On the enhanced ACT, you can miss about 3 scored questions and still get a 36 composite, about 9 for a 34, 18 for a 30, 32 for a 25 and 50 for a 20. These counts come from ACT's 2025 official practice form and cover English, Math and Reading, the three sections in the composite. Curves shift a little from test to test.
Use the calculator to plan your own split, then see the full tables by composite and by section below.
Pick the composite you want. We show the section scores that get you there with the most room for mistakes, keeping every section within a point of your goal.
You can miss up to 18 of 108 scored English, Math and Reading questions. That plan's composite is 30.
Based on ACT National Online Practice Test Scoring Key (2025, JA04037.CJ20252), pages 5–9. Counts are scored questions only. Your test form's curve may differ slightly.
For each composite from 20 to 36, this table shows the section scores that allow the most total misses while keeping every section within a point of the goal. The question totals are the scored questions on ACT's 2025 sample form: 40 English, 41 Math and 27 Reading, 108 in all.
| Composite | English | Math | Reading | Total misses | Correct needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 35: miss 2 | 36: miss 1 | 36: miss 0 | 3 | 105 of 108 |
| 35 | 35: miss 2 | 34: miss 4 | 35: miss 1 | 7 | 101 of 108 |
| 34 | 33: miss 3 | 34: miss 4 | 34: miss 2 | 9 | 99 of 108 |
| 33 | 33: miss 3 | 32: miss 6 | 34: miss 2 | 11 | 97 of 108 |
| 32 | 31: miss 4 | 32: miss 6 | 32: miss 3 | 13 | 95 of 108 |
| 31 | 31: miss 4 | 30: miss 8 | 32: miss 3 | 15 | 93 of 108 |
| 30 | 31: miss 4 | 29: miss 10 | 30: miss 4 | 18 | 90 of 108 |
| 29 | 28: miss 6 | 28: miss 11 | 30: miss 4 | 21 | 87 of 108 |
| 28 | 28: miss 6 | 27: miss 13 | 28: miss 5 | 24 | 84 of 108 |
| 27 | 26: miss 8 | 26: miss 14 | 28: miss 5 | 27 | 81 of 108 |
| 26 | 25: miss 9 | 26: miss 14 | 26: miss 6 | 29 | 79 of 108 |
| 25 | 24: miss 10 | 25: miss 15 | 25: miss 7 | 32 | 76 of 108 |
| 24 | 23: miss 11 | 24: miss 16 | 24: miss 8 | 35 | 73 of 108 |
| 23 | 22: miss 13 | 23: miss 17 | 23: miss 9 | 39 | 69 of 108 |
| 22 | 21: miss 14 | 22: miss 18 | 22: miss 10 | 42 | 66 of 108 |
| 21 | 20: miss 16 | 21: miss 19 | 21: miss 11 | 46 | 62 of 108 |
| 20 | 20: miss 16 | 19: miss 22 | 20: miss 12 | 50 | 58 of 108 |
If you have a goal for one section, this is the most scored questions you can miss and still reach it. A number in brackets means that score doesn't exist on this form; the same raw score gives the next score up. For example, English jumps from 33 to 35, so a 34 goal needs the same 38 correct answers as a 35.
| Section score | English (40) | Math (41) | Reading (27) | Science (34) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | 2 (35) | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 33 | 3 | 5 | 2 (34) | 3 |
| 32 | 3 (33) | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| 31 | 4 | 7 | 3 (32) | 5 |
| 30 | 4 (31) | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| 29 | 5 | 10 | 4 (30) | 7 |
| 28 | 6 | 11 | 5 | 8 |
| 27 | 7 | 13 | 5 (28) | 9 |
| 26 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 10 |
| 25 | 9 | 15 | 7 | 12 |
| 24 | 10 | 16 | 8 | 13 |
| 23 | 11 | 17 | 9 | 15 |
| 22 | 13 | 18 | 10 | 16 |
| 21 | 14 | 19 | 11 | 17 |
| 20 | 16 | 20 | 12 | 18 |
About 3 scored questions, which means answering about 97% of the scored English, Math and Reading questions correctly. One split that works: English 35 (miss 2), Math 36 (miss 1) and Reading 36 (miss 0). A 36 in every section is stricter: you could miss only 1 scored Math question and nothing in English or Reading.
About 9 scored questions, which means answering about 92% of the scored English, Math and Reading questions correctly. One split that works: English 33 (miss 3), Math 34 (miss 4) and Reading 34 (miss 2).
About 18 scored questions, which means answering about 83% of the scored English, Math and Reading questions correctly. One split that works: English 31 (miss 4), Math 29 (miss 10) and Reading 30 (miss 4).
About 32 scored questions, which means answering about 70% of the scored English, Math and Reading questions correctly. One split that works: English 24 (miss 10), Math 25 (miss 15) and Reading 25 (miss 7).
About 50 scored questions, which means answering about 54% of the scored English, Math and Reading questions correctly. One split that works: English 20 (miss 16), Math 19 (miss 22) and Reading 20 (miss 12).
Only scored questions affect your ACT score; field-test questions don't. Every enhanced ACT section includes unscored field-test questions that ACT uses to try out future items. On the 2025 sample form they were:
| Section | Questions on the test | Scored | Unscored | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 50 | 40 | 10 | 35 min |
| Mathematics | 45 | 41 | 4 | 50 min |
| Reading | 36 | 27 | 9 | 40 min |
| Science | 40 | 34 | 6 | 40 min |
On test day you can't tell which questions are unscored, so answer all of them as if they count. There's no penalty for a wrong answer, so never leave a question blank. In practice, you can miss a few more questions than the tables show, as long as some of your misses land on unscored items. Don't plan around that luck.
Your composite is the average of your English, Math and Reading scores, rounded to the nearest whole number. Because three scores are averaged, the total only needs to reach three times your goal minus one. For a 36 that total is 107, so 36 + 36 + 35 still rounds up to 36. For a 30, it's 89: 30 + 30 + 29 averages 29.67 and rounds to 30.
That's why one section can sit a point below your goal at no cost. The calculator uses that point where a section's curve is most forgiving. In the 30 plan, Math drops to 29 because a Math 29 allows 2 more misses than a Math 30.
Each ACT form has its own raw-to-scale conversion table. ACT adjusts the table so a score means the same thing on an easier or harder form. On a harder form you may be able to miss one or two more questions for the same score; on an easier one, fewer.
The tables here use ACT's own scoring key for its 2025 enhanced practice form. That's the closest public guide to today's test, but use it as an estimate. When you take an official practice test, use the conversion table that comes with that form, or enter your raw scores in our ACT score calculator.
Older charts for the pre-2025 ACT don't apply. That test had 75 English, 60 Math, 40 Reading and 40 Science questions, all scored, and Science counted in the composite. Each enhanced ACT section has fewer scored questions, so each miss moves your score more.
A miss budget turns a vague goal into a number you can check after every practice test.
With tight budgets (34 and up), most points are lost to careless errors and time pressure rather than unknown content. Below about 28, the biggest gains usually come from the most common question types. Our ACT math practice questions and ACT English practice questions show you which types you miss most.
Checked October 13, 2026: