ACT Score Percentiles and Ranks (High-Precision 2016)

ACT Score Percentiles and Ranks (High-Precision 2016) SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Do you want to know your exact ACT score up to six digits of precision? Every digit can help when you want to know your exact performance. I've used real ACT data, newly released in 2016, to calculate these ultra-high-precision percentiles. What Are Percentiles for the ACT? Revisiting the Question If you'd like to review what ACT percentiles are, check outthis excellent articlethat clearly explains them.Put simply, your ACT percentile ranking lets you know how well you didcompared to other test takers. If you got a 55 percentile(sometimes spelled %ile), that means you scored better than 55% of students who tookthe ACT. Unlike test scores, your percentile is not a score out of 100. While test scores usually indicate the fraction of questions you answered correctly (for example, if you got a 90% on atest, you got 90% of questions right), a percentile shows the fraction of other test takers you beat. What Are theACT Percentile Ranges? Most charts, including ones developed directly by the ACT, only havetwo digits of precision when they give percentiles.This means that scores of 35 and 36 both map to 99th percentile, and, while a 34 maps to 98th percentile, you can't be sure whether that means 98.9 or more like 97.5. For many purposes, two digits just doesn't give you enough precision. For example, if you score a 36 on the ACT, that means you're the top test taker out of 300 students while scoring a 35 means you're the best in a group of 100 students. That's a significant difference; however, both these scores map to the 99th percentile. This means that, if you're scoring close to the top of the ACT range, having access to high precision percentiles is very helpful. Higher precision can also help students receiving less than near-perfect ACT scores. For instance, if you're trying to get into a competitive college, every percent matters, the same way a fraction of a second can determine who wins a race at sporting competitions. As an example, sayyou learn that you improved from the 60th percentile to the 61st percentile for the ACT. This doesn't tell you everything you'd like to know. Your improvementcould be a tinyjump from 60.4 to 60.5, or it could be a much more significantimprovementfrom 59.5 to 61.4. Put another way, having higher precision helps you understand your progress and achievements more. And now, here is the table, based ondata released in2016: ACT Scores and High Precision 6-Digit Percentiles ACT Composite Score Percentile 36 99.9585 35 99.6962 34 99.0642 33 98.0761 32 96.7558 31 95.1067 30 93.0592 29 90.6171 28 87.7440 27 84.3200 26 80.3561 25 75.8399 24 70.7371 23 65.1384 22 59.1688 21 52.8696 20 46.3758 19 39.8415 18 33.2960 17 26.8432 16 20.6258 15 14.7890 14 9.5555 13 5.2653 12 2.3433 0.8449 10 0.2846 9 0.1084 8 0.0451 7 0.0180 6 0.0068 5 0.0025 4 0.0007 3 0.0003 2 0.0001 1 0.0000 Methodology: How did we come up withthese percentiles? To calculate them, we usedofficial data released by the ACTthat givesthe exact number of students who earned certain scores. Using that information, we summed the exact number of students to get the percentile. Within a single score group (e.g. studentsscoring exactly a 34), we presume exactly half are above. Did you know that raisingyour ACTscore by 4points can dramatically increaseyour chances of getting into your topschool?We've written a guide onthe top 5 strategies you need tobe using to have a shot at boostingyour score. Download it for free now: Do Percentiles Change From Year to Year? Within the last three years of the ACT, from roughly January 2013 to January 2016 inclusive,the percentiles have not changed much at all. Therefore, this data can be used for 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 scores. However, you shouldn't use scores much earlier than this (for example, scores from 2006) because long-term drift does affect the ACT. What’s Next? Want to start prepping for the ACT but aren't sure where to start? Check out these 5 tips on preparing for the ACT. Is there a particular ACT section that's giving you more trouble than the rest? We can help! Check out our section-specific guides to ACT Math, Reading, English, and Science. Aiming for a top score? Read this guide, written by a perfect-scorer, to learn how to get a perfect 36 on the ACT.