When Will I Receive My ACT Scores? A Comprehensive Guide

The anticipation after completing the ACT exam can be intense. Knowing when to expect your scores can ease anxiety and help you plan your college application strategy. This guide provides a detailed timeline for ACT score release dates, factors that may affect delivery, and how to access and interpret your scores.

ACT Score Release Dates in 2024-2026

Typically, ACT scores are released within 2 to 8 weeks after the exam date. Multiple-choice scores usually become available around two weeks after the test, while writing scores (if you took the ACT with Writing) are typically released about two weeks after the multiple-choice scores. However, the entire release window spans from six to eight weeks after each test administration.

Here's an overview of the ACT score release schedule for 2025-2026:

February 8, 2025: February 18 - April 4
April 5, 2025: April 15 - May 30
June 14, 2025: June 24 - August 8
July 12, 2025 (except New York): July 22 - September 5
September 6, 2025: September 16 - October 31
October 18, 2025: October 28 - December 12
December 13, 2025: December 23, 2025 - February 6, 2026
February 14, 2026: February 24 - April 10
April 11, 2026: April 21 - June 5
June 13, 2026: June 23 - August 7
July 11, 2026 (except New York): July 21 - September 4

Most regular decision deadlines for colleges fall in early January, so taking the ACT on any of these dates will ensure your scores arrive on time. If you’re applying to college early, you’ll want to have your test completed as soon as possible. Many early decision deadlines take place throughout September and October, so you should take the ACT on April 13 to be well-prepared.

Understanding the 2024 ACT Delivery Timeline

Understanding the routine for ACT score release dates helps students patiently await their results.

Read also: When to Expect Your ACT Results

To deliver millions of ACT scores, ACT goes through a complex behind-the-scenes process:

Tests are shipped to scanning centers after administration
Scanning calculates students’ raw scores
Raw scores are converted into scaled scores on the 1-36 scale
Essays receive scores from two independent graders
Final scores get processed and released in batches

What Time Are ACT Scores Released?

ACT results are typically released at midnight-12 AM-Central Time. For students on the East Coast, this means that results are available by 1 AM. Those on the West Coast will be able to access them at 10 PM.

ACT continuously processes ACT scores during regular business hours throughout each score release window. If scores are not available at that time, students should check again the next day, as it can take a few days for scores to appear.

How Long Does It Usually Take for ACT Scores To Be Released?

ACT scores are usually ready about two weeks after each national test date for the multiple-choice section. But sometimes, it might take up to eight weeks. Your writing scores usually come in about two weeks after your multiple-choice scores. Remember, if you took the writing test, your overall scores won't be officially out until your writing scores are added. Checking your scores online won't make them come faster.

On certain test dates, ACT does some equating activities to make sure the scores have the same meaning across all test forms. During these times, scores usually come in within 3 to 8 weeks. Delays are particularly common for the February and October test dates, attributed to the specialized equating process employed during these periods.

Read also: UCF Application Strategies

Insights Into ACT Test Score Delays

While ACT strives to release scores by the specified dates, delays happen. These delays can be attributed to many factors, such as technical issues or administrative challenges. ACT test scores may be delayed due to late test materials, registration discrepancies, irregularities, or unpaid fees. Delays are typically resolved within 8 weeks. Students can check MyACT for updates or contact ACT with questions.

Score delays can have an impact on college admissions timelines and scholarship applications. To navigate this situation, monitor official communications from ACT and your preferred colleges or universities. Be prepared to coordinate with admissions offices regarding submission deadlines and any score update policies they may have in place.

Here are some common issues that could delay your scores:

Answer documents from your test center arrived late
You provided inconsistent or incorrect personal information
Your test center reported an irregularity
You didn’t pay any or all of your registration fees
The “Matching Information” you provided on the answer document (name, date of birth, and Match Number) is not consistent with the Matching Information on your admission ticket. Scores cannot be reported until they can be accurately matched to the correct person.
You provided incomplete or inaccurate test form information on the answer document, or the answer document has not cleared all other scoring accuracy checks.

