How to Get a 27 on the ACT

Your ACT score doesn’t need to be perfect to be good. A common ACT benchmark is 27—get a 27 ACT score or higher, and many doors will open to you. Now, why would you want to get a 27 on the ACT?

If this post caught your eye and you’re reading it now, you may already know the value of a 27 on the ACT. You may even have a few schools that require that score in mind…

In this post, I’ll show you how to score at least a 27 on the ACT, as well as telling you about the benefits of a 27 act score.

To Get a 27 ACT Score, Get Inspired

Motivation is one of the key factors in pushing yourself to get that higher score! For example: If you get a 27 on the ACT, you’ll maximize your chances of acceptance at literally hundreds of colleges.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the median 50% ACT scores (25th-75th percentile) of the top 100 U.S. universities. You’ll see that an ACT score of 27 places you right smack in that golden range for more than HALF of them. (Quick tip: You can sort the table by ACT scores by clicking on the box labeled “25th Percentile Scores.”)

College ACT Score Range for the Top 100 Universities

College Ranking	College Name	25th Percentile Scores	75th Percentile Scores
1	Princeton University	33	35
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	34	36
3 (tie)	Harvard University	33	35
3 (tie)	Stanford University	34	35
3 (tie)	Yale University	33	35
6	University of Chicago	33	35
7 (tie)	Johns Hopkins University	34	35
7 (tie)	University of Pennsylvania	33	35
9	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	35	36
10 (tie)	Duke University	33	35
10 (tie)	Northwestern University	33	35
12	Dartmouth College	33	35
13 (tie)	Brown University	33	35
13 (tie)	Vanderbilt University	34	35
15 (tie)	Rice University	34	35
15 (tie)	Washington University in St. Louis	33	35
17	Cornell University	33	35
18 (tie)	Columbia University	33	35
18 (tie)	University of Notre Dame	32	35
20 (tie)	University of California–Berkeley	27	35
20 (tie)	University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	29	34
22 (tie)	Carnegie Mellon University	33	35
22 (tie)	Emory University	32	34
22 (tie)	Georgetown	32	35
25 (tie)	New York University (NYU)	32	34
25 (tie)	University of Michigan at Ann Arbor	31	35
25 (tie)	University of Southern California (USC)	32	35
25 (tie)	University of Virginia	32	35
29 (tie)	University of Florida	29	33
29 (tie)	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill)	29	33
29 (tie)	Wake Forest University	30	33
32 (tie)	Tufts University	33	35
32 (tie)	University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)	26	33
34 (tie)	University of California, Irvine (UCI)	NA	NA
34 (tie)	University of California–San Diego	26	33
36 (tie)	Boston College	33	34
36 (tie)	University of Rochester	31	35
38 (tie)	University of California, Davis (UC Davis)	25	31
38 (tie)	University of Texas, Austin (UT Austin)	29	34
38 (tie)	University of Wisconsin Madison	28	32
41 (tie)	Boston University	31	34
41 (tie)	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	29	34
41 (tie)	College of William and Mary	31	34
44 (tie)	Brandeis University	31	34
44 (tie)	Case Western Reserve University	32	35
44 (tie)	Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)	31	35
44 (tie)	Northeastern University	33	35
44 (tie)	Tulane University	30	33
49 (tie)	Ohio State University	26	32
49 (tie)	University of Georgia	29	33
51 (tie)	Lehigh University	30	34
51 (tie)	Purdue Univesity-West Lafayette	26	33
51 (tie)	Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute	32	34
51 (tie)	Villanova University	31	34
55 (tie)	Florida State University	26	30
55 (tie)	Pepperdine University	25	30
55 (tie)	Rutgers University	27	33
55 (tie)	Santa Clara University	29	33
55 (tie)	University of Maryland–College Park	30	34
55 (tie)	University of Miami	30	33
55 (tie)	University of Washington	29	34
62 (tie)	George Washington University	30	34
62 (tie)	Syracuse University	27	32
62 (tie)	University of Minnesota–Twin Cities	27	32
62 (tie)	University of Pittsburgh–Pittsburgh Campus	28	33
62 (tie)	Virginia Institute of Technology (Virginia Tech)	26	32
67 (tie)	Texas A&M University–College Station	25	31
67 (tie)	University of Connecticut	27	33
67 (tie)	University of Massachussetts-Amherst (UMass Amherst)	28	33
67 (tie)	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	/	test-blind
67 (tie)	Yeshiva University	25	31
72 (tie)	American University	29	33
72 (tie)	Fordham University	30	33
72 (tie)	Indiana University–Bloomington	26	32
72 (tie)	North Carolina State University–Raleigh	27	32
72 (tie)	Southern Methodist University	31	34
77 (tie)	Baylor University	25	32
77 (tie)	Clemson	27	32
77 (tie)	Loyola Marymount	28	32
77 (tie)	Michigan State University	23	29
77 (tie)	Pennsylvania State–University Park	26	32
77 (tie)	Stony Brook University (SUNY)	29	33
83 (tie)	Binghamton University	30	33
83 (tie)	Gonzaga University	27	31
83 (tie)	Marquette University	25	30
83 (tie)	Stevens Institute of Technology	31	34
83 (tie)	University of California, Santa Cruz	23	30
83 (tie)	University of Iowa	22	29
89 (tie)	Brigham Young University–Provo	29	33
89 (tie)	Colorado School of Mines	29	33
89 (tie)	Elon University	25	30
89 (tie)	Howard University	21	26
89 (tie)	Texas Christian University	26	31
89 (tie)	University at Buffalo	25	31
89 (tie)	University of California–Riverside	22	29
89 (tie)	University of Delaware	26	31
97 (tie)	Auburn University	24	30
97 (tie)	Clark University	27	30
97 (tie)	New Jersey Institute of Technology	27	33
97 (tie)	University of California–Merced	17	22
97 (tie)	University of Colorado Boulder	25	31
93 (tie)	University of San Diego	25	31
99 (tie)	University of South Florida	24	29

