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 | 34 | 35 |
| 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) | 34 | 36 |
| 3 | Harvard University | 34 | 36 |
| 4 | Stanford University | 34 | 35 |
| 5 | Yale University | 33 | 35 |
| 6 (tie) | California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | 35 | 36 |
| 6 (tie) | Duke University | 34 | 35 |
| 6 (tie) | Johns Hopkins University | 34 | 35 |
| 6 (tie) | Northwestern University | 33 | 35 |
| 10 | University of Pennsylvania | 33 | 35 |
| 11 (tie) | Cornell University | 33 | 35 |
| 11 (tie) | University of Chicago | 34 | 35 |
| 13 (tie) | Brown University | 34 | 35 |
| 13 (tie) | Columbia University | 34 | 35 |
| 15 (tie) | Dartmouth College | 33 | 35 |
| 15 (tie) | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) | 29 | 34 |
| 17 | University of California–Berkeley | 27 | 35 |
| 18 (tie) | Rice University | 34 | 36 |
| 18 (tie) | University of Notre Dame | 33 | 35 |
| 18 (tie) | Vanderbilt University | 34 | 35 |
| 21 (tie) | Carnegie Mellon University | 34 | 35 |
| 21 (tie) | University of Michigan at Ann Arbor | 31 | 34 |
| 21 (tie) | Washington University in St. Louis | 33 | 35 |
| 24 (tie) | Emory University | 32 | 34 |
| 24 (tie) | Georgetown | 32 | 34 |
| 24 (tie) | University of Virginia | 32 | 34 |
| 27 (tie) | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill) | 30 | 34 |
| 27 (tie) | University of Southern California (USC) | 32 | 35 |
| 29 | University of California–San Diego | 26 | 33 |
| 30 (tie) | New York University (NYU) | 33 | 35 |
| 30 (tie) | University of Florida | 28 | 33 |
| 30 (tie) | University of Texas, Austin (UT Austin) | 29 | 34 |
| 33 (tie) | Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) | 28 | 35 |
| 33 (tie) | University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | 25 | 31 |
| 33 (tie) | University of California, Irvine (UCI) | NA | NA |
| 33 (tie) | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign | 30 | 34 |
| 37 (tie) | Boston College | 33 | 34 |
| 37 (tie) | Tufts University | 33 | 35 |
| 39 (tie) | University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) | 26 | 33 |
| 39 (tie) | University of Wisconsin Madison | 28 | 32 |
| 41 (tie) | Boston University | 32 | 34 |
| 41 (tie) | Ohio State University | 29 | 32 |
| 41 (tie) | Rutgers University | 28 | 33 |
| 44 (tie) | University of Maryland–College Park | 32 | 35 |
| 44 (tie) | University of Rochester | 31 | 34 |
| 46 (tie) | Lehigh University | 31 | 33 |
| 46 (tie) | Purdue Univesity-West Lafayette | 27 | 34 |
| 46 (tie) | University of Georgia | 27 | 32 |
| 46 (tie) | University of Washington | 30 | 34 |
| 46 (tie) | Wake Forest University | 32 | 34 |
| 51 (tie) | Case Western Reserve University | 32 | 35 |
| 51 (tie) | Texas A&M University–College Station | 25 | 31 |
| 51 (tie) | Virginia Institute of Technology (Virginia Tech) | 27 | 32 |
| 54 (tie) | Florida State University | 27 | 31 |
| 54 (tie) | Northeastern University | 33 | 35 |
| 54 (tie) | University of Minnesota–Twin Cities | 27 | 31 |
| 54 (tie) | College of William and Mary | 32 | 34 |
| 58 (tie) | North Carolina State University–Raleigh | 28 | 32 |
| 58 (tie) | Stony Brook University (SUNY) | 28 | 33 |
| 58 (tie) | University of California–Merced | 17 | 22 |
| 58 (tie) | University of Massachussetts-Amherst (UMass Amherst) | 29 | 33 |
| 58 (tie) | Villanova University | 32 | 34 |
| 63 (tie) | Brandeis University | 31 | 34 |
| 63 (tie) | George Washington University | 31 | 34 |
| 63 (tie) | Michigan State University | 26 | 31 |
| 63 (tie) | Pennsylvania State–University Park | 27 | 32 |
| 63 (tie) | Santa Clara University | 30 | 33 |
| 63 (tie) | Tulane University | 31 | 33 |
| 63 (tie) | University of Miami | 30 | 33 |
| 70 (tie) | Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute | 31 | 34 |
| 70 (tie) | University of Connecticut | 29 | 33 |
| 70 (tie) | University of Pittsburgh–Pittsburgh Campus | 29 | 33 |
| 73 (tie) | Binghamton University | 29 | 34 |
| 73 (tie) | Indiana University–Bloomington | 27 | 32 |
| 73 (tie) | Syracuse University | 28 | 32 |
| 76 (tie) | Colorado School of Mines | 29 | 33 |
| 76 (tie) | Stevens Institute of Technology | 31 | 34 |
| 76 (tie) | University at Buffalo | 27 | 32 |
| 76 (tie) | University of California–Riverside | 22 | 29 |
| 80 (tie) | Clemson | 28 | 32 |
| 80 (tie) | Pepperdine University | 26 | 32 |
| 80 (tie) | Rutgers University–Newark | / | / |
| 80 (tie) | University of Illinois–Chicago | 24 | 31 |
| 84 (tie) | New Jersey Institute of Technology | 25 | 32 |
| 84 (tie) | University of California, Santa Cruz | 23 | 30 |
| 86 (tie) | Drexel University | 27 | 33 |
| 86 (tie) | Howard University | 22 | 28 |
| 86 (tie) | Marquette University | 26 | 31 |
| 86 (tie) | University of Delaware | 27 | 31 |
| 86 (tie) | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | / | test-blind |
| 91 (tie) | American University | 29 | 32 |
| 91 (tie) | Baylor University | 27 | 32 |
| 91 (tie) | Fordham University | 30 | 33 |
| 91 (tie) | Loyola Marymount | 29 | 32 |
| 91 (tie) | Rochester Institute of Technology | 29 | 33 |
| 91 (tie) | Southern Methodist University | 30 | 34 |
| 91 (tie) | University of South Florida | 24 | 29 |
| 98 (tie) | Florida International University | 20 | 26 |
| 98 (tie) | Gonzaga University | 26 | 31 |
| 98 (tie) | Rutgers University–Camden | 18 | 26 |
| 98 (tie) | Temple University | 23 | 30 |
| 98 (tie) | University of Colorado Boulder | 27 | 32 |
| 98 (tie) | University of Iowa | 22 | 28 |
| 98 (tie) | Yeshiva University | 28 | 33 |
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.
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