How to Check ACT Scores

The fastest way to view your ACT scores is to go online to your ACT account. From the moment a student decides to register for the ACT, the MyACT account becomes the gateway to managing their test preparation, registration details, ACT score release timeline, and college planning resources. It is designed to streamline college admissions, making the process as smooth as possible for students and their families.

To check your ACT scores, log in to your MyACT student account, and under the SCORES tab, you can select your test date to open the online score report. Next, click on "View Scores" for the test date for which you want to view your ACT scores. Once you enter your password again, you'll be taken to a page with your ACT results.

Read also: College SAT Deadlines

Creating and using a MyACT account has several benefits and features that can improve your ACT experience:

Access your personalized score insights, including detailed breakdowns of your performance in each section of the ACT.
Explore resources and recommendations tailored to your specific needs, such as study guides and practice materials.
Track your progress over time by tracking your previous test scores and comparing them to your current performance.
Gain access to additional college and scholarship opportunities aligned with your ACT scores and academic goals.

Creating a MyACT account is highly recommended to make the most out of your ACT score reports and access valuable resources.

Understanding Your Scores

You will see your total score, score by section, and the percentile score in the percentiles for your overall score and subscores. This means you will be able to see how your results compare to other students who took the ACT that same day.

The ACT is scored from 1-36 (36 being the best). Your composite score, the average of your section scores, is your official ACT result. Colleges may also look at individual section scores or your STEM score (the average of your Math and Science scores). A score of 23 or higher on the ACT Composite means you have scored better than 70% of test takers, putting you in the 70th percentile of testers.

Sending Your Scores to Colleges

Students have the chance to indicate which colleges they would like to receive their test scores on test day. Love your ACT results? If you selected schools to receive your scores on your ACT registration, ACT will send the scores directly to up to four colleges for free. After that, you can use your ACT account to send the scores to schools for $19 per report/per school. If you didn’t select four schools during registration, you’ll still have to pay the fee-you don’t get these reports for free retroactively.

Students should be aware that when they register for the ACT, they can choose to send their scores to up to four colleges for free. However, if they want to send scores to additional colleges beyond those initial four choices, there are fees involved:

To add a 5th and 6th college choice when registering, there is a $18.50 fee per score report. This must be done before the test date. After taking the ACT and receiving your scores, you can request additional score reports for $18.50 per college per test date. For example, if you want to send scores from the September test date to 3 additional colleges beyond your original four choices, that would be $55.50 ($18.50 x 3 colleges).

There are also deadlines students should keep in mind:

The deadline to change score recipients without incurring the archive research fee is 12 PM Central Time on the Thursday after your test date.
If you want scores sent from a test date older than 3 years, there is a $30 archive fee per test date per order.

When you select score recipients, you’ll have the option of sending either score reports from the specific test event or you can choose to send your superscore. Starting in April 2025, students who choose to take the online ACT test will have their ACT Superscore calculated using a new method that includes only English, math, and reading. For everyone else, this change will take effect in September 2025.

You can currently send scores from test events from September 2011 to current, as well as an available superscore. Scores from September 2018 to current are available to be sent to a high school as an additional score report. If your superscore is from these dates, you may also request to send your superscore.

What do score recipients get? Once all scores for a test event are available, they are sent to institutions you elect in MyACT. Colleges receive ACT score reports at least once every two weeks, but some schools get them more frequently. will not send out your ACT scores until your whole test has been scored. cannot send out a score report until your test has been scored.

What Effects Your Score Release Date?

If you take the optional writing test, part of the process of scoring your essay includes review by at least one trained reader. You’ll see your multiple-choice scores, including your composite score as soon as they become available.

ACT Writing scores usually come out about two weeks after your multiple-choice scores are released.

