A good PreACT score beats the national average for your grade and meets ACT's readiness benchmark in each section. In 2025–26, 10th graders averaged a 17.3 Composite in the fall, 9th graders 16.4, and 8th graders on the PreACT 8/9 15.9. Use the checker below to see where your own report stands.
Your PreACT score report just arrived and the composite number on it — somewhere between 1 and 35 (1 and 32 on the PreACT 9 Secure, 1 and 30 on the PreACT 8/9) — needs context to mean anything. This guide gives you that context: where the national average sits for your grade, what ACT's readiness benchmarks say about each section, and, most importantly, how to judge your score against the thing the PreACT exists to predict — your eventual ACT score. If you want a refresher on how the composite is calculated in the first place, start with PreACT scoring explained.
The average PreACT Composite ranges from about 15.9 to 18.6, depending on test, grade and season. In ACT's 2025–26 national data, 10th graders averaged 17.3 in the fall and 18.0 in the spring; 9th graders averaged 16.4 and 17.0. On the PreACT 8/9, 8th graders averaged 15.9 in the fall and 16.6 by spring. Those 2025–26 averages were four-section Composites that included Science, so treat comparisons with this year's English/Math/Reading Composite as approximate. So the one-line answer:
Two caveats before you celebrate or panic. First, the PreACT is a practice and prediction tool — schools, districts and states order it, and schools give it on a day they pick between early September and late May. PreACT scores aren't used in college admissions, and you don't send them with applications. Students who take the PreACT or PreACT 8/9 on paper can choose to share their profile information with colleges and scholarship agencies, but that's optional. Second, "good" is relative to your goals: a 20 is an excellent early signal for a student targeting a solid state university, and a wake-up call for a student set on the most selective schools. The rest of this article unpacks both points.
ACT publishes national average Composite scores for every grade and season. These are the 2025–26 figures. Your score report's US Rank is your percentile: the share of PreACT takers in your grade and season who scored at or below you.
| Test and grade | Fall average | Spring average | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| PreACT 8/9, 8th grade | 15.9 | 16.6 | 1–30 |
| PreACT 8/9, 9th grade | 16.5 | 16.9 | 1–30 |
| PreACT, 9th grade | 16.4 | 17.0 | 1–35 |
| PreACT, 10th grade | 17.3 | 18.0 | 1–35 |
| PreACT, 11th grade | 18.6 | Not offered | 1–35 |
Averages rise about half a point between fall and spring (0.4 to 0.7) and roughly a point between grades, so compare yourself with your own grade and season. A 17 is slightly below average for a fall 10th grader but above average for a fall 9th grader.
Enter your section scores to see your Composite, how it compares with your grade's average, and the readiness level ACT assigns to each section.
Is my PreACT score on target?
Enter the section scores from your report. You get your Composite, how it compares with the national average for your grade, and ACT's readiness level for each section.
Leave blank if your school didn't give Science.
PreACT is for grades 9–10 (PreACT 8/9 for grades 8–9); the 11th-grade option uses ACT's fall figures for schools that test 11th graders. Took the PreACT Secure (10th grade, 1–35)? Choose PreACT for an approximate check. The PreACT 9 Secure (1–32) isn't covered here, so use the readiness levels on your report.
Composite 17 (English, Math and Reading averaged). The national average for 10th graders testing in the fall is 17.3, so you are 0.3 below it. 2025–26 averages were four-section Composites that included Science, so treat comparisons with this year's English/Math/Reading Composite as approximate.
| Section | Your score | Readiness Benchmark | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 18 | 14 | On Target |
| Math | 16 | 19 | In Need of Intervention (3 short) |
| Reading | 18 | 20 | Close to Target (2 short) |
Start with Math: it is the furthest from its benchmark (3 points). Reaching a benchmark means about a 50% chance of meeting ACT's College Readiness Benchmark of 22 in Math by 11th or 12th grade.
Last verified against ACT's PreACT Technical Manual, PreACT 8/9 Technical Bulletin (August 2026) and 2025–26 national averages: 2026-10-19. Your report's US Rank is your exact percentile.
The same composite means different things in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade, because you are being measured against different peer groups on differently capped scales — and because you have different amounts of runway left before the ACT.
Any score at or above the ~15.9 fall average is on track, and the data shows the same cohort averaging about 16.6 by spring — growth over the year is expected and built into the design. At this age the composite matters far less than the section-level detail: which subject is strongest, which is weakest, and what that suggests about course choices ahead. A 20+ in 8th grade is a genuinely strong early signal.
Ninth graders can take the PreACT 8/9 or the PreACT, depending on what their school orders (some states and districts use the PreACT 9 Secure instead, scored 1–32). On the PreACT 8/9 (1–30), 9th graders averaged 16.5 in the fall; on the PreACT (1–35), 16.4. A Composite in the high teens is solid. Check the section benchmarks too: on the fall PreACT they are 12 English, 17 Math, 18 Reading and 19 Science.
