Hi everyone, I've been hearing about something called the ACT 'scale score'. I'm a bit confused about what that means and how it's different from the composite score or the individual section scores. Any insights would be appreciated! Thanks.
Sure, happy to clear up some of the confusion around this! An ACT 'scale score' refers to the final score you receive for each individual section (English, Math, Reading, and Science) of the ACT. The score for each of these sections ranges from 1 to 36.
How is a scale score calculated, you ask? Well, after you complete the ACT, the number of questions you answered correctly in each section is counted. This number is your 'raw score'. The 'raw score' is then converted into the 'scale score' through a process called scaling, which adjusts for slight differences in difficulty between different test versions.
So, you will receive a separate scale score for each of the 4 sections. These individual section 'scale scores' are what's averaged to compute your 'composite score', which also falls within a range of 1 to 36. The composite score is essentially an average of your scale scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. For example, if your scale scores were 28 in English, 30 in Math, 31 in Reading, and 29 in Science, your composite score would be 30 ((28+30+31+29)÷4 = 29.5, rounded up).
In brief, scale scores reflect your performance in each individual section, while the composite score represents your overall performance on the ACT.
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