The ACT is Back (In Illinois)

Since 2016, Illinois high school Juniors have taken the SAT. But the 2024 school year brings change. Juniors will now be required to take the ACT to fulfill graduation requirements.

ACT Scoring

The maximum ACT score for each section is 36.

• English: 75 questions (45 minutes)
• Math: 60 questions (60 minutes)
• Reading: 40 questions (35 minutes)
• Science: 40 questions (35 minutes)
• Writing (Optional): 1 essay (40 minutes), two readers score 1-6 in four categories. The maximum raw score is 48, then divided by 4 to give a high score of 12.

Like the SAT, the ACT is curved, but a perfect score in a section generally requires no wrong answers for Science and Reading. Math and English have more questions, and you may be able to answer one or two of them wrongly. You can see previous test charts here.

However, with four sections, you have a greater chance of achieving a high score with multiple attempts. Since scores are rounded up, if you can receive two 35s and two 36s across multiple tests, you earn a perfect superscore.

One important note is that while many schools will superscore your SAT, a smaller set of schools superscore the ACT.

Top School Superscoring

19 of the top 50 university allow for ACT superscoring.

US Rank	School
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
3	Stanford University
7	Columbia University
9	Johns Hopkins University
12	University of Chicago
14	Northwestern University
16	University of Michigan
21	Washington University in St. Louis
25	New York University
26	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
31	Georgia Institute of Technology
33	Rice University
34	University of Florida
35	Boston University
44	University of Maryland, College Park
45	Tufts University
48	Rutgers University
49	University of Rochester
50	Indiana University

ACT v SAT

The two tests attempt to show a student’s preparedness for college in different ways.

I practiced taking the SAT in school because while I dominated math, I was not the best reader. My mind wanders too much while reading… and writing…

The ACT is 3/4ths reading, as the science section is essentially applied reading.

The ACT is for you if you can read and comprehend quickly and hold your own in Math. Although the Writing section is only required by West Point, if you are a strong writer, you can show your abilities to prospective schools.

ACT/SAT Ranges for Top Schools

*California Public Schools are test blind and not included in the list below

RK	School	ACT L	ACT H	SAT L	SAT H
1	Harvard University	34	36	1480	1580
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	35	36	1510	1580
3	Stanford University	33	35	1470	1570
4	Princeton University	33	35	1460	1570
5	Yale University	33	35	1480	1580
6	University of Pennsylvania	34	35	1480	1570
7	California Institute of Technology	35	36	1530	1580
8	Columbia University	34	35	1470	1570
9	University of Chicago	34	35	1510	1580
10	Cornell University	33	35	1480	1550
11	Northwestern University	33	35	1490	1560
12	Johns Hopkins University	34	35	1470	1560
13	Duke University	34	35	1480	1570
14	University of Michigan – Ann Arbor	31	34	1440	1570
16	University of California – Berkeley	30	35	1340	1540
17	Brown University	34	36	1460	1570
18	Carnegie Mellon University	34	35	1460	1570
19	Washington University in St. Louis	33	35	1490	1570
20	New York University	33	35	1440	1570
21	University of Southern California	32	35	1440	1570
22	Vanderbilt University	34	35	1480	1590
23	University of Washington	27	33	1220	1460
24	Georgia Institute of Technology	31	35	1410	1570
26	University of Texas – Austin	26	33	1230	1480
27	Dartmouth College	33	35	1460	1570
28	Rice University	34	36	1470	1570
29	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	29	34	1320	1510
30	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	30	34	1330	1480
31	Boston University	31	34	1330	1500
32	University of Wisconsin	26	32	1290	1480
33	Emory University	32	34	1410	1570
35	University of Florida	28	33	1330	1440
36	University of Virginia	32	34	1400	1540
37	Georgetown University	32	35	1400	1570
38	The Ohio State University	29	32	1350	1480
39	University of Notre Dame	32	35	1410	1550
40	Tufts University	33	35	1450	1570
41	Purdue University	27	34	1340	1530
42	University of Minnesota Twin Cities	27	32	1340	1530
43	Texas A&M University	25	31	1290	1460
45	Case Western Reserve University	32	35	1390	1540
47	University of Rochester	31	34	1330	1500
48	University of Pittsburgh	29	33	1340	1500
49	University of Maryland – College Park	30	34	1290	1480
50	Michigan State University	25	31	1280	1450
51	Penn State	26	31	1340	1480
54	Rutgers University–New Brunswick	28	33	1290	1480
60	Florida State University	26	31	1220	1360
72	University of Utah	22	29	1230	1460
78	University of Colorado Boulder	26	32	1300	1480
83	University of Missouri	23	30	1140	1340