How Good is a 31 on the ACT?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I got a 31 on the ACT. On the ACT website in national rankings is says im in the 97th percentile. How good is a 31?</p>

2

<p>You can break down the numbers approx, see how many kids test (SAT/ACT) each year and how many kids are in that top 3%, That really puts it in perspective, even in the top 1% there are a shedload of kids. Obviously it isn’t all about the test. Look at the common data sets of your target schools and see where your ACT puts you too (consider the depts have different numbers though, engineering might be higher than other areas). If you are chasing a competitive spot or scholarship money, see what number make the grade. </p>

3

<p>Conventional wisdom, which has a life of its own and may be totally erroneous, says variously that a 31, 32, or 33 is the threshold score that satisfies pretty much any college that you can keep up with the work and survive, if not thrive, on their campus. They then move on to evaluating the rest of the application.</p>

<p>This is a hotly debated topic, and there is no definitive answer.</p>

<p>The best you can do is look at the “Common Data Set” which many colleges now publish on their websites, and look at their median test score (25th to 75th percentile) for admitted students. Conventional wisdom also says you will enjoy your college experience more if you are in the top half or third of the class, than if you are in the bottom of the class.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

4

<p>Knowing that a 31 is at the 97%ile of test-takers is already plenty of information for you to know. Also the mean score is around 21 with standard deviation about 5, so you are roughly 2 standard devs above normal, which is quite good. However, as the other posters said, you should also check the 25/75%ile scores for the schools you are applying to. For very selective schools (e.g. Ivies, MIT, Caltech), a 31 is a bit low.</p>

5

<p>A 31 is a very very good score in comparasin to every test-taker in the USA. That’s the 97% percentile. Another 99 kids taken at random and you can be assume yourself to have the 3rd highest ACT score in that bunch.</p>

<p>In terms of selective college admissions, it depends on where you want to go. Harvey Mudd or CalTech have very high average ACT scores - a 31 would be below average. But at URoch for example, a 31 is great. Look at 25%-75%iles ACT score for the unis you want to apply to.</p>

6

<p>I’m not sure what your frame of reference is but you might find it useful to convert your ACT score to an SAT score. There are various sites which do that. Here’s one of those: <a href=“http://www.act.org/solutions/college-career-readiness/compare-act-sat/”>http://www.act.org/solutions/college-career-readiness/compare-act-sat/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;