ACT prep

Average ACT scores: Class of 2025

The average ACT Composite for the Class of 2025 was 19.4, the same as 2024 and down from 20.3 in 2021. Below: section averages, national ranks for every score and ACT ranges at 361 colleges.

  • 19.4

    Average Composite, Class of 2025. 20.3 for the Class of 2021.

  • 1.38M

    Graduates who took the ACT, about 36% of the class.

  • 20%

    Met all four College Readiness Benchmarks: English, Math, Reading and Science.

Section averages, Class of 2025

Half the class met the English benchmark; fewer than a third met Math or Science.

ACT section averages and benchmarks, Class of 2025
SectionAverageBenchmarkMet benchmark
English18.41850%
Math18.92229%
Reading202239%
Science19.62330%
STEM19.52615%
Composite19.4——

A benchmark is the score that gives about a 50% chance of a B or higher in the matching first-year college course. Source: ACT, The ACT Profile Report: National, Graduating Class 2025.

The average Composite fell from 20.3 to 19.4 in five years

Average ACT Composite by graduating class
Class ofAverage Composite
202519.4
202419.4
202319.5
202219.8
202120.3

Each class's Composite as reported that year, averaging all four sections. Source: ACT, The ACT Profile Report: National, Graduating Class 2025.

ACT national ranks for every score

A national rank is the percent of recent test takers who scored at or below a score. These are the ranks on 2026–27 score reports.

ACT national ranks, 2026–27
ScoreCompositeEnglishMathReadingScienceSTEM
36100100100100100100
35999999989999
34999799979999
33989698959898
32979597939797
31969496919696
30949395899595
29939294879394
28919093859292
27898891839190
26868788818988
25838484788685
24808181758281
23777777717777
22727474667073
21687071616569
20636468566064
19585864515458
18525460474852
17475053424145
16414645373436
15344133332727
14283421281917
13202811221410
121323616105
1161831062
102112531
9161221
8131111
7121111
6111111
5111111
4111111
3111111
2111111
1111111

Based on ACT-tested high school graduates of 2024, 2025 and 2026; average Composite 19.1. Source: ACT, National Ranks for the 2026–2027 reporting year.

Got a practice test score? Turn it into a Composite and national rank.

ACT ranges at 361 colleges

Half of these colleges have a median ACT of 27 or higher. At a typical one, 14% of enrolled first-years sent an ACT score.

ACT 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile at 361 colleges

Search by name or state, sort any column, and open a college for its full profile.

Showing 25 of 361 colleges

ACT 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile at 361 colleges
Brown UniversityRIRI5.4%343535Required
Duke UniversityNCNC5.7%343535Optional
Harvey Mudd CollegeCACA13%353536Optional
Johns Hopkins UniversityMDMD6.4%353535Required
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMAMA4.5%343536Required
Princeton UniversityNJNJ4.6%343535Optional
Rice UniversityTXTX8.0%343536Optional
Stanford UniversityCACA3.6%343536Required
University of ChicagoILIL4.5%343535Optional
Vanderbilt UniversityTNTN5.9%343535Optional
Amherst CollegeMAMA9.0%333435Optional
Bard CollegeNYNY52%323434—
Barnard CollegeNYNY8.8%323435Optional
Boston CollegeMAMA16%333435Optional
Boston UniversityMAMA11%333434Optional
Bowdoin CollegeMEME7.1%333435Optional
Claremont McKenna CollegeCACA9.6%333435Optional
Colgate UniversityNYNY14%333434Optional
Cornell UniversityNYNY8.8%333435Required
Dartmouth CollegeNHNH5.4%323435Required
Emory UniversityGAGA11%323435Optional
Georgetown UniversityDCDC13%323435Required
Grinnell CollegeIAIA15%313434Optional
Hamilton CollegeNYNY14%333435Optional
Haverford CollegePAPA12%333435Optional

Note: Every row uses the same 1–36 scale: the gray bar is the 25th to 75th percentile, the dot the median. Scores describe enrolled first-years who sent an ACT, from each college's Common Data Set (2023–24, 2024–25, 2025–26 and 2026–27). Most of them took the four-section ACT. A dash under test policy means we haven't checked it yet.

Source: Ashore college database (Common Data Set figures).

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19.4 for the Class of 2025, the most recent graduating class in ACT's public national report. It was 20.3 for the Class of 2021.

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Practice test 1

Example

27

Composite
(28 + 26 + 27) ÷ 3

  • English28
  • Math26
  • Reading27
  • ScienceOptional, not in the Composite25