My Credit Score Went Down 36 Points Because a Old Collection Account Showed Up Again

Nosotros know that 36 is the best possible score on the ACT and that any score in the 30s is considered very good. But how adept is a acme score of 34, 35, or 36? And how many students earn these scores every year?

In this post, nosotros intermission down just how rare those superlative scores are and how many students get them each yr. Learn how y'all can stand up out in the awarding process with a top score—and how to raise your Human action score to get there.

How Many Test Takers Go Pinnacle 1% ACT Scores?

To do this analysis, we use the latest study from Act, Inc., for the grade of 2021, who took the Act as sophomores, juniors, and seniors. If you want to read more than ACT score statistics, you lot can cheque out the report yourself.

In the class of 2021, i,295,349 students took the ACT. The average composite score was xx.3 out of 36; this means that a score of 21 or college puts you above average. (For more info on how the Human activity is scored, read our article).

Merely if we consider 21 and upwardly practiced scores (since they're above average), what would qualify every bit an astonishing ACT score?

To detect out, let's look at Human activity percentiles—i.e., the rankings tied to blended scores. For example, a 90th percentile score would mean that you scored the same as or higher than ninety% of examination takers.

On the ACT, 34 and up is the 99th percentile. So if you score 34 or higher, y'all're in the top one% of test takers!

Simply exactly how many students earned a 33, 34, 35, or 36 in 2021? And which score is the rarest? Let's have a look:

Deed Score	# of Students	Percentage of All Test Takers
36	4,055	0.313%
35	xi,983	0.925%
34	15,875	1.226%
33	18,424	1.422%

Source: ACT 20 National Profile Report

Unsurprisingly, a full 36 is the rarest score of all—just 0.313% of all test takers earned a perfect Human activity score.

Roughly three times more than students earned the adjacent-highest score of 35; however, this is nevertheless a very rare score that only 0.925% of test takers earned.

Note that about iv times more than students earned a 34 than they did a 36. You can at present see why a 36 is so impressive—even among top scorers, such a score really sets students apart, especially for the most competitive schools.

How Many Exam Takers Get Tiptop 10% Human action Scores?

By reading our article on Deed percentiles, you'll encounter that getting 29 or higher would put you in the elevation 10% of scorers. So if 21 and up is expert and 33 and upwards is incredible, a score of 29 or higher would qualify as a great Act score.

The breakdowns for ACT scores between 29 and 32 are equally follows:

ACT Score	# of Students	Percentile (2021)
32	21,369	96
31	23,717	94
thirty	27,760	93
29	29,781	90

Source: Human activity 2020 National Profile Report

You tin can probably see why raising your ACT score past just a few points can take such a big impact on your admission chances! Because admissions is all almost comparing you with other applicants, the more than unique y'all tin make yourself, the amend your chances of getting in volition exist. And the higher your Human action score is, the rarer it is!

By How Much Should You Improve Your Act Score?

We know just how impressive top 10% ACT scores are and how rare elevation 1% scores are. Simply what kind of score should you aim for? Should everyone become for a 36?

By far the best fashion to figure out what Human action score to shoot for is to consider the average scores of admitted applicants to the schools you're applying to. Do this, and yous'll be able to see exactly how high of an ACT score yous'll need to go to aid yous stand apart from the crowd. Check out our in-depth guide for more tips on how to set an Act goal score.

That said, there are some general guidelines yous should follow. Of grade, you lot can always aim for perfection, but these goals are manageable and give all students a competitive ACT score.

Hither'due south what we recommend:

• If yous have a score in the teens, work to get your score to at least 21. This will put you in the top half of examination takers and really give a heave to your college applications.

• If you have a score in the low to mid-20s (22-27), although you're in a higher place boilerplate, retake the ACT and try to get a 29. Getting to the elevation 10% of scorers can open up a lot of scholarship opportunities. It'll also make your college applications that much more impressive, opening doors at selective colleges.

• If y'all take 29 or higher, raising your score by fifty-fifty but ii or 3 points can requite a huge boost to your percentile ranking. For example, going from just 29 to 31 takes yous from the 90th to the 94th percentile. Likewise, going from thirty to 33 takes you from the 93rd to the 98th percentile—or from the top eight% to the tiptop ii% of examination takers!

• Once you get to 33 and upward, you're in Ivy League and competitive college territory. Again, a gain of only a few points on the Deed can brand a big difference in your admission chances!

Simply how viable are these score increases? The truth is, it's definitely possible to heighten your ACT composite, every bit long as you study regularly and focus on your weak areas. Practice this, and you could very well get from 17 to 25, xx to 28, or even 25 to 35.

For instance, say you lot really struggled with plane geometry on your offset circular of the Human action and didn't become any of these questions right. Since plane geometry accounts for around xx% of all math problems, it has a big touch on on your score.

Don't permit these types of questions keep y'all from getting a loftier score! ( You tin can accept official Human activity practice tests if you want to see the kinds of questions the Human activity asks, by the mode.)

