This may sound noob, but I'm sort of confused about how the ACT composite score is calculated? Can somebody break it down for me real simple? All help appreciated, thanks!
Sure, happy to help! The ACT composite score is essentially an average of your scores in each of the four sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science.
Each of these sections is scored on a scale of 1 to 36. So, to arrive at your composite score, the scores of these four sections are added together and then divided by four.
For example, if you scored 30 in English, 28 in Math, 29 in Reading, and 31 in Science, the total is 118 (30+28+29+31). When this total is then divided by 4 (the number of sections), you get a composite score of 29.5.
However, the ACT does not use decimals in its final score reporting, so your composite score is then rounded to the nearest whole number. So in this case, 29.5 would round up to 30. If your average ends in .25 or .75, it will round down (for example, 29.25 rounds to 29), and if it ends in .5 or .75, it will round up (for example, 29.5 rounds to 30).
Remember, this is the simplified version. The actual calculation involves additional steps, including converting raw scores to scale scores before averaging. But hopefully, this clears up the basics for you!
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