Inspired? Is your motivation soaring?

Excellent! Now let’s look at what you should do to get that 27 ACT score.

To Get a 27 ACT Score, Know Your Weaknesses

Getting a 27+ on the ACT is doable, but if you do really badly in one section, that section could pull your entire score to 26 or lower. Don’t let this happen! With study and hard work, you can be strong enough on the exam to get a 27—even if your scores in a section or two are a little below that 27 target.

To reach that goal of 27, take some practice exams from the official ACT Test Prepration website or their official book, The Real ACT Prep Guide. Make note of sections or question types that you aren’t doing so well on. And then figure out why you don’t do well  on certain parts of the exam.

For instance, some ACT test-takers do poorly in math because they struggle with order of operations or make small calculation errors in in ACT Math. Other ACT preppers may fall short on vocabulary for ACT Reading comprehension, or have trouble understanding the charts and graphs in ACT Science. Whatever your weak areas are, these weaknesses can be overcome, and improved on enough for a 27 target score.

To Get a 27 on the ACT, Know Your Strengths

Everyone has strengths in some ACT skill or another—you may be really good at math, have a keen eye for writing and grammar, a high confidence with science texts… you get the idea.

Good performance in a section of an ACT is a powerful secret weapon for keeping your composite score at 27 or higher, even if you get a number of questions wrong in other areas on the exam.

So build on your strengths and take advantage of them– think about just how high you could score in a strong area. If you’re a math whiz, that’s a section of the test where you may be able to place in the low or even mid-30s; this can keep your overall composite score nice and high. If you’re good at language arts, you can do well in both ACT Reading and ACT English. That’s two sections where you can really shine! If you get at least a 30 in both ACT Reading and English, a few missteps in ACT Math and Science probably won’t pull your score down to below 27.

To Get a 27 on the ACT, Aim for a Score Above a 27

No matter what your target score is on the ACT, always aim higher than your goal. This gives you the “wiggle room” you need to make sure you get at least your minimum. And it also increases the odds that you’ll get a score above the minimum goal– always a good thing!

I’ve seen students hope for a 27 and successfully overshoot, getting a 29, 30, 31, or even 32 on test day. I’ve also seen students hit the 27 mark under very bad circumstances, reaching their target score because they overshot. Aim for a 30 or more, and if you’re tired, sick, or distracted on test day, you’ll likely still be able to get a 27 or 28 on the ACT, even under adverse conditions.