT Composite 25

An SAT Total of 1220 falls inside the 1200-1220 band for ACT Composite 25 in Table A1 of the official concordance tables.

Below the Officially Published Concordance Range

ACT Composite
6
Not available — outside the official table

The 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables only cover ACT Composite scores 9-36 (SAT 590-1600). Scores below 9 are not part of the official linking study and this calculator will not guess a value for them.

How to Use This Calculator

  1. 1

    Choose Enhanced or Legacy ACT

    Enhanced (current, 2025+) averages English, Math, and Reading only. Legacy (pre-2025) averages all four sections including Science.

  2. 2

    Enter your section scores

    Each section score is 1-36. Science is optional in Enhanced mode (used only for the separate STEM Score) but required in Legacy mode.

  3. 3

    Read your Composite and SAT equivalent

    The Composite rounds using ACT's own rule — fractions under 0.5 round down, 0.5 and above round up — and is automatically matched to its SAT-equivalent band.

  4. 4

    Look up any ACT or SAT score directly

    Use the standalone concordance lookup to convert any ACT Composite (9-36) or SAT Total (590-1600) independently of the section-score calculator above.

What Each Value Means

ACT Composite (score (1-36))
The single reported ACT score (1-36) calculated as the average of your section scores, rounded per ACT's own rule. Enhanced ACT (2025+) averages English, Math, and Reading; Legacy ACT (pre-2025) averages all four sections including Science.
STEM Score (score (1-36))
A score introduced with the Enhanced ACT that averages the Math and Science section scores. Reported alongside — but separate from — the Composite, since Science no longer factors into the Composite itself.
SAT Concordance (SAT points (400-1600))
The statistically linked SAT Total score band shown to be comparable to a given ACT Composite, based on the official 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables built from a shared cohort of ~600,000 test-takers who took both exams.

Related Calculators

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't this calculator convert my number of correct answers into a scale score?
Because no such universal table exists. ACT recalibrates the raw-score-to-scale-score conversion ('the curve') separately for every single test form, based on that specific form's difficulty — a 58/60 on the Math section might be a 33 on one test date and a 34 on another. ACT does not publish these per-form conversion tables in advance or, in most cases, after the fact for individual forms. Any calculator claiming a fixed 'raw score to ACT score' chart is presenting an approximation as if it were exact, which this tool intentionally avoids. Instead, this calculator works from section scores you already have (1-36 each) — either your official ones or ones you're estimating from a practice test's own answer key.
What changed with the Enhanced ACT in 2025?
ACT rolled out a redesigned 'Enhanced ACT' — online starting April 2025, on paper starting September 2025 — which is now the current version of the test. The biggest structural change for Composite scoring: the Science section became optional and was removed from the Composite formula entirely. Composite is now the average of English, Math, and Reading only. If you take Science, it's scored and reported separately, and combined with your Math score into a new 'STEM Score.' Anyone who tested before this rollout has a Legacy-format score report using the old four-section average.
How accurate is the ACT-to-SAT conversion in this tool?
It uses the official 2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables, jointly developed and endorsed by ACT, Inc. and College Board from a linking study of over 600,000 students in the high school class of 2017 who took both exams within a short window of each other. It's the most rigorous concordance data publicly available and is the version colleges and scholarship programs reference. That said, concordance is a statistical relationship between score distributions, not a mathematical identity — two students who 'concord' to the same band didn't necessarily answer equivalent content correctly. Use it as a well-grounded estimate, not a guarantee of how you'd perform on the other exam.
What's a good ACT composite score?
It depends entirely on your target schools. The national average Composite is close to 20-21. Composites in the 24-27 range are competitive at many public flagship universities, 29-32 opens doors at more selective private colleges, and 33+ is squarely in the range of the most selective schools in the country. Always check your specific target schools' published middle-50% ACT range rather than relying on a single 'good score' number — a 27 is outstanding for one school's applicant pool and below-median for another's.
Does this calculator replace my official ACT score report?
No. Your official score report from ACT is the only authoritative source for your actual section scores, Composite, and (if applicable) STEM Score and Superscore. This tool is for planning and estimation — combining known or practice-test section scores into a Composite, and translating that Composite into an SAT-equivalent band for schools or scholarships that accept either exam. Always submit and rely on your official ACT score report for admissions purposes.