High School Report and College Report

Your high school ACT report provides important information to colleges during the admissions process.

Admissions officers use it to:

Assess your academic readiness for college-level coursework
Evaluate your potential to succeed based on ACT scores and high school grades
Determine your eligibility for academic scholarships

While some colleges have adopted test-optional policies, ACT scores still carry weight in admissions decisions and financial aid awards. High school GPA and ACT scores together best predict college performance and graduation. So, your ACT report validates your transcript and demonstrates your abilities to admissions teams.

Your ACT scores continue to provide value even after you enter college. Academic advisors and program directors use your college ACT report to:

Determine accurate course placement to match your abilities
Offer tailored academic advising based on your strengths and weaknesses
Identify any additional support or resources you may need to thrive

So beyond admissions, your ACT scores play an integral role in setting you up for college success.

Should I Retest?

If you get your ACT scores and you’re not happy with them (whether that’s your composite score or sectional score), you have options. And your best option is to retake the test. In fact, you don’t have to wait to get your scores to plan for an ACT retake. If you really think you did poorly on the ACT, my best advice would be to continue your ACT prep even before you see the results. If you’re going to retake the ACT, you don’t want to fall out of the habit of studying. Even if you’re relatively confident in your test performance, you may still want to go ahead and sign up to retake the test. Even students who score well the first time may still retake the ACT.

Whether you retake the ACT ultimately boils down to two factors: what your target score is and how likely you are to improve your score. Your ACT target score is determined by the average ACT scores of the schools you want to get into.

To improve your composite ACT score by 1 to 4 points, you'll need to put in around 40 hours of smart prep. Increasing your score by more than this requires even more time and energy. The bottom line: if you're able to put in the time and energy to improve your score, then it's worth retaking the ACT.

If you're completely satisfied with how you did on the exam, then your next step is to send your scores to all the colleges you're applying to.

Can ACT Test Scores Be Cancelled?

ACT reserves the right to cancel test scores when there is reason to believe the scores are invalid. Outside of State testing and District testing, you may request to cancel scores for a particular test date. Contact us online and we will provide you a form to complete and return to us.

What to Do if You’re Disappointed With Your ACT Scores

Not everyone gets the ACT score they want, especially the first time around. Here’s what you can do if you’re not happy with the score you earned.

Many students take the ACT more than once. In fact, ACT reports that test-takers typically take the exam 2-3 times to reach their goal score. Just make sure you dedicate time to improving your biggest problem areas.

Paris recommends utilizing ACT My Answer Key, an official service that shows you exactly which questions you got right and wrong on your test.

If you plan to apply to mostly or all test-optional colleges, you might consider withholding your ACT scores from them if you didn’t do as well as you hoped to - or if your scores are considerably lower than the average scores of admitted applicants. This way, your lower-than-expected scores won’t count against you in the admissions process.

This way, schools can see other indicators of your skills and achievements.

FAQs

When Can I See My ACT Score?

The ACT test score release date varies depending on the test date. Typically, ACT scores are released within two weeks after the test date. However, there might be some delays in the score release process due to technical issues or administrative challenges. To ensure you receive your ACT scores as soon as they become available, regularly check your MyACT account or the ACT score portal for updates.

What Is a Good ACT Score for Harvard?

A composite score of 34 is a good score for Harvard. It falls within the average score for Harvard students, making it highly competitive. However, Harvard employs a holistic review process for admissions, meaning that ACT scores are only one of many factors considered. A wide range of elements beyond ACT performance influences the admissions decision.

Do US test-takers get their scores earlier?

No. ACT score release dates are the same around the world.

Why do ACT scores take so long to get?

First of all, because of how many test-takers there are-literally millions! Because essays are graded by real people instead of computers, ACT writing scores take a bit longer as ACT sends, grades, coordinates, and posts your scores. The October tests takes longer because of equating…basically, there are lots of reasons this process takes so long.

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