How to Get a 27 on the ACT

BY David Recine ON May 26, 2016, UPDATED ON February 2, 2017, IN 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.”)

Liam got a 35 on the ACT. Get a higher ACT score with Magoosh.

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	Harvard University	33	35
3 (tie)	Columbia University	33	35
3 (tie)	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	34	36
3 (tie)	Yale University	33	35
6 (tie)	Stanford University	32	35
6 (tie)	University of Chicago	33	35
8	University of Pennsylvania	33	35
9 (tie)	California Institute of Technology (Caltech)	35	36
9 (tie)	Northwestern University	33	35
9 (tie)	Johns Hopkins University	33	35
12	Duke University	33	35
13	Dartmouth College	32	35
14 (tie)	Brown University	33	35
14 (tie)	Vanderbilt University	33	35
16 (tie)	Rice University	33	35
16 (tie)	Washington University in St. Louis	33	35
18	Cornell University	32	35
19	University of Notre Dame	32	35
20	University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)	27	34
21	Emory University	31	34
22	University of California--Berkeley	28	34
23	Georgetown	31	35
24 (tie)	University of Michigan at Ann Arbor	31	34
24 (tie)	University of Southern California (USC)	31	34
26 (tie)	Carnegie Mellon University	33	35
26 (tie)	University of Virgina	30	34
28 (tie)	University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill)	27	33
28 (tie)	Wake Forest University	30	33
30 (tie)	New York University (NYU)	30	34
30 (tie)	Tufts University	32	34
30 (tie)	University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)	25	33
30 (tie)	University of Florida	28	33
34	University of Rochester	30	34
35 (tie)	Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)	31	34
35 (tie)	Boston College	31	34
35 (tie)	University of California, Irvine (UCI)	NA	NA
35 (tie)	University of California--San Diego	24	33
39 (tie)	University of California, Davis (UC Davis)	25	31
39 (tie)	College of William and Mary	30	34
41	Tulane University	31	33
42 (tie)	Boston University	30	34
42 (tie)	Brandeis University	30	33
42 (tie)	Case Western Reserve University	30	34
42 (tie)	University of Texas, Austin (UT Austin)	27	33
42 (tie)	University of Wisconsin Madison	27	32
47 (tie)	University of Georgia	27	32
47 (tie)	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign	27	33
49 (tie)	Lehigh University	29	33
49 (tie)	Northeastern University	32	35
49 (tie)	Pepperdine University	27	32
49 (tie)	University of Miami	29	32
53 (tie)	Ohio State University	28	32
53 (tie)	Purdue Univesity-West Lafayette	25	32
53 (tie)	Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute	28	34
53 (tie)	Santa Clara University	28	32
53 (tie)	Villanova University	31	34
58 (tie)	Florida State University	26	30
58 (tie)	Syracuse University	26	30
58 (tie)	University of Maryland--College Park	29	33
58 (tie)	University of Washington	27	33
63 (tie)	Pennsylvania State--University Park	25	30
63 (tie)	Rutgers University	25	32
63 (tie)	University of Connecticut	26	32
66 (tie)	Fordham University	28	32
66 (tie)	George Washington University	29	33
66 (tie)	Loyola Marymount University	27	31
66 (tie)	Southern Methodist University	29	33
66 (tie)	Texas A&M University--College Station	26	31
66 (tie)	University of Massachussetts-Amherst (UMass Amherst)	26	32
66 (tie)	University of Minnesota--Twin Cities	26	31
66 (tie)	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	29	33
74 (tie)	Clemson	27	32
74 (tie)	Virginia Institute of Technology (Virginia Tech)	25	31
76 (tie)	American University	27	31
76 (tie)	Baylor University	26	32
76 (tie)	Indiana University--Bloomington	24	31
76 (tie)	Yeshiva University	24	30
80 (tie)	Brigham Young University--Provo	26	31
80 (tie)	Gonzaga University	25	30
80 (tie)	Howard University	22	27
80 (tie)	Michigan State University	23	29
80 (tie)	North Carolina State University--Raleigh	27	32
80 (tie)	Stevens Institute of Technology	31	34
80 (tie)	Texas Christian University	25	31
80 (tie)	University of Denver	26	31
88 (tie)	Binghamton University	29	32
88 (tie)	Colorado School of Mines	27	33
88 (tie)	Elon University	25	30
88 (tie)	Marquette University	24	29
88 (tie)	Stony Brook University (SUNY)	26	32
88 (tie)	University at Buffalo	24	29
88 (tie)	University of California--Riverside	24	30
88 (tie)	University of Iowa	22	29
88 (tie)	University of San Diego	26	31
97 (tie)	Auburn University	25	31
97 (tie)	University of Arizona	21	29
97 (tie)	University of California--Merced	17	22
97 (tie)	University of California--Santa Cruz	24	30
97 (tie)	University of Delaware	24	30
97 (tie)	University of Utah	22	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.

Ready to get your highest ACT score? Start here.

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About David Recine

David Recine is a Verbal Test Prep Expert at Magoosh. He has a Bachelor's in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and A Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. David has taught test prep and language arts to students of all ages, and from every continent. He currently lives in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA; when he's not working for Magoosh, he keeps himself busy with cooking, art, and parenting.

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