How to Find Your Old ACT Scores

Hand on pencil choosing the test list on the examination

Kelly Roell is the author of "Ace the ACT. " She has a master's degree in secondary English education and has worked as a high school English teacher.

Updated on July 23, 2024

You're not alone if you're asking yourself the question, "How do I find my ACT scores from high school?" Many folks graduate from high school with a great job lined up, so they jump right into the workforce. But after a few years without raises, a bachelor's degree begins to sound like a good idea. As part of the college admissions process, though, you'll probably need your old ACT scores. Here are the steps to retrieving them.

Fast Facts: Getting Old ACT Scores

Remember Which College Admissions Test You Took

If it’s been a while since you took your college admissions exam, you may not recall whether you took the ACT or SAT in high school. Here’s a hint: Your composite ACT score will be a two-digit number between 1 and 36. Your SAT score will be a three- or four-digit score.

Remember that the ACT test has changed quite a bit in over the years, so the questions have changed and the score you received would be scaled a bit differently now.

If you took the ACT, keep reading. If it was the SAT, be sure to follow the guidelines for retrieving old SAT scores.

Make Sure Colleges Will Accept Old ACT Scores

The ACT has changed significantly over the years in both content and scoring practices. For this reason, it's often not overly helpful for the admissions officers to compare a score from 1992 with scores from 2020.

Different colleges have different policies related to old ACT test scores from high school, so you'll want to contact the admissions offices at the schools to which you are applying to find out what the exact policies are. Some colleges will accept scores taken at any time. Other schools have cutoff dates before which the scores won't be accepted. Yet other colleges don't require ACT scores for non-traditional students who have been out of high school for years.

Also be aware that over 1,200 colleges don't require standardized test scores as part of the admissions process.

How do I find my ACT scores from high school?

There are two ways you can find your ACT scores. Previously, you could also request your old ACT scores by mail, but this option is no longer available.

Pay the Fee

Additional Tips for Finding Your Old ACT Scores

Gather as much information as you can before you contact ACT for your scores.

Remember that since your scores are older, the test may have changed. The ACT score reporting service will include a letter providing that information to the institutions in which you're interested.

Cite this Article Your Citation

Roell, Kelly. "How to Find Your Old ACT Scores." ThoughtCo, Jul. 23, 2024, thoughtco.com/how-to-find-old-act-scores-3211598. Roell, Kelly. (2024, July 23). How to Find Your Old ACT Scores. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-find-old-act-scores-3211598 Roell, Kelly. "How to Find Your Old ACT Scores." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-find-old-act-scores-3211598 (accessed August 28, 2024).

copy citation How to Find Old SAT Scores ACT Math Scores, Content and Questions How to Improve Your ACT Scores When Is the ACT? ACT Reading Test Questions, Content, and Scores 2019-20 ACT Score Release Dates What is the ACT? ACT Score Comparison for Top New York State Colleges and Universities ACT Scores for Ivy League Admissions Should I Retake the ACT? Converting ACT Scores to SAT Scores ACT Scores for Admission to Top Colleges ACT Scores for Admission to Top Tennessee Colleges ACT Scores for Admission to Top Washington Colleges ACT Scores for Admission to Cal State ACT Scores for Admission to Top Minnesota Colleges ThoughtCo is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing family.

We Care About Your Privacy

We and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

We and our partners process data to provide:

Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners (vendors)