Now, imagine your Math score was 23. If you piece of work on airplane geometry to fill in your content gap, fifty-fifty if y'all got just 5 more questions right, you could get a last Math score of 26. If you get all the plane geometry questions correct this time and everything else stays the same, you could get a 28 on ACT Math!

This says zippo of how your score could improve if you work on other content weaknesses, your pacing, and your examination-taking strategies, as well. If you can identify your weaknesses and work on fixing them, it'south non hard at all to ameliorate your ACT composite score by several points!

iv Tips for Raising Your ACT Score

Since yous now have a clear thought as to the number of points you demand to attain your Human activity goal score, let's go over some helpful tips for raising your score.

#1: Focus On Your Weaknesses

As nosotros discussed briefly above, focusing on your biggest content weaknesses and skills should be one of your top priorities every bit you lot prep for the ACT. To fix your weak points, you'll need to do the following:

• Set on more practise problems in your areas of weakness. Having ample quality materials with which to practice volition give you more opportunities to hone your skills.

• Devote more time to your weak spots than you do to the skills and question types you're already comfortable with. This way you won't waste product time going over the concepts you lot already know.

• Analyze your mistakes besides as any patterns in your mistakes. Ane skilful way to do this is to go on an errors journal in which y'all annotation all the errors you made on practice questions, what the right answers were, and how you were supposed to solve them.

Do all of this and you lot'll not only figure out what y'all're weak in, just also how you lot can shift your approach toward these types of Human action problems to help you score more points.

#2: Practice Pacing Yourself

Don't expect to raise your score if yous don't know how to properly pace yourself. Learning how to utilize your time wisely is a major part of doing well on the Human activity.

As you probable already know, each department is timed differently; thus, the time you'll get per question will vary depending on the section.

Here is an overview of the time you'll have per department and per question on the Deed:

Section	# of Questions	Time per Department	Time per Question
1. English language	75	45 minutes	36 seconds
2. Math	60	60 minutes	60 seconds
three. Reading	twoscore	35 minutes	52.5 seconds
4. Science	xl	35 minutes	52.5 seconds
v. Writing (Optional)	1 essay	40 minutes	xl minutes

You lot'll have the longest amount of time per question on the Math section, and the shortest corporeality of time per question on the English department.

Typically, you don't want to spend more this boilerplate time per question on any i question. Nonetheless, if you're not aiming for a perfect score, you should be able to gauge on at least a few questions in each department without it heavily affecting your score.

#3: Learn Cardinal Examination-Taking Strategies

There are tons of strategies you should know earlier you accept the ACT. These tips teach y'all things such as the post-obit:

• How to approach and understand questions fast
• How to effectively utilize the data you're given
• How to guess on a question to give yourself the best hazard of getting it right

Our guide to the height Act test-taking strategies goes over some of the most helpful tips to know for exam day. Briefly, though, hither are a few of the most of import ones:

• How to use the procedure of emptying
• When to plug in answers and plug in numbers on Math bug
• How to read passages on Reading, English language, and Science

#iv: Take Total-Length Do Tests

If you're not taking full-length ACT practice tests, get to information technology. ACT, Inc. offers six free practice tests you tin can download as PDFs. I advise sticking mainly with official tests as these are guaranteed to give you a highly realistic test-taking experience. What's more, they're all gratis!

In terms of prep, endeavour to space out your practice tests throughout your ACT study plan. Have ane at the commencement of your study schedule to get your baseline score (the score you start with before engaging in whatsoever prep), and then take the others intermittently throughout your written report plan. You'll essentially employ practice tests to determine your weaknesses and strengths.

Make sure to take each test in a tranquility room to give you lot a realistic experience. Besides, time yourself in accord with the official Act time limits described higher up; doing this will raise your stamina and then that you lot don't run out of energy on the actual exam!

What'due south Adjacent?

Larn more about how the ACT is scored so yous can develop target raw scores for whatsoever your scoring goal is.

Want to get a perfect score yourself? Get tips from our Act 36 total scorer on studying. Even if you're non aiming for a perfect 36, this commodity volition requite you the skills you need to raise your score.

Read more than nearly the highest possible Human action score of 36 and but how rare it is.

Want to ameliorate your Deed score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the height 5 strategies you lot need in your prep to better your Human action score dramatically.

Accept friends who also demand assist with test prep? Share this article!

About the Author

Halle Edwards graduated from Stanford Academy with honors. In high school, she earned 99th percentile Act scores as well every bit 99th percentile scores on Sabbatum subject tests. She besides took ix AP classes, earning a perfect score of 5 on vii AP tests. Equally a graduate of a big public loftier school who tackled the college admission process largely on her own, she is passionate virtually helping high school students from different backgrounds get the knowledge they need to be successful in the college admissions process.

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Source: https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-many-people-get-a-34-35-36-on-the-act-score-breakdown

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