Nick's position
What is a good SAT or ACT score?
“There are no good or bad scores; there are only scores that will help you reach your goals.”
Nick Standlea
Families ask me this every week, and the honest answer is not a percentile. A score is good if it fits the colleges your child actually wants.
The comfortable belief is that a good score is a score above average. That answers the wrong question. A score that sounds strong can still sit under the range of every selective college on the list.
So start with the list. Then find the score that opens it.
The facts behind it
- A 1210 SAT sits at the 77th percentile and a 22 ACT at the 69th, and both sit under the score band of every selective college in the table on our page.
- ACT reports that the average ACT score was 19.4 in 2024.
- The page states our line as: There are no good or bad scores. There are only scores that will help you reach your goals.
What score should my child aim for?
The one that fits the colleges on your list, so build the list first and then read each college's range.