26 on ACT first try no prep?

I took an ACT test and I received a 26 on it. It was my first time taking the test, and I did not do any prep beforehand. Ultimately, my goal has been to get a 30, and I’m just curious if this is realistic or not. PS, I’m a junior in highschool and I have 4 more opportunities to take the test, and I am planning on doing very rigorous prep. Thank you!

You can totally get there, on my first try I did a little prep and I got a 28 (Math: 25, Reading: 27, English: 28, Science: 31, Writing: 4). After that I did a lot of prep, I got a tutor and I took four or five practice tests and wrote a few practice essays. I mostly worked on the English, reading, and writing with the tutor. My score went up to a 30 (Math: 26, Reading: 32, English: 33, Science: 29, Writing: 8) So, you can definitely get there if you work at it. If I was to take it again I would definitely try to improve my math score, I mostly focused my prep on the English and the writing and the reading, and those are the scores that went up the most. The best thing you can do is take the test, you can print out old ones online and time yourself. Good luck!

Totally realistic! If you’re self-studying, I recommend Erica Meltzer’s prep books - I used her books for the sat, but im assuming her act books are equally as good

Thank you! Appreciate the advice

What were your subscores, and did you run out of time on any section? Focus on the lowest subscore and the section where you were most pressed for time.

Yes. Any score between 1-36 is a realistic score.