Your PreACT Composite is roughly your ACT score today. The PreACT (1–35), PreACT 8/9 (1–30) and the ACT (1–36) all report on the same ACT score scale, so a 22 on the PreACT reads as about a 22 on the ACT. By the time you take the ACT you will usually score higher: ACT's 2025–26 national averages rise about 1 point per school year, so a 10th grader who tests in the fall gains about 2 points by spring of 11th grade at the average pace. The converter below does this for your grade and ACT date.
Choose your test, enter your Composite and when you took it, and pick when you plan to take the ACT. You get two numbers: your ACT-scale score today and a projection for your ACT date at the national average pace. If you only have raw section scores, get your Composite first with the PreACT score calculator.
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Step 1: same scale. ACT says the PreACT tests and the ACT align to the same 1–36 ACT score scale. The PreACT stops at 35 (30 for the PreACT 8/9) because it doesn't include the hardest material the ACT can ask. So the “today” number is simply PreACT N → ACT ≈ N.
Step 2: average growth. Almost nobody takes the ACT the same month as the PreACT. ACT publishes the national average PreACT Composite for each grade and season, and the averages climb steadily: 15.9 in fall of 8th grade, 16.4 in fall of 9th, 17.3 in fall of 10th, 18.6 in fall of 11th. The converter adds the rise in those averages between your PreACT date and your ACT date. Past fall of 11th grade, where ACT publishes no PreACT average, it continues at the 9th-to-11th-grade pace of 1.1 points a year. That puts spring of 11th grade at about 19.2, close to the 19.4 average for the ACT-tested Class of 2025. ACT's spring 8th-grade average (16.6) is higher than its fall 9th-grade averages because different students take each test, so the converter places spring of 8th grade halfway between fall of 8th and fall of 9th; that way a later PreACT never gets more projected growth than an earlier one.
One caveat: the 2025–26 averages were four-section Composites that included Science, while this year's PreACT Composite uses English, Math and Reading only. The converter uses only the rise between averages, not the averages themselves, but treat the projection as approximate.
The chart covers Composites from 10 to 35. The last three columns project to spring of 11th grade, when many students take their first ACT, for three common starting points: PreACT in fall of 10th grade, PreACT in fall of 9th grade, and PreACT 8/9 in fall of 8th grade. Use the converter above for other dates.
| Composite | ACT today (same scale) | PreACT, fall of 10th → spring of 11th | PreACT, fall of 9th → spring of 11th | PreACT 8/9, fall of 8th → spring of 11th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | ≈35 | ≈36 | ≈36 | — |
| 34 | ≈34 | ≈36 | ≈36 | — |
| 33 | ≈33 | ≈35 | ≈36 | — |
| 32 | ≈32 | ≈34 | ≈35 | — |
| 31 | ≈31 | ≈33 | ≈34 | — |
| 30 | ≈30 | ≈32 | ≈33 | ≈33 |
| 29 | ≈29 | ≈31 | ≈32 | ≈32 |
| 28 | ≈28 | ≈30 | ≈31 | ≈31 |
| 27 | ≈27 | ≈29 | ≈30 | ≈30 |
| 26 | ≈26 | ≈28 | ≈29 | ≈29 |
| 25 | ≈25 | ≈27 | ≈28 | ≈28 |
| 24 | ≈24 | ≈26 | ≈27 | ≈27 |
| 23 | ≈23 | ≈25 | ≈26 | ≈26 |
| 22 | ≈22 | ≈24 | ≈25 | ≈25 |
| 21 | ≈21 | ≈23 | ≈24 | ≈24 |
| 20 | ≈20 | ≈22 | ≈23 | ≈23 |
| 19 | ≈19 | ≈21 | ≈22 | ≈22 |
| 18 | ≈18 | ≈20 | ≈21 | ≈21 |
| 17 | ≈17 | ≈19 | ≈20 | ≈20 |
| 16 | ≈16 | ≈18 | ≈19 | ≈19 |
| 15 | ≈15 | ≈17 | ≈18 | ≈18 |
| 14 | ≈14 | ≈16 | ≈17 | ≈17 |
| 13 | ≈13 | ≈15 | ≈16 | ≈16 |
| 12 | ≈12 | ≈14 | ≈15 | ≈15 |
| 11 | ≈11 | ≈13 | ≈14 | ≈14 |
| 10 | ≈10 | ≈12 | ≈13 | ≈13 |
ACT says each PreACT score report includes predicted ACT subject and Composite score ranges based on your PreACT performance, plus a US Rank (your percentile) for each score. That goes for all four versions: PreACT 8/9, PreACT, PreACT 9 Secure and PreACT Secure. If you have the report, its predictions come from your actual section results, so prefer them over any online converter, including this one. Use this page when you only remember your Composite, or to see how much a later ACT date changes the picture.
Since fall 2026 the PreACT Composite comes from English, Math and Reading, the same three sections as the enhanced ACT Composite. If your school or district gives Science, it gets its own score and feeds the STEM score. Colleges don't use PreACT scores for admission; the predicted ranges are there to help you plan for the ACT.
At the national average pace, about 1 point per school year. Between fall of 10th grade and fall of 11th, the average PreACT Composite rises from 17.3 to 18.6. In between, students finish more math, read harder material in class and get more testing experience, so growth happens even without test prep.
Preparation and retesting add to that. Among ACT-tested Class of 2025 graduates who took the ACT more than once, the average Superscore gain was 2.4 points. Your PreACT report shows which sections cost you the most: a student with 24 in English and 18 in Math knows where the next Composite points are. Timed section practice and full-length practice tests turn that into score gains. For context, the Class of 2025 national ACT average was 19.4.
First, set a target: look up the middle-50% ACT range for the colleges on your list and compare it with your projection. If your target is at or below the projection, steady practice should get you there; if it is several points above, plan a longer runway with a structured study plan and room for a retake. Then replace this estimate with a real number: a full-length, timed free ACT practice test shows your actual score and which questions to drill. Want to see what each section needs? Try how many questions you can miss on the ACT. For everything else about the PreACT, see the PreACT Center.
Last verified against ACT's published figures: October 20, 2026.
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PreACT® and ACT® are registered trademarks of ACT, Inc., which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, Test Ninjas. ACT does not publish an official PreACT-to-ACT concordance; projections on this page are unofficial estimates built from ACT's published averages. Sources: ACT, PreACT Scores (2025–26 national averages); ACT, PreACT Alignment to the Enhanced ACT (FAQ); ACT, Graduating Class 2025 report. Checked October 20, 2026.