The 10th-grade PreACT is the most predictive of the family, since it sits closest to the real ACT — and its 1–35 scale nearly matches the ACT's 1–36. Here your score should be read directly against your ACT goal (next section). Fall 10th graders average 17.3 and spring 10th graders 18.0. If you are within a few points of your ACT target with a year-plus of prep time remaining, you are in strong shape.
The PreACT's real purpose is prediction: your report includes predicted ACT subject and Composite score ranges, and the test's content alignment with the ACT makes that projection meaningful. So the most useful way to judge your score is to work backward from where you want your ACT to land.
As general context — these are typical ranges, not cutoffs, and every school publishes its own numbers — competitive admits at top public flagships often carry ACT scores around 28 or higher, and the most selective colleges typically see admitted-student scores around 32 and up. Because the PreACT scale is aligned to the ACT scale, a PreACT 20 reads as about an ACT 20 today; the PreACT simply stops at 35 instead of 36. The predicted ranges on your report then factor in the growth you can expect before you take the ACT.
| Eventual ACT Goal | Typical Context (General) | Gap from an average fall 10th grader |
|---|---|---|
| 20–23 | Around or above national ACT norms; broad college access | About 3–6 points above the fall 10th-grade average (17.3) |
| 24–27 | Competitive at many state universities | About 7–10 points above it |
| 28–31 | Typical range at top public flagships | About 11–14 points above it |
| 32–36 | Typical range at the most selective colleges | 15 or more points above it: plan sustained, targeted prep |
For an unofficial estimate from your own composite, use the PreACT to ACT score converter — it shows your score on the ACT scale today and projects it to your planned ACT date using average growth from ACT's 2025–26 national averages. It isn't ACT's official prediction; the ranges on your score report are.
Percentiles compare you to other students. The readiness benchmarks on your PreACT score report answer a different and arguably more important question: are you on track, subject by subject, for the level of work college courses will demand? English, Math and Reading — plus Science, if your school or district gives it — are each flagged against a benchmark, so you can be above the benchmark in some subjects and below it in another.
This is why two students with the same composite can have very different to-do lists. A balanced 18 and an 18 built from a strong English/Reading pair and a weak Math score call for different plans. The benchmark flags, together with the STEM score (a combined read on Math and Science, reported when Science is given), tell you exactly where the gap is.
| Section | 9th grade, fall | 10th grade, fall | 11th grade, fall | ACT benchmark it predicts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 |
| Math | 17 | 19 | 20 | 22 |
| Reading | 18 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
| Science | 19 | 20 | 22 | 23 |
| STEM | 21 | 23 | 24 | 26 |
Above the benchmark in a subject: keep that skill warm, but spend your prep hours elsewhere. Below the benchmark: that subject is your highest-leverage target — benchmark gaps closed in 9th and 10th grade are far cheaper to fix than the same gaps discovered junior year. The full anatomy of the report, including the interest inventory and US Rank, is covered in how to read your PreACT score report.
First, remember what the score isn't for: colleges don't use PreACT scores for admission. Then use it. Pull up the section scores and benchmark flags, identify the one or two subjects doing the most damage to the composite, and make them the center of your work for the next semester — both in class and in light, regular practice. Because the PreACT is aligned to ACT content, any ACT prep material doubles as PreACT improvement work. Re-check your trajectory with the score calculator as your practice-test numbers move.
A score at or beyond your goal this early is a green light to raise the goal. The students who convert a strong PreACT into an elite ACT score are the ones who keep momentum rather than coasting: take a full-length ACT practice test to get a true 36-scale baseline, and consider moving your first real ACT sitting earlier in the junior-year calendar so you have room for a retake. The PreACT to ACT converter gives an unofficial estimate of where typical growth could take your score by your planned ACT date.
On pace is good — but "on pace" assumes you keep moving. Lock in a modest weekly practice habit now and plan a structured push closer to your ACT date, using the section data to decide where those hours go.
The PreACT's content alignment with the ACT means there is no separate "PreACT prep" to buy or schedule — everything that prepares you for the ACT prepares you for the PreACT, and vice versa. The question is only when to shift from light maintenance to a structured plan.
After a PreACT 8/9 (8th–9th grade): no formal prep program needed. Address benchmark gaps through coursework and occasional practice sets; heavy prep this early tends to burn students out before it pays off. After a 10th-grade PreACT: this is the natural trigger point. You have a predictive score, identified weaknesses, and roughly a year before a first real ACT sitting. By fall of junior year: you should be inside a structured plan with full-length practice tests on the calendar.
When you are ready to make it structured, the ACT study plan lays out week-by-week schedules keyed to how much time you have before test day, and the Test Ninjas ACT course mirrors the real test question type by question type. Note one format detail worth knowing as you plan: since fall 2026, the PreACT composite is calculated from English, Math, and Reading only, with Science optional — matching the Enhanced ACT's structure — so put most of your prep into those three sections, and add Science if your school gives it or the colleges you're considering want it.
Related: How PreACT scoring works · PreACT to ACT converter · PreACT changes for Fall 2026